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The books thesis is that nuclear war is far more survivable than the public has been led to believe. It's an eye-opening perspective for sure. But this is not
by Barrera 5y ago
The books thesis is that nuclear war is far more survivable than the public has been led to believe. It's an eye-opening perspective for sure.
But this is not the kind of book you're going to be able to use in a crisis. The appendixes contain how-tos for:
1. building a fallout shelter
2. building a ventilation device for the shelter
3. building a dosimeter
The problem is that these instructions are mixed with commentary. Lots of it. There are half a dozen or so types of shelter you can build. Which one do you build? Go figure. What should be simple recipes are ordeals in concentration. I can only imagine the kinds of heated conversations that would take place should this guide be pulled out and used in anger as the hand crank radio crackles with terrifying reports of unthinkable events.
What the book has going for it is field testing. The methods described were tried out on regular folk who were paid to participate and paid bonuses for certain milestones. The author claims good results.
Apparently this was all done as part of a federally-sponsored program that no politician wanted to see become public policy.
One of the most useful parts of the book is a prediction of fallout zones across the US. The author notes that even at the time of publication, this was 10 years old. Imagine a map of the US with greyscale clouds running left/right. Darker means more potential for fallout. Really hard to do given uncertainties, but maybe valuable for big-picture planning. I'm not aware of a more modern map.
- q1w2 5y agoWith some basic tools, a very simple shelter can be constructed with 2-3 days. Sufficient enough to keep you alive and radiation free. The real trick is not starving after.
- giantg2 5y agoTo be fair, no book is going to be very useful in a crisis. It's helpful only if you read and prepare before hand. In the actual crisis, there likely won't be time to read it, gather supplies, build a shelter, etc.
- Markoff 5y agoI mean everyone should be familiar to seek shelter with food and water at least for few days and you will have then plenty of times to read while waiting for going outside. Just not exactly sure how you are gonna read PDF after EMP caused by nuclear bomb.
- pelasaco 5y agoerr.. print now?
- giantg2 5y agoWhy downvote this? What's the counter point?
- novaleaf 5y agoThis offers a modern approximation to both targets and fallout maps, but not sure I would say it's "better" as in my area (Seattle) the targets east of Tacoma seem suspiciously placed. https://www.nuclearwarmap.com/ https://www.nuclearwarmap.com/
- ethbr0 5y agoWhat the heck is NE of Appomattox, VA that deserves such a plastering?
- LargoLasskhyfv 5y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Weather_Emergency_Operations_Center https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Weather_Emergency_Operat... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrenton_Training_Center https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrenton_Training_Center
- mbg721 5y agoIt took a long time (for the general public) to learn how strategically important the Greenbrier was; there could be all sorts of baggage there.
- nostrademons 5y agoThey're labeled as Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Uncertain if it's just an error in the map or if they're assuming some missiles will miss.