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If you haven't read any Stephen King, how can you just arbitrarily proclaim it to be 'unrealistic'? Believe me, though there are parts of The Stand that are pure fantasy (Flagg's seemingly unlimited powers for example) the main premise of the tale (the 'super flu' and the resulting collapse of society) is very believable. Scared the pants off me thirty years ago when it was first published and ten years later when he added back all of the stuff that was originally cut (plus a bit more) it was even scarier.
People who spent very few years in school and did almost no reading had excellent eyesight in their later years. Reading and studying is what destroys our eyes. I've been birdwatching all over the world. In third world countries, I've met many rural people in their 50s and older, who can see the details on a distant bird with his naked eye, that I could barely see with binoculars.
LOL--same sort of gross, groundless, over-generalizations, but on a different day and with a different subject. Reading destroys our eyes? What next, exercising destroys our muscles? Because reading and studying are akin to exercise for our eyes. See, (pun intended) inorder to retain the elasticity in our corneas it is necessary to make use of both our long- and short-range vision. Becoming near- or far-sighted is loss of elasticity. Just as lack of muscle use leads to atrophy.
And of course there were nearsighted pioneers, just as there have always been near and farsighted people. We think we see more of them now but it's just because we're more aware of it--like all other physical maladies becasue of our increased wealth and physical awareness and advances in optometry and opthamology; along with vastly easier and cheaper (adjusted for inflation) access to corrective lenses.
As far as your rural birder friends posessing keen eyesight, this is probably because they have exercised and trained their eyes to hone in on small faraway objects, as well as the fact they're simply blessed with good distance vision. I guarantee you there are plenty of birdwatchers out there who also see just fine at distance, but who grew up reading books. And also birders who never read much but now are so nearsighted they need coke-bottle lensed glasses to pursue their passion for orinthology.
Read the book ONE SECOND AFTER. I can't recall the name of the author but the book is fairly recent. The premise of the book is what happens immediately after the United States is attacked by unknown terrorists using an Electromagnetic Pulse Weapon. EMP's are real! A quick GOOGLE search will give you more information about them than you can read in a day.
Of all the apocalyptic stories I have read in the last forty years this one is one of the most realistic and likely events that could happen.
A book that should be read by everyone. Especially our leaders.
GL2
I started reading One Second After, but I had a hard time getting into it. I was hoping for some systematic study of the biological/environmental/social aspects of what an EMP weapon attack would do. It's a little hokey to me-it seems to really focus on the man and how worried he is about his daughters.
So...I put it down and got started on The Road yesterday...this one is very very bleak.
Just finished reading One Second After, literally five minutes ago. Need to digest before I really judge, but just wanted to say I enjoyed it (at least that is my initial reaction).
Just finished reading One Second After, literally five minutes ago. Need to digest before I really judge, but just wanted to say I enjoyed it (at least that is my initial reaction).
I thought it was superior to "The Road."
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I agree Orangeish. THE ROAD was so bleak that I dreaded what awaited on the next page. ONE SECOND AFTER was bleak also but at least the good guys had a chance. Not so in THE ROAD.
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I agree Orangeish. THE ROAD was so bleak that I dreaded what awaited on the next page. ONE SECOND AFTER was bleak also but at least the good guys had a chance. Not so in THE ROAD.
GL2
Ya, I agree with you as well. I was glued to both books honestly, but like you said rather well, with "The Road" it was dread with every page turn. That is not a sign of a bad book, or a reflection on the authors talent, but just the emotions it brought it me. To me it seemed like you could tell a dying man was writing it (I don't know if CM is dying). "One Second After" was more like a paranoid man (AKA Chicken Little, but much more plausible) written a book trying to warn us.
Seriously, I LOVE these kinds of books!! Intense, suspenseful, freaky, and apocolyptic. PERFECT. I want to read this book now! I am going to go and purchase it. Thank you for sharing this!!
PS: Ever read "The Taking" by Dean Koontz? THAT has some freakish stuff... the beginning is positively terrifying! I love Dean Koontz; he is very very good at writing scary-as-heck novels!
Seriously, I LOVE these kinds of books!! Intense, suspenseful, freaky, and apocolyptic. PERFECT. I want to read this book now! I am going to go and purchase it. Thank you for sharing this!!
PS: Ever read "The Taking" by Dean Koontz? THAT has some freakish stuff... the beginning is positively terrifying! I love Dean Koontz; he is very very good at writing scary-as-heck novels!
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Thanks Jay,
I will add THE TAKING to my TBR list. I like Dean Koontz but the last one of his I read was MR.MURDER so I have some catching up to do.
GL2
I definitly want to read The Road and One Second After. I read Swan Song by Robert McCammon a while ago and loved it. Swan Song is about life after a nuclear war. It has more fantasy elements in it, but still a great read.
Read the book ONE SECOND AFTER. I can't recall the name of the author but the book is fairly recent. The premise of the book is what happens immediately after the United States is attacked by unknown terrorists using an Electromagnetic Pulse Weapon. EMP's are real! A quick GOOGLE search will give you more information about them than you can read in a day.
Of all the apocalyptic stories I have read in the last forty years this one is one of the most realistic and likely events that could happen.
A book that should be read by everyone. Especially our leaders.
GL2
I read this book last year, and encourage anyone to read it if they have even a fleeting belief in a possible national disaster. There are different "disasters", but this book a good portrayal of how the nation starts going to Hell in a hand-basket within a few short weeks because of no electricity. We rely on electricity for everything ~ including our cars. The world is run on technology (computers), which relies on electricity.
It is very chilling, and it gave me a broadened sense of necessity to be as well-prepared as possible.
I would like to see it made into a GOOD movie without making it look like borderline corny; however, I've a hunch that the producer/director would very well cheapen it.
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