Customer Reviews

One Second After [With Earbuds]

5 star:		(462)
4 star:		(177)
3 star:		(77)
2 star:		(60)
1 star:		(62)

 

 

Fans of the author will not be disappointed by his latest work.
Forstchen examines the effect of an attack on the U.S.A. using an EMP(or rather three EMPs). The electro magnetic pulse ruins most electrical gadgets; computers and anything controlled by them, data storage, modern vehicles and planes, electricity generators,water supply, medical equipment, phones and radios.
The small town in which the story is set reverts to a barter economy and its shops soon run out of food and medicines. Local law enforcement has to cope with increasingly desperate local citizens,stranded motorists, and refugees from the big cities hoping to find food and shelter.
Forstchen examines the big issues mainly by looking at the impact on one family. This approach works well, and the reader is drawn in, wondering "what would I do in that situation?"
The reason I gave this book 4 stars rather than 5 may sound trivial. Every single "could have, should have, would have, might have" in the book is written as "could of, should of" etc.After reading several dozen of these I almost ended up shouting at the book. I guess I'm getting old.

I purchased this book because I have been flogging the Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) attack scenario to friends and relatives since early 2008, when it became apparent to me that the U.S. had lost the will to halt nuclear proliferation among terror-sponsoring states. I reasoned that a stateless actor or an apocalyptic regime might calculate that an EMP attack would actually create more casualties and more economic damage than a direct strike on any one city. An EMP attack also has the advantage of being the equivalent of hitting the broad side of a barn. Just get the nuke up a couple hundred klicks and go "boom," rather than trust your missile's guidance to hit an urban center from offshore or (alternatively) risk detection of a smuggled warhead. Lastly, the straightforward atomic bomb designs a nascent nuclear state is likely to deploy don't make as big a crater as a sophisticated "hydrogen" (fusion) bomb does, but they're already very effective at creating EMP.

Given the above, one would imagine I'd be among the vanguard in extolling this novel. For reasons great and small though, I was ultimately disappointed. In my opinion the story's biggest flaw is its implicit assumption that EMP would render irrevocably inoperable any integrated-circuit based device -- i.e., anything more advanced than wires, coils, and vacuum tubes -- and by extension anything that depended upon such devices (your modern automobile, for example). My readings so far of the findings of the ongoing EMP Commission (in particular April 2008, see empcommission.org) suggest that this is a gross exaggeration. True, while the near-certain collapse of the electrical grid would immediately harm the transportation infrastructure (imagine no subways, no commuter rail, no street or traffic lights), the vast majority of automobiles would still be mobile. Similarly, while the cellular phone and land-line telephone systems will be severely crippled (at onset) or entirely nonfunctional (after 72 hours) due to their ultimate dependence on the electrical grid and sophisticated switching technologies, there is little reason to believe that battery-operated two-way radios and (especially) simple AM and shortwave receivers would be harmed at all. The author's belief that only antique autos would run and only tube radios will turn on following EMP is key to creating the conditions of immobilization and isolation on which the rest of his story arc depends. And when I couldn't buy into the author's core assumptions, the plot lost much of its punch.

From that point onward, the book's other shortcomings became more grating. Some old-school editing, say from my bespectacled junior-year English teacher, would have helped a great deal. Mrs. K would certainly have caught the "horde" used mistakenly instead of "hoard", the "striped" for stripped, the "breech" which was supposed to be a breach and the "than" / "that" typos which mangle a sentence. Adverbs in dialogue were recycled to the point of distraction. There's only so many times a character can respond "sharply" to another in a single conversation before the reader wants to attack the book with a sharply instrument.

It would be a terrible shame if this book's vision convinced readers that an actual EMP attack would be unavoidably catastrophic, and survivable only by a select few who empty their bank accounts and utterly abandon their former lifestyles in preparation. I sincerely believe that this is not the case, and that the most-likely EMP attack scenarios can be survived by nearly everyone who can plan for three months without the grocery store, ATM, and utility services. Yes it takes some forethought and a little planning, but think of it as a life insurance policy for your entire family that actually pays off when you wind up living instead of the other way around.

I would've loved an EMP disaster novel to be a smash hit that would later become the movie that would galvanize an irresistible push for robust missile defense and an uncompromising policy of nonproliferation. I desperately want a concerted government program to harden the protections on high-value electrical infrastructure and build increased EMP resistance into our evolving telecommunications system. Maybe these things will still happen, but I don't see this book being the trigger for them.

