Even though it's unlikely you'll be called upon to land a plane, jump from a motorcycle to a moving car, or win a swordfight--the information contained in The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook is all quite sound. Authors Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht consulted numerous experts in their fields (they're cited at the end of the book) to discover how to survive various and sundry awful events.

Hopefully you'll never need to know how to build a fire without matches, perform a tracheotomy, or treat a bullet wound. But in the words of survival evasion resistance escape instructor "Mountain" Mel Deweese, "You never know."

Joshua Piven's series of how-to survive books would make great bathroom or party literature. (via Amazon)

coz you never know when you will get stuck in a cab with angry-with-everything-and-talkative cabbie...or to leave for work really late and rush to work just to find that you have left your staff access card to enter the office... (via StraightLine)

From the website: "This handy and informative how-to is based on consultations with experts in a variety of fields such as stunt-car driving, alligator wrestling, and medicine. It tells you how to survive, escape from, or otherwise deal with extreme, unforeseen situations that are often life-threatening--such as how to fend off a shark attack or what to do when your parachute fails to open. Some are more likely to occur, such as how to deal with a downed power line or how to deliver a baby in a taxicab. Highly entertaining and practical."