We’re doomed.

For real

As a teen in 1983, I remember watching The Day After, a made for TV movie about a hypothetical escalation of a conflict with the USSR into full scale nuclear war. At the end of the movie, the film makers were careful to state that the actual reality would be much worse than they could have depicted onscreen. I remember being very scared then, and wondering why we would senselessly destroy each other like that. In reading Ms. Jacobsen’s book, all those fears have come back home. At times the book reads like a technical treatise, with tons of government and military acronyms, but it is also very human in that it describes a very plausible scenario to rapid escalation due to human failures. Graphic descriptions of the physical effects of nuclear weapons are liberally sprinkled throughout the book. I must admit that after reading cover to cover within a few hours, I found it difficult to sleep. At first I found it curious the author doesn’t really offer a solution, but that was never her goal in the first place. This is a call to action, not only to remind older folks like me (and younger folks for the first time) that nuclear detente was never truly a thing, but if anything we are in far more danger due to “Mad Kings” who have acquired the bomb. Sadly history has showed we are a warlike species, bent on dominating our adversaries, even if it means self-immolation.

Interesting but painfully redundant. Also, if Korea wanted to successfully attack the US with an “Out of the Blue” attack, why not use the EMT Doomesday explosion first? Why wait?

Great from a second by second description, but naive in thinking the "mad kings" will give up their nuclear weapons which would just leave the rest of the world at the mercy of Iran, North Korea, and Russia. Wishing they would won't change reality.

Great way to tell a very depressing story. Well done!

Hard to put down.

This should be mandatory reading for all presidential candidates and their eventual cabinet picks. It’s disturbing how close we are to utter annihilation. Well written and engaging, couldn’t put it down.

This was an interesting read for about the first half, but quickly descended into a repetitive and frankly far-reaching scenario of a “perfect storm” that annihilates the planet. The author’s descriptions also became continually repetitive (‘carbonized’ and other phrases are used countless times). It gets old, really quickly. We all think nuclear war is bad, but this nihilistic viewpoint fails to take into account the ever-existing hope, creativity, and resourcefulness of the human spirit.

One of the most thought provoking (and scary) books I have read in years.