Book Review: One Second After, by William R. Forstchen

[inverarity]

Prepper porn with a foreword by Newt Gingrich. o..O

Comments

[indigo_mouse]

I just read "Alas Babylon", which of course covered many of the same themes during the pre-cell phone era (which is, like, forever ago

[shortysc22]

I read this book last summer and loved it, mostly because it got me thinking, especially since I was hit pretty hard by Hurricane Sandy. My house was fine, we were fine, but there was no power anywhere for a week. We were fortunate enough to have a generator, but I know a lot of people who weren't

[inverarity]

I've got Alas, Bablylon and Dies the Fire queued up on my reading list. I'm thinking about reading Patriots too, though from reading reviews, it seems Rawles is a bit more soapboxy (and not as good a writer).

[shortysc22]

Of Dies the Fire, One Second After, and Patriots, Patriots was the hardest to get through. I just liked it because it was a different concept to the collapse of the US.

[asulon_bellanca]

I made an attempt at Dies the Fire but I really chocked on the writing. The story is supposed to be worth getting through, I might try again. I really liked One Second After, I've mentioned it to a couple people as a "makes you think" book. I might take that recommendation on Patriots too.

[zadok_allen]

I enjoyed this book but one thing that turned me off is that, if you read the author-bio, you'll see that he cast *himself* as the main character/ dad of the year/ natural leader/ brilliant strategist/ irresistible chick magnet.  Came off as pretty egotistical.  I also thought there was some right wing fantasizing going on with how he treated some of the survivors, especially the group of hippies he came across on the road.  It sounded like he was crowing "this is what's gonna happen to you lefty goofballs!"  Not that it necessarily wouldn't happen, but he seemed to be taking some smug pleasure in making it happen

[inverarity]

Yeah, it was pretty obvious that the author was Gary Stu-ing some with his main character.

I did pick up on a bit of lefty-bashing, but it was fairly mild - Forstchen is not entirely wrong about which groups will be in for the rudest awakening should SHTF for real.

The "Haha you hippies are gonna get what you deserve!" was much worse in Lucifer's Hammer.

[ext_6187053]

I like the comment of " I'm not a prepper, per se " I too am not one, but what if the power goes out during a hurricane or snow storm and I want a cup of coffee. I'm near Harrisburg Pa. So no chance of coastal flooding, but still. I bought a hand operated turn crank handle coffee grinder. I've been getting used to grinding my own. A steel percolator coffee pot, the kind with a glass bulb. Two single burner hot plates. w/butane cartridges. If no tap water, there's always bottled water ;) I refuse to be at the mercy of the utility companies, and their rate increases. I've cut down on my expenses considerably. So, Eggs & Sausage on 1 plate. Coffee on the other. I refuse to go hungry. Which inadvertently dovetails into some post apocalyptic scenario. The coffee pot is fun to use. Although a lil more time consuming, but hey, that's the way things are.