I have worked hard for many years to build a library. Not just of the beautiful paper books that I love, but a library that may be a resource for generations to come.

It is not difficult to imagine that the worst calamity may eventually befall our civilization, like a solar burst, which could destroy most or all electrical and electronic technology on the planet. No cars, no electrical grid, no hospital equipment, no modern food production and distribution systems. It is a very plausible scenario, and the various governments of the world are profoundly ill-equipped for such an event, however probable. In the event of such a cataclysm, after the survivors emerge from the rubble and survey the landscape, they would be faced with the task of building back up from the new dark ages again. In considering this dire scenario, I was stunned to contemplate the enormity of the task to rebuild. For generations, we have relied on the convenience of power for tools, GPS, computers, refrigeration, modern electric lighting and a smart phone to call up a plumber when necessary. Devastated by a blackout scenario, there would be widespread death, disease and famine. The survivors would be set back several hundred years and have to reconstruct so much of what we take for granted. Specialists in various critical disciplines would be in short supply, and university degrees in Liberal Arts would be nice, but of little structural help. There are hundreds of years of evolved knowledge that are of little practical value to modern society, but that would be critical in rebuilding the civilization if necessary. My library is an attempt to bridge that gap between the dark ages and the modern era for those who may need it.

The library consists of approximately 160,000 books, thousands of music ‘albums’ and terabytes of various videos, audiobooks and images and contains all of the information that I have been able to collect on sustainability, agriculture, medicine, primitive construction techniques, general knowledge, literary classics and much, much, much more. Much appreciation is owed to the thousands of original authors, artists and other unwitting contributors.

The library is too large to be contained within this website, but I am happy to make bits of it available to a few friends and family, and eventually, as technology permits, to have it all contained in a handheld device no doubt, like the fabulous The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Let’s hope it never becomes necessary.