Practical Doomsday

Michal Zalewski has been actively involved in disaster preparedness for more than a decade, including the publication of a popular 2015 guide titled Disaster Planning for Regular Folks. By day, he is an accomplished security researcher who has been working in information security since the late 1990s, helping companies map out and manage risk in the digital domain. He is the author of two classic security books, The Tangled Web and Silence on the Wire (both No Starch Press). He spent 11 years at Google building its product security program before joining Snap Inc. as a VP of Security & Privacy Engineering. Zalewski grew up in Poland under communist rule, lived through the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, and moved to the US in 2001.

"For years, Michal has been thinking about mitigation of catastrophe. You should put his pragmatic book on your shopping list as a guide to exploring for yourself. Be Prepared."—Eric Grosse, former VP of Security & Privacy at Google"Zalewski's book begins by examining risks in a very sane, voice-of-reason, manner. The end-of-the-world scenarios get downplayed immediately in favor of the actual things that kill or injure most people in first world countries--things like ladders and backyard swimming pools. He does consider larger scale risks but always in a thoughtful manner . . . I plan on keeping this book around as a reference, all-be-it an unusual one."—Rik Farrow, USENIX"In my own work, I define a state of security as the absence of unmitigable surprise, not no surprise but the absence of unmitigable surprise. If that makes you say, 'How exactly does that help?' then Michal's book is your answer."—Dan Geer, Computer Security Analyst and Risk Management Specialist"As an experienced emergency responder, I found the book filled with practical advice that had me nodding my head in enthusiastic agreement throughout . . . I’ve definitely adjusted my own preparations after reading it and highly recommend it to anyone - both those who consider themselves already prepared, and especially those who would like to be prepared without committing their life to an expensive hobby."—Matt Linton, @0xMatt"Practical Doomsday is very thoroughly researched. Mr. Zalewski does an excellent job of providing simple, practical advice to prepare for life's more common disruptions, such as job losses and day-long power outages. The best part? His advice, when applied toward more humdrum but fairly likely events, will also help readers prepare for less common, more catastrophic events."—The Organic Prepper"[Practical Doomsday] provided a way to focus a sense of helplessness into some immediate actions I can take to be more prepared for emergencies, without feeling unhinged."—@CloverTwombley"Definitely the best no-nonsense guide to adult life out there."—Martín Obiols, @olemoudi"A great book. Everyone should buy it."—Dave Aitel, @daveaitel"If you are looking for something different, try this."—Haitham Alani, @Mroverflow"[Practical Doomsday] helps readers plan ahead, so they can stop worrying about what tomorrow may bring and start enjoying life today. By sharing his research, advice, and a healthy dose of common sense, Zalewski helps readers rest easy knowing they have a plan for the worst – even if the worst never comes."—SirReadaLot.Org"By far the most entertaining and interesting book I've read about risk management, finance and disasters in general. I initially expected it to be practical ways of dealing with humorously crazy scenarios, but instead found realistic, actionable advice on practical doomsdays—small-scale and personal-level disasters which are actually far more likely to happen."—Jamie, Advanced Reviewer