Customer Reviews

Pulling Through

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Not too many authors can involve you in a very entertaining story and teach you about survival all at the same time. Written when the threat of nuclear death was very real, Dean Ing takes the reader through the basics of surviving that situation with interesting characters, interesting settings, and fun equipment. Oh, one tidbit of real life info...Dean actually built that Lotus (not with the hover ability.) Building cars, from the frame up, was a hobby of his. (12/04)

Not Ing's absolute best work, but still a keeper. The novella that comprises the first half of the book is tautly written, often wryly amusing, and a painless way to learn about the many, many ways you can fail to survive a real disaster. His novella's premise of the start of a nuclear war is less likely to happen now than when this was written -- but many of the same techniques that the characters use to save themselves can and probably should be used to protect yourself in the event of a "dirty" bomb in your vicinity, or other similar unpleasantness. I have recommended this book to many friends, and I think everyone should have a copy in their home library.

Pulling Through has 2 parts--the first part is a fictional story depicting what would most probably happen in the event of a nuclear was (a much more likely event when it was written rather than now) and the problems people might face. The second part gives very practical information on how to plan for such an event and how to make/get some very useful tools. Useful for showing what might happen in other types of disasters as well (tsunamis, etc.). Not his best work, but still a good, well-written, entertaining story-with-a-purpose.

I liked the informational aspect of this book. There were a fair number of useful nuclear war survival tidbits. Many of the ideas implemented are the public domain work of a man named Kearny working out of the Oak Ridge National labs.

The weakness - and this is just my opinion - stems from the main chracter. I just couldn't identify with him. I like my characters to be ordinary people who are forced to struggle with no special resources but their wits. This guy dives a Lotus hovercraft and lives in a virtual retreat behind a chain linked fence for heavens sake! The kid in this story was so unsympathetic I disliked him from the start.

Other people love the characters, so who am I to gripe?

This book is a must, if you've become an Ing Fan. The "bio/intro" was worth my time and $ spent getting a copy. The novella is great fun & reads at a tear, and his WW3 is still very possible. The "how to" section is scary, yet practical and worth having, in it's own right.

This book had the potential to be one of the great post-nuclear survival books like "Alas Babylon" but it just did'nt measure up. The actual story was far too short and the main character was too flamboyant to be any kind of serious survivor. Who actually ownes a Cheetah and a flying or jumping amphibious car? The book had some good survival information, the last half the book was a survival/technical manual. As for exciting fiction, my 14 year old daughter can write better stories.

The fiction story here is okay, but it was basically a front to get people to buy and read the nonfiction stuff in the back. This describes (complete with photos) such things as how to make a fallout meter from stuff around the house, and how to make a useful fallout filter out of cardboard boxes, duct tape, and plastic bags or sheeting. I assume the high prices this is commanding in used form are from people trying to get that information. Be advised that the nonfiction stuff was based on work by a group of scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. You can buy their whole set of reports, with many different nuclear war survival topics, from Amazon as "Nuclear War Survival Skills" with the author listed as Cresson Kearney. There are several different editions, one sells for $19.95.

I read this book when I was in high school for some research I was doing on neclear war it was verry informative and compelling the charachters are well rounded and inteligently written. context is reliable througght that book

The book's cover contradicts its contents. Even from that distance you certainly wouldn't want to be looking in the direction of the initial blast, since it might blind you, and you would want to find shelter from the blast wave. He did bring four-footed rations, however.