Hello all - first post for me...
It's not focussed on PO, but an undefined apocalyptic scenario, but 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy is well worth a read (just finished it last night).
It's a pretty horrific account of the aftermath of the death of natural systems on an earth in the grip of a kind of nuclear winter...
The important thing to gain from it (other than amazing writing) is that no amount of preperation is enough - people cannot survive alone, no matter how much food you've stored or how big your gun is. The answer is in community and everyone doing their utmost to prepare society (not your own little refuge) for the road ahead.
We cannot survive without each other.
The Road
Moderator: Peak Moderation
See "Book/Media reviews" section:
http://www.powerswitch.org.uk/forum/vie ... php?t=4107
http://www.powerswitch.org.uk/forum/vie ... php?t=4107
Olduvai Theory (Updated) (Reviewed)
Easter Island - a warning from history : http://dieoff.org/page145.htm
Easter Island - a warning from history : http://dieoff.org/page145.htm
I will not be reading The Road - it may push me over the edge! 
I am sure it is a good book, but I don't need to be more negative about the future than I am already.
But welcome onboard ourmaninsomewhere.
Ultimately I agree with you. I just have little (if any) faith we can achieve what you point out, without a lot of pain, distress and loss first.
I am sure it is a good book, but I don't need to be more negative about the future than I am already.
But welcome onboard ourmaninsomewhere.
Ultimately I agree with you. I just have little (if any) faith we can achieve what you point out, without a lot of pain, distress and loss first.
Real money is gold and silver
I got the oppersite out of the book from the first poster , the people who had been in communitys had been flattened , thats why all the houses and farms were burned out .
you didnt see a community anywhere in the book , the man and boy survived by being in a small group , they would have done better if the man hadnt been a sap and had prepared for the nuclear winter .
if he had gone off and built a secret underground bunker stocked it with food and water and fuel he could have stayed there for years , some stored food lasts 35-40 years some longer .
he didnt have a decent weapon or ammunition if he had he would have been able to kill the cannibals keeping people to eat in the cellar , he had to run from them even though there were only four men and two women that he saw coming but all he had was a pistol with 3 rounds .
he strikes me as the average unprepared sap as were all the cannibals ,running off and having the cannibals find out that someone had found their larder and then hunting you down wouldnt have been as smart as killing them when they didnt know you were there .
which if he had say a ar-15 and they were not that well armed would be pretty easy to do
you didnt see a community anywhere in the book , the man and boy survived by being in a small group , they would have done better if the man hadnt been a sap and had prepared for the nuclear winter .
if he had gone off and built a secret underground bunker stocked it with food and water and fuel he could have stayed there for years , some stored food lasts 35-40 years some longer .
he didnt have a decent weapon or ammunition if he had he would have been able to kill the cannibals keeping people to eat in the cellar , he had to run from them even though there were only four men and two women that he saw coming but all he had was a pistol with 3 rounds .
he strikes me as the average unprepared sap as were all the cannibals ,running off and having the cannibals find out that someone had found their larder and then hunting you down wouldnt have been as smart as killing them when they didnt know you were there .
which if he had say a ar-15 and they were not that well armed would be pretty easy to do
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careful_eugene
- Posts: 647
- Joined: 26 Jun 2006, 15:39
- Location: Nottingham UK
The book had the opposite effect on me, the pair faced unbelieveable horror and still survived with their humanity intact. Reading it left a deep impression on me for months after, but my overriding thought was that whatever future we face it won't be this bad.snow hope wrote:I will not be reading The Road - it may push me over the edge!
I am sure it is a good book, but I don't need to be more negative about the future than I am already.
Paid up member of the Petite bourgeoisie
My thoughts exactly. It's a great and powerful novel which has the potential to linger in your thoughts for months, years. But it's not about the world post-PO, it's about something far more horrendous. Our future world of descending energy availability will be hard, traumatic, testing, chaotic, violent even, but it won't be as bad as the world described in The Road.careful_eugene wrote:The book had the opposite effect on me, the pair faced unbelieveable horror and still survived with their humanity intact. Reading it left a deep impression on me for months after, but my overriding thought was that whatever future we face it won't be this bad.snow hope wrote:I will not be reading The Road - it may push me over the edge!
I am sure it is a good book, but I don't need to be more negative about the future than I am already.
Well that's precisely what he found at one stage of the story, but didn't stay there for fear of being discovered eventually. But anyway, let's not give too much of the plot away guys!jonny2mad wrote:if he had gone off and built a secret underground bunker stocked it with food and water and fuel he could have stayed there for years , some stored food lasts 35-40 years some longer .