I live in Black Mountain, NC, and am a personal friend of Dr. Forstchen, so I read this latest book of his with considerable interest. I would highly recommend it.

The EMP event he describes might presently be improbable, but is certainly possible. Nicholas Taleb would undoubtedly recognize it as a "Black Swan" event: something that lies outside the range of normal experience, but that has a catastrophic impact. Taleb pointed out that humans have a tendency to excessively discount and underestimate Black Swans, so I would encourage readers to be careful not to dismiss Forstchen's book just because the scenario he paints is improbable. Furthermore, an EMP attack is hardly the only thing that might result in the substantial or total collapse of the economy and civilization; there are a range of possible scenarios, and the practical effect of living through them and their aftermath might not differ all that much from what Forstchen describes.

Some might be tempted to feel depressed after reading "One Second After", or to consider Forstchen's outlook to be excessively pessimistic. On the contrary, I consider his to actually be a rather optimistic view. Importantly, his story line assumes that the townspeople DO come together and cooperate with each other; the town government does hold together, and the town leaders do lead. The town does not devolve into "every person for themselves" anarchy, as so many other post-apocalyptic visions presume. It is also optimistic in that the townspeople do actually win in a horrific battle against a nightmarish roving gang. It is optimistic in that the protagonist and the other characters do succeed in the struggle to maintain their humanity and deepest held values.

So, read the book. But then what? Don't just set it down and forget about it. If it doesn't spur you to action, then you've wasted your time. The fact of the matter is, there ARE things that each of us could and should be doing in all of our communities right now to prepare ourselves and our communities from a whole range of vulnerabilities.

Some people are going to be tempted to rush out and stock up on non-perishable foodstuffs. Fine, but remember that those will eventually run out. What you and your community really need is to build up your local food production capacity; that is where you will find true food security. Plant fruit trees, and transform your yard into a vegetable garden. If you rent and don't have garden space, then participate in a community garden; if there is none in your community, then start one. Patronize local farmers through local farmer's markets and CSAs. Learn to can and dehydrate food, store what you grow and eat what you store -- think in terms of a whole system, operated on a long-term basis. Consider how you are going to cook food when the electricity and natural gas and propane and coleman fuel all run out; there are alternatives, including wood stoves and solar ovens.

Consider your water supply, and have a backup. Bottles of water are fine for a couple of months, but nobody can store enough water to last a lifetime. Consider having some sort of filtration system in case one must rely on surface water, and some sort of cart and barrels to haul it.

Consider how you are going to keep warm in the wintertime. Now is the time to weatherstrip and insulate. Consider getting a woodstove and laying up a few cords of wood - and having the axes, saws, and carts to cut down and haul more wood when your supply runs out. Consider installing some solar space heating panels if you have a good southern exposure.

Consider how you are going to keep well and healthy. In Forstchen's novel, many people die of disease and what are presently treatable medical conditions. Get yourself a good first aid book, maybe take some Red Cross first aid classes, and set yourself with a good set of first aid supplies. While some herbal remedy claims must be taken with a grain of salt, there are some that do work; learn the difference, and be prepared to grow or gather whatever is useful for health and healing.

Maintaining communications can be useful. In Forstchen's novel, all electronics are fried, and the town is left with no working communications. I do wish that Forstchen had mentioned that it is possible to protect sensitive electronic devices with a Faraday Cage. Put a portable radio in a cardboard box, put that inside a bigger box, wrap the package completely with aluminum foil (every square inch, no exceptions), attach a ground wire (secure metal-to-metal contact), and attach the ground wire to a ground (a cold water pipe is not ideal, but will do). He mentioned one person in a distant town having a working shortwave receiver; if several of the townspeople in his novel had the forsight to store portable radios with shortwave bands (along with some way to recharge the batteries, either by crank power or solar panel), they would have been able to get important outside news much sooner. Even more importantly, if several people had hidden away a few pairs of FRS/GMRS 2-way radios in faraday cages, then the town government, police, and militia would have had valuable 2-way communications. Do yourself and your community a favor and consider doing this; after an EMP attack is too late.

This is not a complete list; Amazon.com has a number of books with more extensive recommendations for disaster preparedness. Take this opportunity to take advantage of the time you have before something unexpected, but maybe inevitable, happens.

