A Paranoid鈥檚 Ultimate Survival Guide by Patricia Thomas-Svarney and Thomas Svarney, Prometheus, $18, ISBN 1573929719 Reviewed by Michael Cross
Warning: this book contains words. Words have been scientifically proven to cause wars, revolutions, drowsiness and mild irritation.
Especially the last two. Anyone seeking life-saving advice from this round-up of (mainly) natural hazards, from earthquakes to jellyfish to dust-mites, will have to wade through a treacle of folksiness. 鈥淒inosaurs, those ancient reptiles we all know and love鈥濃�� 鈥測ou鈥檙e probably familiar with insecticides 鈥� the kind of stuff you put on your backyard plants鈥�.
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Gosh darn it, the world is a dangerous place. Sharks, volcanoes, falling trees, deep-vein thrombosis. Not to mention the food we eat: 鈥淪ome species of fish can contain poisonous toxins.鈥� Our intrepid authors live dangerously, braving triphenyl phosphate emissions from their computer monitors while researching websites. One of them even picked up a bacterial infection at a motorcyle rally.
Presumably to avoid lawsuits, their survival advice in A Paranoid鈥檚 Ultimate Survival Guide is somewhat tame. 鈥淚f an area has sharks, don鈥檛 enter the water鈥�, for example.
Still, most readers will learn something. For example, I鈥檓 now convinced I have scabies.
There are other redeeming bits. Here is an American survival guide that does not have a chapter on firearms and argues that saving the ozone layer is a good idea. These guys really are living dangerously.