One Second After, by William R. Forstchen

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The Annoyed Man
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Re: One Second After, by William R. Forstchen

#31

Post by The Annoyed Man »

Skiprr wrote:
Abraham wrote:With your background, I'd bet you're familiar with Robert Gottlieb?

I just finished his memoir/biography "Avid Reader: A Life"
Now, that's a name I haven't heard in a long time; in fact, I didn't know he was still alive.

I didn't know about this book. Amazon says it was published last September, and I'm going to snag a copy now. Thanks for mentioning it.
Everything Skiprr said above, plus some. I very much enjoy reading the genre. Like Skiprr says, I've acclimated myself to the typos, unless they are particularly egregious. I'm currently reading the Kindle edition of "The Fourth Turning: What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America's Next Rendezvous with Destiny" by William Strauss and Neil Howe. It is NOT fiction. It's more a book about the philosophies and methodologies of the study of history. It has quite a few typos in it. I've had to just let them go.

But getting back to the genre of books like "One Second After" and "Lights Out" for a moment, I don't read them to be transported, the way I was transported by Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea", or the essays, short stories, and novels of Samuel Clemens. I read the "One Second After" genre for exactly three purposes:
  1. They can be instructive to people who place a value on some degree of prepping for disaster. It doesn't really matter if the disaster is an EMP, or a global disease epidemic, or a civil war, or a financial meltdown, or whatever. What matters is that many of the techniques, practices, and materials for survival during a catastrophic disaster are the same, regardless of the cause of the disaster. So these books are a good way to learn about what kinds of preparations should one be focusing on.
  2. They are entertaining, plain and simple. They are not complicated reading. They don't require a lot of intellectual horsepower to follow the story, so they're not a workout.
  3. Frankly, my own personal bias confirmation. Many of these authors have similar thoughts to my own about where the country is headed, and how bad it could get if it isn't turned around. I know.......that is a shamelessly indulgent reason, but there it is.
By the way, a former member of this forum has been working for decades in the power delivery industry, and we've been having an ongoing conversation about this stuff for many months now. He has a prepping mindset, and his social/political views mirror my own pretty closely; and HE says that all this EMP stuff is a lot of malarkey. There are far more serious threats, such as terrorist attacks on power distribution stations, etc., which would affect power distribution at the local, or possibly regional, level - but that the risk of an EMP causing a grid-wide shutdown that would paralyze the nation is nearly impossible. It is too well protected actually for a general collapse of the grid to happen.
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”

― G. Michael Hopf, "Those Who Remain"

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Abraham
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Re: One Second After, by William R. Forstchen

#32

Post by Abraham »

E-books are absolutely wonderful.

I have a Nook that allows me to select print size, which for me is maximum. Plus, you have a selection of fonts to choose from.

They're easily portable and well, as you can see, I'm a fan...

Oh yeah, the cost for downloading a book is cheaper (most of the time) than buying a paper book.

As an avid reader, who couldn't learn to read in 1st grade as they taught "sight reading" which didn't work for me. My Dad taught me to read employing a variation of phonics and breaking down words by syllables.

That being said, I was reading James A. Michener by the 6th grade.

I probably knock out a hundred books plus a year, using my Nook and/or my MP3 player listening to books while I perform tedious chores. Tedious chores are no longer tedious, but rather enjoyable when listening to a good book. My three hour mowing and edging is something I look forward to.

Currently, I'm listening to "Living with No Excuses: The Remarkable Rebirth of an American Soldier" an autobiography of Noah Galloway, a double amputee soldier. An outstanding life story of a soldier injured when an IED hit him in Iraq and his subsequent struggle.

I recommend it. Great reading or listening.
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Blkhwkdr
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Re: One Second After, by William R. Forstchen

#33

Post by Blkhwkdr »

This book was a eye opener for me. I never really thought about being prepared, other than to have a generator to run fans, a few lights and the fridge in case of a power outage. Since then, I've add a few long storage food items, water, can goods, solar power backup and ammo stock. I'm a ham radio operator and I placed a small CW transceiver, a straight key and a monoband dipole into a EMP protected container. I'll be never as ready as I want to be, but I feel much better prepared, should I need to hold out for a couple of months.
Last edited by Blkhwkdr on Sat May 13, 2017 1:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: One Second After, by William R. Forstchen

#34

Post by crazy2medic »

Always the subject is about a EMP attack, which would create some serious problems, it would be a minor issue compared to a CME (coronal mass ejection) a EMP would knock electronics as well as damage the electrical grid in a small area, a CME could bathe the planet in enough energy to fry every modern device and take down the electric grid in every country on the planet, effectively taking every modern country back to the 1880s, do some research into the Carrington Event, the last CME past us just outside the distance of the moon!
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extremist
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Re: One Second After, by William R. Forstchen

#35

Post by extremist »

The Annoyed Man wrote:
chasfm11 wrote:I read "One Second After" and am now working on reading his sequel "One Year After"

Another book with a similar perspective is Christian author Blackstock's "Last Light"
There's a sequel to "One Year After" out already, and I've read all three. Good stuff. https://www.amazon.com/Final-Day-Novel- ... cond+after

Also recommend "Lights Out" (same premise - EMP), but Texas specific. https://www.amazon.com/Lights-Out-David ... Lights+Out
Agreed. I enjoyed all 3 books of his, especially the last one. Agree with "Lights Out" - good read. I'll have to heck out "Last Light".