I have read serial killer books, grisly murder books, but this was hands down the scariest book I have ever read. A book that caused me to lose sleep and kept me thinking long after I was finished reading.

The book follows what happens to an American community after and EMP attack is visited on our country. EMP occurs when a nuclear bomb is detonated above the atmosphere, causing every single thing in it's range containing anything electronic to fail. Cars, planes, pacemakers, electricity, you name it, it's gone forever. The country is immediately plunged into the dark ages, the population far too large to be supported by 18th century technology. Different parts of the country fare better or worse depending on their locations to urban areas. Gangs roam the land, bringing death and destruction to any remaining survivors.

What is frightening about this book is the fact that it is a very real possibility. The government is currently studying EMP attacks, as it is probably a more real threat than the thermonuclear attack we have always been raised to fear. If you ever had a thought of having your home prepared for a disaster, you will be propelled into action after reading the horrors entailed here for anyone who does not.

The day after reading I could not help but realize how fully dependent we are on electronics and technology. I found myself cataloging each thing I did during the day. How long can you last with the food in your pantry and maybe a week's worth of water before it becomes contaminated and cholera, dysentery, and thyphoid break out?

You may not have ever imagined America as a third-world country. This book will force you to.

By the way, if you have a project due or deadline, finish it before you pick this book up. It sucks you right in and you are compelled to finish it instead of doing anything else. I really came to love and care about the characters. It was hard to "watch" as the worst befell them.

Forstchen delivers a frightening warning about one possible asymmetrical attack on the U.S. We hope (pray) that this is just a post-apocalyptic story, but if we are wrong, the consequences are horrifying.

The same Washington incompetents who brought us the recession, trillions of dollars in deficits, Iraq/Afghanistan, and a bankrupt social security program, are responsible for protecting us from this sort of disaster. Why don't I feel safe?

Forstchen's book is sad, scary and depressing. He rightfully points out that in a Hobbesian world, there are going to be no winners, just the dead and a few survivors. There is a glimmer of hope in the goodness of some people, but the price to discover that virtue is high.

The book prodded me to do two things:
- Buy 50 pounds of rice for my emergency kit; and
- Pressure my Congressional representatives to do a better job.

Best book that Forstchen has written.

I decided to read this book because the subject matter intrigued me; there are more thorough explanations of the premise in the official summary and the other comments, but the gist of it is that civilized society erodes in the aftermath of a terrorist attack that shuts down all electricity.

I was ultimately disappointed, however, by the book's clumsy storytelling. It veers towards melodrama (WOE IS MEEEEE! All. the. time) and its characters are bland and underdeveloped (if you're a good character, you're Good with a capital "G," and anything morally dubious you do is for the greater good: putting the needs of the many above the needs of the few. If you're bad, you're *very* Bad, and are generally faceless, nameless, and incomprehensible, with no apparent redeeming qualities or sense of humanity. I found it hard to empathize with anybody--I could sympathize, yes, but nothing compelled me to care for the protagonist or the other characters on any level beyond the superficial. Frankly, the death in this book that disturbed me the most--and there were a lot to chose from--was a dog's, and I attribute that to me being a softie for animals).

Further, the book is seriously, stylistically flawed. So much so that I'm devoting a whole paragraph to it. Every time a character "interjected" something "coldly" or "with tears in [their] eyes" or the passage wallowed in angsty, contemplative ponderings, Hollywood-style speeches, poorly-constructed conversations, symbolic deaths, film references, song lyrics, or infodumps, it would jar me right out of the story; I found myself dwelling more on the weak writing than the story itself. Also, a lot of important action occurs off the page and we're told about it afterwards, which robs the story of its immediacy and power (for example--and please don't read the rest of this section in the parenthesis if you haven't read the book yet, as I'm about to reveal some SPOILERS--we don't get to see much of John's relationship with Makala, and what we do see is generally them interacting in a non-romantic context (excepting a few extremely obvious, extremely awkward mentions of John looking at Makala's body back near when they first meet). We are *told* that John and Makala are attracted to one another, but we don't get to see it. Instead, the chapters jump forward in time and we find out through exposition that Makala has been visiting John's house and bonding with him and his family. It's regulated to a background detail that occurred in the past, and because of that we, the audience, are emotionally divorced from it. This pattern repeats all through the story; we are constantly told that John loves his diabetic daughter Jennifer and is terrified about the day her insulin supply will be used up, but we don't really get to see Jennifer as a character--we don't see her much at all, really, or her deteriorating condition, or John's increasing franticness. We don't get to see John and his family going hungry--we're told about it, but we don't *see* the empty plates or feel the clenching rumble of their stomachs--and we see even less of John's other daughter, Elizabeth, than we do of Jennifer, but for some reason we are expected to identify with these characters and care about their troubles. This pattern of skipping over action and later mentioning what happened is once again repeated in the town's battle with the the Posse; we are only shown the last few moments of the battle, and then the chapter summarizes what happened before and spends the rest of the time following John around in the aftermath, where a bunch of people we know only superficially are dying. How can I feel emotionally invested in characters I don't know, undergoing things I only find out about after they've already happened?) Mr. Forstchen obviously doesn't subscribe to the old adage "show, don't tell," and his work suffers for it.

