One Second After by William R. ForstchenMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
As my friend Mathew Koeneker wrote in August, I was a little surprised to be finding myself reading a book with a foreword by Newt Gingrich. I was even more surprised that I actually read the foreword, which, perhaps to my shame, I tend to ignore in most books that are not of particular import to me.
That's where Mat and I's outlooks diverge.
*POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
I didn't find One Second After to be particularly worthwhile. It failed to rise to the level of interesting until page 161 or so, where a half-hearted patriotic quote is to be found.
It did not raise my awareness of EMP, nor my alarm level. In this day and age there are so many threats, and we have no idea what our government is or is not doing to protect us. Perhaps the politician and Navy officer responsible for, respectively, the foreword and afterword, know something Joe Plumber does not? Or could it be that perhaps this disgraced and fined politician and mere Navy captain are not as well-informed as they'd like to be these days, and are simply trumpeting an issue for the sake of selling a book? That is what this book leaves me asking, not, "Are we doing enough to protect ourselves from EMP?" (Then again, I think the planet could use a good die-off ...)
Sure, I teared up a tiny bit at the death of the dog, and then the daughter, but to be frank, the plot and pace of this work was pretty awful.
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