Right now I'm reading the continued series by Joel Rosenberg "Without Warning" being the current one. All worth checking out.
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bblhd672
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Re: One Second After, by William R. Forstchen

#36

Post by bblhd672 »

Tick, Tock: EMP War Looms: https://townhall.com/columnists/katieki ... s-n2326771

Interesting in this article:
Last week, Texas Sen. Bob Hall introduced Senate Bill 83 in the Texas State legislature to protect the Texas power grid against a nuclear EMP attack. Texas is in a unique position in that its electric power grid is entirely independent from the nation’s grid. SB 83 would require the state to develop an EMP prevention plan by September 1 of 2018.
The left lies about everything. Truth is a liberal value, and truth is a conservative value, but it has never been a left-wing value. People on the left say whatever advances their immediate agenda. Power is their moral lodestar; therefore, truth is always subservient to it. - Dennis Prager
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ScottDLS
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Re: One Second After, by William R. Forstchen

#37

Post by ScottDLS »

crazy2medic wrote:Always the subject is about a EMP attack, which would create some serious problems, it would be a minor issue compared to a CME (coronal mass ejection) a EMP would knock electronics as well as damage the electrical grid in a small area, a CME could bathe the planet in enough energy to fry every modern device and take down the electric grid in every country on the planet, effectively taking every modern country back to the 1880s, do some research into the Carrington Event, the last CME past us just outside the distance of the moon!
I'm just reading a book where a CME event is used as the premise (Going Home: Survivalist Series). I tend to agree that it is a bigger doomsday scenario than EMP, therefore a better premise for survivalist fiction than EMP.

My undergraduate education was in Electrical Engineering, Physics, and Astrophysics. So I've put a little thought to the EMP theories out there. I have a sneaking suspicion that EMP doomsday scenarios are the conservative version of Global Warming. In other words, a reasonable hypothesis taken to an extreme for political reasons... :shock:

With nuclear blast caused EMP, as with Man Caused Global Warming, there are a slew of hypotheses out there ranging from non-event to the end of all human life. The truth is probably somewhere in between, with my view being somewhat closer to the non-event side of the scale. My proposition is that preparation for EMP event is only as important as any other preparation for nuclear attack. The best defense is to avoid the attack in the first place with missile defense, non-proliferation, anti-terrorist action, diplomacy, and perhaps in extreme cases pre-emptive strikes (conventional or otherwise).

My difficulty with the doomsday EMP scenarios is with the assumption of massive disruption of microelectronics, computers, etc. by EMP caused electrical induction. The theory (as I understand it) is that an electromagnetic pulse will induce a current in "exposed" conductors to such a large extent as to cause destruction of the circuit through excessive current. I think people who have some experience with electromagnetic and "radio" theory will find this scenario less plausible, at least on a massive scale.

I don't know exactly what proportion of thermonuclear blast energy takes place in the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that induces current in electrical conductors, but for sure it is not 100% if even the majority. There is also, heat, light, UV, x-rays, and neutron radiation to mention a few. All of these attenuate as the cube of the distance from the blast unless focused by the ground or other objects in the case of a ground burst.

The EMP scenarios I have heard presume an air burst or near space exoatmospheric burst. In these scenarios the electromagnetic radiation will definitely attenuate exponentially (cubicly/exponent of 3) based on distance from the blast. In the case of light and heat...yes the atmosphere will block even more than in the "radio" spectrum. But the radio spectrum is significantly less energetic than x-rays, light, and heat anyway.

The length of the conductor involved primarily determines how much current is induced by a given frequency magnetic pulse. That is why transformers, motors, antennae, and other long conductors would be more vulnerable. Coils as in motors, generators, and transformers are mechanisms for fitting the longest conductors in the least amount of space. Therefore I DO see the electricity grid as being vulnerable to EMP, but to what extent, I do not know.

What about the multitude of conductors that lie far from the blast, or underground, or in buildings, or metal boxes. The long wavelengths that induce the biggest currents are the most attenuated by non conductive materials. Microelectronics have by definition very short lengths this would tend to limit the amount of current that could be generated in them. On the other hand, they are very small and can only sustain very low currents before being destroyed. However, SEMI-conductors of which transistors are created are just that, SEMI-conductors. They are ALSO good insulators when not "switched" to conductors by application of current to the control material. I'm not convinced that the vast majority of electronics that are not directly connected to the grid or antennae, would have a current induced in them large enough to destroy their function. :rules:
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