Finally, this book's heavy-handed didacticism irritates me. The author wants us to know that not protecting our electrical components from EMP attack is Very, Very Bad and we should all cling to Christian values and male authority figures in times of crisis, and he's not shy about trying to get that message across. I felt like I was being preached to; while I did find some insight in the book's worry about modern society's dependancy on electricity in order to function, I do feel that it had all the subtlety of an anvil to the head. I also didn't like the pretentiousness of the authorial voice, the constant emphasis on religion, and the passivity and overall uselessness of the female characters in the greater narrative (the five main female characters are Jennifer, Elizabeth, Makala, John's previous mother-in-law (Jen), and the previous mayor (Kate). Three of the five are dependent on John for survival. Jen takes care of the family unit and Makala takes care of John. Makala's contributions to the community as a doctor are usually off-screen, unless she's patching John up or providing ethical guidance; she has no power to create change herself, only to react to it. Kate's only function is to let John explain EMP to her and serve as a conversational foil in council meetings; she, too, has no power to enact change herself, only to respond to the decisions of those in power. And who *are* the people in power? Who are the people we get to see doing things? Men. John, Charlie, Washington, Tom, Dr. Kellor, etc).

This novel had the potential be an insightful and thought-provoking horror story about what happens to us when the lights turn off and the careful infrastructure of our civilization is shattered. But instead it was just mediocre.

On August 7, 2009, the first table top exercise for a year-long power outage was conducted by local emergency management planning officials from Erie County, the city of Buffalo, local towns and mission critical infrastructure managers. This is unique since table top disaster planning scenarios are crafted to encourage us to use our interoperable communications tools and work more effectively together. The EMP/100 year solar storm scenario is qualitatively different from all the other DHS scenarios in that in can take those tools away from us. As in much of the Katrina disaster, we can't be interoperable if we are not operable. (This exercise will be reviewed at the Niagara Falls, NY EMP conference Sep 8-10.)

One Second After is helpful, not only because it walks us through what might be a worst case scenario for EMP, it also prepares us to think about how to work through similar scenarios that can affect power and communications for an extended period of time. The recent warning from the scientific and engineering community presented at August Congressional cyber security hearings has been the recalibration of the worst case 100 yr solar storm scenario. Previously, most thought it might result in a week long black out. Now, consensus from the Space Forum, which includes NASA and NOAA, shows that such a storm could cause a one year black out with power rationing for the subsequent 4-10 years forcing $trillions in economic loss not to mention loss of life.

Once managers of critical infrastructure and emergency management professionals work through these scenarios, they can adjust the reality of such an event for their local environment. Low, medium and high-impact EMP scenarios were outlined in an economic impact assessment of a regional EMP event reported by the updated Congressional Research Service report on EMP from July 21, 2008. The good news is that the underlying economic impact assessment showed that protecting even 10% of critical infrastructure can minimize economic losses by maintaining core infrastructure and situational awareness. That kind of assessment and work is exactly what is called for by the fire code for business continuity, the NFPA 1600.

Unfortunately, many may get caught up in the argument as to whether the EMP issue is a way to push a missile defense program and get stuck in sometimes mean and too often mindless political debate. Since a solar storm can't be shot down with a missile, we can replace that bickering with a call to prepare by hardening 10 per cent or so of our critical infrastructure and think through "work-arounds" while that effort is in progress.

Recent research projects in public-private partnerships with the University of Maryland and the state of Maryland look at the use of EMP-hardened renewable energy systems and fiber optic networks as ways to create robust communication networks and local power alternatives in addition to what might be done to harden the grids. Others are exploring more local food production and storage.

