Review: "One Second After"...

[creeky]

Book: "One Second After"

Author: William R. Forstchen

Book link | Buy Link

The Quick Review: A well written, thought provoking look at the US after a well organized EMP strike that leaves the US basically trying to survive living like they are in the 1800's. This is an easy read and very different from some of the other "apocalyptical" books I have read in the past. The difference being it doesn't focus on people that had prepared for an extreme situation but on what could be argued more the norm... the 95% that are left that have not prepared in any way.

The characters are interesting and diverse. I could have easily read this in just a couple of days. It sucked me in quickly. The main character has a 12 year old daughter that has Type I diabetes and the story takes place in Black Mountain N.C. Since I have family two hours from there and my 13 year old son has Type I it's pretty easy to see how I could be pulled into it quickly.

I really recommend this book and can see that this is a keeper for me. The only complaint I have is the author did not include maps of the area. They aren't really needed, but I printed a couple off from google and referred to them from time to time. Mainly because I was vaguely familiar with the area and wanted a sense of scale. But that is just me.

I would consider this an excellent "first book", or "Introduction to thinking ahead" type of thing. Not really a how to book for preparedness... more of a way to get a conversation started or present some examples that most people may not have ever thought about.

It's worth the cost and the short time to read it. Get it!

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The Longer Review...

This book is interesting on many levels. Besides being well written, it isn't a "How To" book on survival. It isn't a "manual" for what to buy, what brands to have, and how to make this or that disguised as a novel. It's a well written presentation of ideas... problems that would need to be solved. Problems of logistics, society, health, infrastructure, security, etc. The solutions that the authors characters are interesting in that they are debatable. Some solutions made me cringe politically or morally... but it made me ask myself the hard question of "Okay smart guy... what would I do?!?" That is the difference of a good book and a good manual.

It's interesting that the author included a series health problem in the form of the main character's daughter having type I diabetes. This made the book all that more painful to read. It also gave me ore instances to say again... "Okay smart guy... what would I do?!?"

Reading this book a few things stood out that have not before reading these "types" of books. The importance of Heath, Education / Training.

First Heath... what it plays individually as well as collectively in a society.

(How many times have you seen a 5'7" 300 lbs. guy post a picture of his 80 lb. bug out bag and thought... Dude! You won't make it 30 feet with that thing!)

Next the education and training aspect. Not carbine courses and stuff like that... but basic things... first aid, basically working knowledge of things and the area where you live.

(I have seen guys online build awesome med kits with tons of stuff but no knowledge of how to use a quarter of it.)

It's easy to just "order stuff" as a mental safety blanket it's another thing to spend the time and money being trained to use what you do have instead of buying the next latest and greatest!

Also the pressures extreme situations place on people and societies in general. How people react differently and how education, social standing... are really not a good indicator of how people will react.

Another thing I liked about the book is the "there but for the grace of God go I" thing. In reading the book I could see myself in many of the same situations that characters where in. (Why does everyone online think that when everything breaks down it will happen when they are at home on a Friday evening? Why not on the way home? Or while away on business in another state, or while on vacation? Yeah... with your 80lb. BOB at home!)

The book is good, well worth it's price and I can't see me reselling it. I can see me rereading it in the years to come. I highly recommend the book in general... but also as a way to springboard a discussion. I can easily see a group of friends that had all read the book easily sitting around talking about "Okay... so if you wouldn't have allowed refugees in then what would you have done?" Type of discussions. That is the real worth of the book to me.

Another example is the thread I started just asking if it was any good and it started pages of discussion covering EMPs, GeoPoltical players that could pull it off, the politics versus the logistical needs of the survivors, etc. A response like that is a very good indication of a good book.

Well... that's it in a nut shell.