Just Out: One Second After by Fortschen-a must read!

[wordnerd]

Heaven Forbid - you know I can't pass up a book!!!
Just ordered it!
Thanks

[quietnite]

Dammit, Wordy, I wish we lived closer so I could just lend it to you!

[wordnerd]

I'm starting to have a real library here
Every time I check our local library for a book I want to read - they don't have it
I'm a member of BOMC2   http://www.bomc2.com
I HAVE to buy a book every month - but the books are $9.95 + tax - no shipping charges
You don't get any little catalogs - you just go on -line and make a list of the books you want - and they send you one every month for $9.95
I have 43 books on my list    So I don't have to add to my list for awhile.
What I'll do though is check out new arrivals and add them - then eliminate sone others
They didn't have One Second After though - so Amazon

[quietnite]

I've noticed that too, about the library and even the bookstores. As my reading becomes more specialized (read doomer) I can't find the books I want currently and have to order. 

[kermujin]

Why is there a $399.00 copy of this book on buy it used Amazon...?!

I'm gathering it's not out in paperback yet?
Darn!

[quietnite]

Kermujin, no it's hardback.  PM me if you want me to mail it to you...if I loan it out I don't feel like such a spendthrift for buying a hardback.

Quietnite

[OdysseusNTexas]

I just finished reading the book.  It was on sale at Barnes and Noble and made for a good read over the weekend.    I do quarrel with some of the ideas in the book.  The lead character is a college professor and ex military man.  He has made no prepartions for any doom times.  I think all of us who are reading this and who are preparing wonder why the heck people in America are not stockpiling food and heir medicines.
  One of the sub plots in the film is about the main character's daughter, who is using insulin.  On the day of the EMP he goes to the pharmacy and gets 5 vials of insulin.  What the heck is he thinking?  His daughter will die without this, and he does not even have a few vials stockpiled at home?  He has not had the doctors change from one variety of insulin to another and kept the leftovers?  He does not realize that insulin Regular and NPH ( longer acting) are sold without a prescription?  You can walk in to the store and plunk down $22 at Walmart and get a vial.  Same for diabetes supplies.  Sold without prescriptions now.  So why is every doomer diabetic not getting at least a year's worth of insulin to keep on hand.   When someone with diabetes died, who got the last of their vials of insulin?  If someone lived in the town and did not return when the EMP took places, did no one go into their house and see of theyr had any medicines or food in the house?   
   The main character gets a wound on his hand that gets septic.  Can anyone raise a hand here and tell me, when the doctor last prescribed antibiotics, I took all of them?  I had none left over.  Yeah.  right.  He had to use up some valuable antibiotics because of the infection.  But all of us have antibiotics in the cupboard, right?
   I love how the doctors in the book are all kind and working long hours, giving up extra rations, and talking about how withthe calories at this level, this is what we can expect in deaths in the community.  It is really asking for a lot of suspension of disbelief.  When calorie deprivation sets in one does not think clearly.  The author could have made a more pronounced statement, when the doctors start taking about triaging patients, and giving care and medicines to some and letting others die, it would be interesting to see what personal quirks of their personalities work into the play.  No morphine they were talking about to those who were dying of cancer, so it can be used later for those who needed recovery after an accident.  It makes for great armchair discussions, but how does this play in real life with physicians who have taken a Hippocratic oath?
     
   

[Broil]

Just a note about libraries - sometimes they will buy a book if you ask them to.  I've gotten to read several that way which I wouldn't have spent the money for.

[wordnerd]

I have it - I'm reading it.
Had to work all dy - but now going to go lock myself in someplace and read.  (probably with a cat in my lap!) 

[Zac]

This is a scientifically accurate EMP apocalyptic novel by a famous mainstream author. Be forewarned, the telling is grim and the ending is not a happy one.

I just started reading it.  While it is interesting and fun reading, the initial scenes of cars stopped all over the highway as a result of EMP is inconsistent with test data which suggests very few cars would be disabled by EMP.  Likewise, a battery powered device (lacking antennas or long length of attached wire) like a glucose meter is unlikely to be damaged by EMP.  Implanted devices such as pacemakers are also unlikely to be damaged. 