At the end of the book, the question is raised, "why didn't anybody do anything about this ahead of time?" Hopefully, this book, and others like it, will motivate us to work through the issues in our local communities and do something rather than take the easy path of merely arguing over smaller details and partisan political agendas.

I'm a big fan of the genre, and, coincidentally, I read "Alas, Babylon" just weeks before I started this book and was therefore very pleased to see so many comparisons drawn to it. Sadly, I saw relatively few significant similarities between these books. The obvious "post-apocalyptic story of survival focusing on one family in a struggling town" aside, where Alas focuses on a exciting story driven delivery that conveys the horrors of Nuclear attack, "One Second After" trudges through lecture-worthy detail, spending entire dialogue driven chapters giving transcript like details of the emergency council meetings.

In one of these meetings they discuss how to handle the survivalists which are living in the mountains. I found myself thinking, "Wow, I wish this story was about the rugged mountain survivalists family and I didn't have to read this crappy transcript of a emergency town hall meeting."

Twice in one of these meetings, it references John's thoughts being "...how much like Kings meeting to barter..." and then, a few paragraphs later, lead character John actually interrupts the riveting discussion on tetanus booster availability to say to the rest of the characters, "...how much like a meeting of Kings this is...". We get it History Professor. You have, once again, over-explained the obvious without a nuance of interesting story. So much time is spent discussing politics surrounding the survival efforts instead of the efforts of survival themselves.

The story never gets exciting or gains any sense of urgency because of burdensome story telling.

As a review note: I can overlook grammar and editorial mistakes. I read books to be entertained and have no problem insulating my enjoyment from poor editing. They are there, but my review is based purely on the story and how it was delivered, not the relevance on the premise or how it was typed. Nor do I consider the authors political views.

First, the griping in many reviews about typos and the imperfect writing is pathetic. Knock off a star for bad editing, if you must but to give it one star because "hoard" was misspelled as "horde" is rather anal-retentive.
In the late seventies I was part of a group in my physics department that discussed the EMP question. At the time we calculated it would kill about twice as much of the population as a percentage as the 1918 flu (which killed more people than the First World War). Of course, at that time electronics were far less susceptible to an EMP.
I feel this book understates the effect such an attack would have--if, as postulated--it involved several weapons detonated to cover the entire US. Some of the more complex electronics would still survive, but how much would depend on the yield and design of the weapons. If such an attack were timed to coincide with the onset of winter, the effects would be far worse than those in the book.
I live in earthquake country, and I have lived in hurricane country. I'm trained in outdoor survival and am a medic. I have six months of food, 110 gallons of water, plus many other survival items. I possess several firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition...but I am not some wild-eyed survivalist: I'm simply prudent. But if we were hit with a full-scale EMP attack, I would not expect to make it. It would take years to stabilize even a small part of the country, and decades to even begin to talk about "recovery."
So what do we do? As others have noted, protecting our infrastructure is paramount. The military must be able to function, or nothing could be done without looting (for example, moving trainloads of supplies).
Do I think anything will be done? No. So we'd better hope it doesn't happen.
And, oh, by the way--an extremely serious solar flare could do nearly as much, and it would be worldwide. Modern civilization would be set back by a generation, at the very least.
Have a nice day.

After hearing this book promoted on Sean Hannity, and THEN endorsed by Brad Thor, coupled with the fact that I love "end of the world" novels... reading this book was a no-brainer. I've heard about EMP's on `Coast to Coast AM' a few times but never really took my interest any further. This book, albeit fiction was a very scary slap in the face. There is no doubt that this could happen and if (hopefully not WHEN) this happens the horrors described in this book will seem like child's play.

William does a magnificent job describing how our society would fare in the aftermath of an EMP. Man, it's even scary just thinking what would happen if our entire power grid just... just fried! The residents of Black Mountain find themselves a society unto themselves after the unthinkable happens. I really started to wonder if society would deteriorate as fast as Mr. Forstchen wrote. Food rationing, martial law, overnight cults, cannibalism, public executions, and death rates that climb faster than the temperature in the Mojave Desert.

I was, however, a little surprised at how short this book was considering the subject matter. That being said, trust the buzz on this one yall because it is a very entertaining, very worthwhile, very scary, please-wake-up read. Now I wonder if the people who NEED to read this book, will?