A comment on Patriots by James Wesley Rawles, which somebody else mentioned.

I think this is a great book to read as one of your first steps towards survival planning. Like some of the others mentioned, it's not really a book to keep for reference. But Ralwes really takes the book through the process of long preparation and planning to a 5 year TEOTWAWKI scenario. I think it really opens your eyes and makes you ask yourself what level of commitment and investment are you willing to make to survive this scenario. And his scenario, while not likely, is very possible - at least the intitial crash.

Again, I don't consider it a book to keep when the crash happens, but it will make think of possibilities you hadn't considered. In the end, take it with a grain of salt. There are a lot of things in the book I considered pretty unrealistic even if his group did have all the expertise they claimed.