One Second After by William Forstchen

Kristi chose the book and hosted the meeting.

Kristi welcomed us to her home with lit candles and camping equipment making the food - no use of electricity to be found! How creative for our book's theme! Thank you Kristi for hosting.

The author, William Forstchen, is a professor at Monterat College in North Carolina. He is a pilot and has two daughters. He is the author of 40 books, mostly historical fiction genre. He wrote books with Newt Gingrich. This book was a New York Times best seller and was cited on the floor of Congress concerning potential EMP damage to the United States.

Our discussion centered around our choices that we would make if this really happened to our country. Most of us agreed that we would not last very long. We questioned if our country would be prepared for a disaster of this magnitude. This book and event reminded members of the Y2K event years ago and how people were stock piling food and supplies.

We discussed how transportation and communication would be essential to get the country improving to return to a quality of life. If desperate, most of us agreed that we too, like the book, would eat our pets to survive.

Difficult decisions were made by the town's "government" after the crisis. Leaders had to decide who was getting food and medicine, how it was to be distributed, and who was permitted to enter the town. Martial law occurred, but too late to control essential control of food and medicine. Morals of the townspeople were thrown out the window. Sense of community did not happen and families looked out for their own. Some felt that they could consider cannibalism to survive, while others in the group felt that they could not do that.

North Korean current issues were discussed and to what degree their capabilities are for damage to other countries.

Words used to describe this book were: interesting, gripping, scary, anxious, well-written, thought provoking, warfare strategy, worrisome content, cigarette fixated, and kept attention. Scores ranged from 7.13 to 9 with one 4. 

One Second After website: http://www.onesecondafter.com/