Posted: 5/3/2010 4:54:34 AM EDT
| thoughts. I just got done reading it. seemed to be more on par with what would happen to society in a total collapse.. anarchy, starvation, anybody with severe medical conditions dying off within days or weeks of it. just a really bleak outlook on the future with trying to survive..couple that with it was set within 2 hours of where i live and i found it to a scary disturbing read albeit a more realistic one. |
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Your thoughts pretty much echo mine. It was pretty dreary reading it, but I think it's more realistic than some of the other survival fiction, like Patriots and Lights Out.
Also, OSA focused more on food, medicine, and illness than the more glamorous topics of guns, ammo, and camo. It really got me thinking about storing food and medical items. |
| I just read it a few weeks ago, and agree with both of you. I believe it was pretty realistic. Also check out a book called "Alas Babylon" Its out on the internet as a PDF, you can find it on a couple of the big sites where you can download them. It was written in the late 50's at the height of the cold war, and it also was a good realistic scenario. |
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The part that I found thought provoking was the fact that local government was still partially working. Most survivalist fiction has the government either completely destroyed, or has the protagonist take over the local government. Here, the viewpoint character had to deal with a sherriff that wanted to seize his (still working) car, as well as a discussion about how, or whether, to seize local food supplies.
Local authorities are definately a source of concern for me WTSHTF. They can't be controlled, except by higher authority or by use of direct force. Higher authority will probably be absent in a really bad situation, and I do not want to be the first one to start shooting at the cops. We will all need the cops, but we also need to keep them under some sort of control. OSA took this idea and played with it a little, and that is a good thing. Steve |
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Quoted:
Your thoughts pretty much echo mine. It was pretty dreary reading it, but I think it's more realistic than some of the other survival fiction, like Patriots and Lights Out. Also, OSA focused more on food, medicine, and illness than the more glamorous topics of guns, ammo, and camo. It really got me thinking about storing food and medical items. me also, i started thinknig about stocking up on MREs and dry foods, and raiding a pharmacy  bad shit when you think about it. guns and ammo will only go so far in a survival situation
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Quoted:
The part that I found thought provoking was the fact that local government was still partially working. Most survivalist fiction has the government either completely destroyed, or has the protagonist take over the local government. Here, the viewpoint character had to deal with a sherriff that wanted to seize his (still working) car, as well as a discussion about how, or whether, to seize local food supplies. The government structure in OSA was almost the best case scenario for a survivalist in this regard. You could be on your own and they would leave you alone, or you could sign up for a share of the town's rations but had to sacrifice all your remaining supplies into the common pantry. Note the protagonist stayed on his own for nearly the whole book IIRC. That is about the most freedom-oriented way that it could be set up, and I would think quite rare if a real situation happened. I guess if the town had enough resources to keep the "masses" satisfied, the loners would be safe from seizure under color of law or by mob action, but I don't think it would work that way in real life. Even with a decent daily ration, thinking about "those rich guys stuffing their faces in their compound" (even if the reality would likely be no better than the town) would lead many people to do some bad things in the absence of good moral leadership. |
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I liked it better than the patriot, and more believable However, the patriot is not a book you can pass on to aquantances without them thinking you are a total and complete nut, where as OSA is a book to pass on Great point...Entry level and doesn't throw all of the tech and bible thumping in their face... |
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I liked it better than the patriot, and more believable However, the patriot is not a book you can pass on to aquantances without them thinking you are a total and complete nut, where as OSA is a book to pass on +1 i agree with you guys, patriots was an ill written survivalists wet dream. its a reprint from the 90s when that whole movement was going on. he cashed in back in the day, updated the book and did it again.. i wasted 10$. OSA on the other hand was a good read. was everything spot on, no. but the author got the meat and potato issues right. i've herd alas babylon is a good book, i need to amazon it. |