The question Jim Ballou pitched to his dad, Gene, was this: Could this world ever revert to the Stone Age?

Never, his father said.

OK, what about a dark age?

Hmmm. That could happen, dad agreed.

That led the insurance agent and fiction author to write "Long-Term Survival in the Coming Dark Age," published in 2007 by Paladin Press.

It was followed in 2009 by "Makeshift Workshop Skills for Survival & Self- Reliance," and in 2011 by "MORE Makeshift Workshop Skills," also published by Paladin.

Ballou, who has six books and more than 60 magazine articles to his credit, owns Ballou Insurance Service in Coeur d'Alene. His fiction books include "The Prospector's Voyage," "Millionaire Missing" and "Disposition, The Catalyst."

"My mind is constantly trying to invent stories or projects to build, even while I'm trying to sleep or when I really should be concentrating on other important things, I can't always conveniently turn that creative aspect off," the Hayden man wrote.

The father of a son, 6, and a daughter, 1, does all the usual stuff dads do. He takes his son to soccer practice and Boy Scouts. They go on camping trips to the North Fork. He also just happens to be one of those who wants to be ready for the unexpected, and shares his survival skills through magazine articles and his books.

His articles have titles "The Incredibly Simple Vegetable Oil Lamp," "Bare Bones and Basic Tools," and "Turn your Rifle into a Survival Kit."

His book, "Long-Term Survival in the Coming Dark Age," has sold more than 5,000 copies. In it, he explains what you will need to survive a complete, long-term shift in the way the world operates. He explains what items you need to assemble now and what skills will be priceless later.

"Learn how to assemble a survival workshop, recycle and salvage everything, develop survival-bartering skills, prepare and store caches, and much, much more," according to a flier.

The 48-year-old is particularly proud of "Makeshift Workshop Skills for Survival and Self-Reliance."

The book took him a year and a half to research, and covers subjects like the properties of common raw materials, expedient stick welding using car batteries, plastic made from milk, backyard blacksmithing, stone tool technology, innovative clamps and other improvised tools.

The sequel, "MORE Makeshift Workshop Skills" covers more homemade manually powered machines and uses for discarded plastic products, duct tape, and even handy formulas to know in your head.

"Anyone living alone in an isolated environment and forced to rely on his or her own resources for everything would be pretty well equipped with just those two books," Ballou wrote.

Are you a survivalist?

It's an interest, hobby thing for me. I read about it all the time and write articles.

Are you ready at home for any disaster the world may face?

I definitely have my ideas about what I would do. That was the idea there. If something happens, how would people do.

What do you recommend they have on hand?

Tools and food for sure. Equipment updated as best they can. I'm really into guns, so of course I would have guns. I think the main thing is food, water, tools. With tools, you can have everything else. I always go right back to the Leatherman tool. With that, everything else you need, you could basically produce it, one way or another.

In the primitive people, the iceman, they found him in the Alps, 5,300 years old. What did he have? He had a flint knife, a copper ax, he was making a bow and arrow at the time he died, so tools are a big deal for me.

Are you planning more such books?

Oh yeah, I have all kinds of ideas I'm developing. I'm going to keep on doing it. These makeshift books, they don't sell like that one, but they sell pretty good. I really love this idea where you get alternative ways to build things. I was developing that with these books here. This one ("Long-Term Survival in the Coming Dark Age,") is pretty basic. This one takes it to maybe a higher level. I'll spend tons of time trying to figure, you don't have what you need to build this thing, what would you do. I spend a lot of time trying to explore those ideas.

Do you think we have a dark age coming?

I've got a lot of people ask me about the title, "Long Term Survival in the Coming Dark Age." Paladin actually came up with the title. My title was more hypothetical.

I'm not 100 percent convinced, I don't know what's going to happen in the future. I'm not a total bomb shelter type of person. But I thought it would be a real interesting book to develop.

Hypothetically, what would I do?

Is this something you believe most people consider?

I think most people don't really think too much about it, but I'm really not very prepared compared to some people. They've been planning a long time and investing a lot of money. It's quite a mix.

I've had people say this will appeal to the fringe, people at the compound. They buy it. You go online to all those survival sites, they talk about my book like crazy.

Is your main goal to get word out to the public they should be prepared because the world could change rapidly?

I think it could be helpful to people. This really goes to the self reliant aspect, which interests me. In post-apocalypse kind of stories, they look at how people deal with it. That movie, the Book of Eli, really interested me.

How did you develop your survival skills?

I researched them and practiced them. I bought videos. I practiced fire making. I practiced that until I could do it. I can't always make it work.

I went on a camping trip with a friend, I made everything I was going to use. Clothes, tools, food, cook skillet, hatchet, moccasins.

I'm not a really good person at making clothing, but I stitched it all together. It worked. It was a three-day outing. We went down to some mountain lakes, that was a good exercise for these kind of skills.

Why does Idaho seem popular with survivalist?

Idaho is probably a good place because it's out in the west where it's not in a highly dense metropolitan area. You probably find a lot more people who are interested in self-reliance.

Do you meet with others and share ideas on survival tips?

I find people who are interested in this sort of things. I run into them at shows. Sometimes you go to these mountainman rendezvous, you find people who are skilled. You meet people with similar interests.

Are people listening to your message?

I think the more people who are more reliant-oriented, take responsibility for their own situations, the reality is, we think of society just kind of humming along, but look at the world. The world doesn't look like the way our society's really been working. Look at what happened in Japan. Look what's happening all over the Middle East right now. Over and over again, we say wow, we're so lucky to have a sense of stability. Then with the economy and with all these things going on, you won't know how long it can all last.

What kind of world awaits the next generation?

Our kids are going to grow up in a different world then what we grew up in. Of course, that's always the case.

Place of birth: Pomona, Calif.

Education: Graduated from Coeur d'Alene High school, Class of 1981. Completed some music courses at North Idaho College in 1981 and 1982.

Military service: U.S. Army 4-year enlistment (1984 -1988 during peacetime), spent three years in the 82nd Airborne Division, honorably discharged with rank of Sergeant E5.

Family: Parents are Gene and Wanda Ballou of Coeur d'Alene. One older brother: Marty Ballou, residing in Rathdrum. One younger sister, Caroline Giles, residing with her husband and children in Dallas, Texas. Wife's name: Alicia Ballou. (married since 2003). Daughter's name: Gabriela 18 months old. Son's name, Eugene 6 years old.

Occupation: Insurance sales (since 1998). Previously shipping/receiving clerk at Coeur d'Alene Resort from 1990 to 1998.

Hobbies: Reading and learning, exploring wild places, experimenting, blacksmithing, welding metal, inventing, treasure hunting, camping and hiking, hunting, fishing, target shooting, studying old-world and primitive skills.

Favorite type of music: 50's, 60's, and 70's oldies folk/rock or even classical, making noise with my guitar.

Favorite movie: Watching nature and science or historical documentaries, collecting (and using).

Favorite authors: Louis L'Amour, Will Henry, and Daniel Defoe.

Favorite movies: "The Outlaw Josey Wales". "Phenomenon", Walt Disney's original "Swiss Family Robinson", and "Quigley Down Under".

Favorite book: "Robinson Crusoe", the unabridged version by Daniel Defoe.