We're at war with Iran, and it feels weird. Not because we didn't see it coming. But maybe because we saw it coming for so long...

Now it's here, and it's just as bad as we imagined.

Decades ago, a friend of mine who worked as a journalist reported on the Iraq War. It was a different thing altogether. According to her, at least, Iraqi forces were trying to surrender to American troops even before operations began. It was widely understood that they didn't actually want to fight. There wasn't too much loyalty.

Not so much with Iran.

Despite what our mainstream media pumps out, Iran is quite the underdog. They have more power and more capabilities than we know. There's only one thing many Iranians despise more than their own government....

And it's our government.

The average American has absolutely no idea how much Iranians hold us responsible for their current state. Our intelligence agencies colluded with other countries to overthrow their democratically elected leaders decades ago, in order to install a pro-western dictator. It led directly to the current mess.

The Iran war is a manifestation of our climate crisis. As many smug, complacent folks told us months ago, they didn't believe Trump had "the guts" to start a full-blown war in the Middle East. They said Venezuela was just a power move, just a distraction. We tried to tell them, it was a sign of things to come. It was the opening execution of a plan made not by one sloppy tyrant but a whole system of panicked billionaires trying to snatch up as much of the world as they can as everything burns. We don't know exactly what comes next, but we know it's all the more reason to buckle down, develop skills, build enclaves, and guard our sanity.

This war reminds us of another valuable lesson.

For many of us, our intuitions are correct. Those intuitions aren't based on vibes or emotions. They're based on facts. They rise up from observations and calculations. Our intuition is logic operating at the speed of light, and it tells us what to do before the rest of our brain catches up. So whatever your intuition is telling you right now, I would listen to it. Your intuitions are accurate.

My intuition has told me to get on the stick and finish a basic first edition of the illustrated survival guide, and it's just about ready. I've added a lot of material. I've spent a lot of time on the formatting. Now I'm going to do a final edit, adding metric conversions, checking a few more facts, and doing a proofread. I might add one more section about bikes and other forms of manual transportation.

So, I need to know something.

I'm sending out a quick poll to everyone to gauge your interest levels. Clearly, I'm going to be working on this book for years to come. I'm going to expand it. I'm going to add sections and chapters. There's really no end to what we can learn from research and experience, but we're also working against hard realities. This war is going to drive up costs. It's going to disrupt supply chains. Iran has already been targeting data centers, airports, and other vital pieces of infrastructure. They've closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which up to 30 percent of the world's oil passes.

Oil is already soaring, and it's soaring at a rather bad time for farmers. And farmers are already having a rough time.

And then there's El Nino...

We don't know what's going to happen, but we can count on bad things, and probably sooner than expected. Hence my diligence.

Here's the latest version of the guide:

Take a tour. See the whole thing. Tell me if you think it's (almost) ready to release a basic first edition. Tell me if you'd like to have a print version of this now, or whether you want to wait and buy a second edition early next year.

If the embedded poll doesn't work, try this.

• Survival Illustrated Poll

  If you want it now, let me know.
• Do you want this edition after a final edit and proofread?*
  Yeah, I can't wait!Yeah, I'd rather have this version in hand.Nah, I'm going to wait for the second edition.
• Submit Vote
• Should be Empty:

After this print version, I'm going to keep working on the guide and sending out updates to everyone when I've got a new section or chapter ready. That won't change. But you'll have this guide with you, ready for whatever comes your way.

Consider it a failsafe edition.

I would sell preorders, but Lulu and other sites make it a bit of an order. So I'm just sending out the poll. If there's enough interest, I'll finish up the first edition. I'll probably have it up and ready to order by the end of the week.

Stay sane if you can.

--Jessica