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Review: One Second After

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Review: One Second After

from JoeUser Forums

Review: One Second After

Wow!

One Second After is a fictional story in which the United States is attacked by an Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) weapon.

What’s scary about EMP weapons is that they’re not far-fetched. When a nuclear explosion takes place in the upper atmosphere, it rains down a huge electromagnetic pulse that will take out most electronics that aren’t hardened specifically for it. That means your car, your electricity, everyone else’s electricity, and all your gadgets are fried. 

[more]

When the power first goes off in the book, the scenes reminded me of when the power went out for a few days a few years ago due to a failure of the grid here in the north east United States. Neighbors getting together and having cookouts with the meat they had in their freezers before it spoiled.  The big difference here being that their cars did not work either (at least modern cars).

But pretty soon, things get pretty bad.  How long would you be able to go in your household without food? Where would you get fresh water without electricity? How far can you go without a car? How dependent are you on any medication you’re taking? If you do have supplies, how effectively can you defend them and yourself?

The breakdown of society happens remarkably fast but at the same time, predictably when one thinks about it.  It’s a compelling read that has had me thinking for the last several days.

207,828 views 90 replies
Reply #76 from JoeUser Forums Top

 

And the fact that you guys are passionate and idealistic and sometimes just can't help yourself
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Well, at least we aren't boring, haha.

I am too much a humanities student to be able to phrase a simple yes or no answer it seems.
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Nope, you write mini-novels on JU instead.  :)

 

 

Reply #77 from Stardock Forums Top

Well, I had been complaining to some friends about the fact that german humanities writers (philsophers, historians) are not able to be short and concise, but write lenghty and detailed accounts, using a complicated and ridiculous vocabulary to say things that aren't that complicated to begin with. It is sort of shocking to discover that I sort of do the same lol, but I do hope it is at least a little bit interesting and insightful.

Siege of Centauri
Reply #78 from JoeUser Forums Top

 

It is sort of shocking to discover that I sort of do the same lol
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It's INGRAINED.  :D

but I do hope it is at least a little bit interesting and insightful
End of quote
 

It was, for me at least, because the question of HOW the people allowed such a situation has flitted through my mind, though I have never committed myself to finding an answer.

So thank you.

Reply #79 from Stardock Forums Top

I wish I could explain that one

HOW the people allowed such a situation
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. But explaining and analyzing the mechanisms of propaganda and steady radicalization of the Nazis is one thing, understanding how regular, normal people were able to lose so much of their humanity and commit crimes on such a scale that it lacks adequate words to describe it or how they were able to plan exactly how much a KZ prisoner had to able to work to make the max profit as they worked them to death in the german industry is another.That is the worst thing, Silver, the ingenuity and perfection of the whole process.. the Nazis took stereotypical german qualities that used to be held in positive regard like punctuality, hard working people, precision, perfectionism, authority etc and made the worst mockery out of them that is possible.

Sigh, a truly german issue is on how to come to terms with that.

Auschwitz looks nice if you go there, neat red brick barracks, flowerbeds.. it doesn't look like a place where so much suffering took place at all, it is not horrific. Even if you are right there it is impossible to comprehend and grasp what took place - you can't and everybody fails who tries it.

Reply #80 from JoeUser Forums Top

the Nazis took stereotypical german qualities that used to be held in positive regard like punctuality, hard working people, precision, perfectionism, authority etc and made the worst mockery out of them that is possible.
End of quote

Any government aiming for complete control does exactly that.  It seems to be a tried and true process.

That is what is happening in America... though, that is a different topic for a different thread, on a different day.

Reply #81 from Stardock Forums Top

Yeah, Im gonna stop now. It is sort of depressing. Instead Im gonna go and have a BBQ, beer and enjoy my clean and orderly neighborhood lol - and wait for next years FIFA world cup. The one time we can be truly patriotic and wave the flag without feeling guilty!

Reply #82 from JoeUser Forums Top

Another way (and perhaps that more true to the Germanic situation) is to take an extremely desperate people, give them their food/dignity/etc. back, and you will have the majority of those people as followers. Majority quickly quiets the minority, and you have absolute power.  That can be abused to an extreme as well.

Reply #83 from JoeUser Forums Top

Yeah, Im gonna stop now. It is sort of depressing. Instead Im gonna go and have a BBQ, beer and enjoy my clean and orderly neighborhood lol - and wait for next years FIFA world cup. The one time we can be truly patriotic and wave the flag without feeling guilty
End of quote

Enjoy, and have a non-watered down beer for me.

Reply #84 from Stardock Forums Top

Oh I prefer a Shandy (Beer mixed 30/70 lemonade) on a warm summer night. It is tasty, refreshing and overall just perfect. It is watered down but not "light" - ew. Ill keep it in mind, cheers.

Reply #85 from Stardock Forums Top

I mean 7 parts beer, 3 parts lemonde - not the other way around!

Reply #86 from JoeUser Forums Top

So, seems this has concluded that topic.

Reply #87 from JoeUser Forums Top

>Farmers will be completely unaffected.

HA!  If cars won't run then neither will the tractors, harvesters or combines!

Reply #88 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Welll.... 4 years late isn't bad.  ;P

Reply #89 from WinCustomize Forums Top

:zzz: :)

Reply #90 from Elemental Forums Top


I'd recommend Last Light by Alex Scarrow as another good book on this sort of subject. Reading it really underlined just how reliant we are on oil for everything in our modern lives.

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Light-Alex-Scarrow/dp/0752893270/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376773621&sr=1-1&keywords=Last+Light+alex+scarrow

"!t begins on a very normal Monday morning. But in the space of only a few days, the world's oil supplies have been severed and at a horrifying pace things begin to unravel everywhere. This is no natural disaster—someone is behind this. Oil engineer Andy Sutherland is stranded in Iraq with a company of British soldiers, desperate to find a way home, trapped as the very infrastructure of daily life begins to collapse around him. Back in Britain, his wife Jenny is stuck in Manchester, fighting desperately against the rising chaos to get back to their children in London as events begin to spiral out of control—riots, raging fires, looting, rape, and murder. In the space of a week, London is transformed into an anarchic vision of hell. Meanwhile, a mysterious man is tracking Andy's family. He'll silence anyone who can reveal the identities of those behind this global disaster. The people with a stranglehold on the future of civilization have flexed their muscles at other significant tipping points in history, and they are prepared to do anything to keep their secret—and their power—safe."