In the unlikely event the electronics in a car were damaged by EMP, there is no reason the reason the starter motor would not turn over or the lights not work.  It may not start because of damage to the engine/ignition control electronics, but the starter motor and the solenoid and relays that actuate it would still be fully functional.  Likewise, incandescent lights would be unaffected by EMP.  Lights controlled by manual switch or electromechanical relay would not be affected by EMP. 

If the rest of the book is like this, I would question its scientific accuracy. 

The EMP report released a few years ago is quite interesting reading and is the most comprehensive study I have seen in open literature:

http://empcommission.org/

Zac

[Randwulf]

In the unlikely event the electronics in a car were damaged by EMP,

If you dig deeper into the matter, I think you will find that the likelyhood depends on the size of the explosion.  The Russians, for example, had planned to expode a 100 megaton nuke 200 miles above the US.

there is no reason the reason the starter motor would not turn over or the lights not work.  It may not start because of damage to the engine/ignition control electronics, but the starter motor and the solenoid and relays that actuate it would still be fully functional. 

If the voltage regulator is electronic and is fried, then, yes, nothing will work. Later in the book, it does mention that some newer cars were modified to run.

Likewise, incandescent lights would be unaffected by EMP.  Lights controlled by manual switch or electromechanical relay would not be affected by EMP. 

I'm not sure you understand the concept here. The lights [and everything else] don't work because the electrical grid went down permanently. No electricity means no lights.  And yes, the North American electrical grid is highly susceptable to EMP.  Somewhere in the book, maybe the afterword, it mentions an actual even where part of the Canadian grid went down due to solar activity.

If the rest of the book is like this, I would question its scientific accuracy. 

Without field trials, all science is just theory. The report you cite only simulated the emp effect on a small scale. Do we really want to find out how accurate Fortschen's science actually is?

[Randwulf]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj54FcI7_dE (External Embedding Disabled)

Above is a clip from the Discovery channel on the effect of EMP on a Taurus.

[Zac]

In the unlikely event the electronics in a car were damaged by EMP,

If you dig deeper into the matter, I think you will find that the likelyhood depends on the size of the explosion.  The Russians, for example, had planned to expode a 100 megaton nuke 200 miles above the US.

There is no reasonthe starter motor would not turn over or the lights not work.  It may not start because of damage to the engine/ignition control electronics, but the starter motor and the solenoid and relays that actuate it would still be fully functional. 

If the voltage regulator is electronic and is fried, then, yes, nothing will work. Later in the book, it does mention that some newer cars were modified to run.

The voltage regulator in the alternator only controls battery charging when the engine is running.  It has no effect on the battery supplying power to the car lights or the starter motor.

Likewise, incandescent lights would be unaffected by EMP.  Lights controlled by manual switch or electromechanical relay would not be affected by EMP. 

I'm not sure you understand the concept here. The lights [and everything else] don't work because the electrical grid went down permanently. No electricity means no lights.  And yes, the North American electrical grid is highly susceptable to EMP.  Somewhere in the book, maybe the afterword, it mentions an actual even where part of the Canadian grid went down due to solar activity.

The lights I mentioned referred to the lights in the cars.  The author said all the lights in the car were dark and that the engine would not turn over. 

If the rest of the book is like this, I would question its scientific accuracy. 

Without field trials, all science is just theory. The report you cite only simulated the emp effect on a small scale. Do we really want to find out how accurate Fortschen's science actually is?

There is a good understanding of what field strengths would be achieved with the largest weapons in the russian inventory.  They are in the range of what they tested.  It's possible that a weapon designed specifically to maximize EMP effects could increase that field strength, but I doubt by an order of magnitude (10x).  Keep in mind that electromagnetic field strength diminishes to the square of the distance. 

Zac

[freeyourmind]

I read the entire Lost Regiment series while in high school. Forstchen is an excellent writer. I will keep my eye out for this one.

[wordnerd]

Well IF it were to happen - we could never say "I told you so" ---- no communication