Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen

Forget horror novels, forget the horror that is the parental abuse and incest of Flowers in the Attic, forget it all. Do you know what the most terrifying book I've ever read is? Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen.

Jacbosen, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, has spent years researching the threat of nuclear war, and her work is showcased in this terrifying but mesmerizing book in which she details a very plausible scenario of a retaliatory nuclear war that leads to a massive extinction event. Thanks, I hate every bit of it. I assure that you if I am alive during a nuclear war, I want to die in the initial attack. I don't want to be lingering with nuclear winter, radiation poisoning, or starvation afterwards. 

I don't want to scare anyone, but there are THOUSANDS, maybe tens of thousands, of nuclear weapons on the planet, some in the hands of unstable leaders (*ahem* - not casting stones here, January 20 is just around the corner). Also, the people who make decisions about using nuclear weapons will be making decisions with limited information with very little time to decide. 

There's just so much scary information in this book. Jacobsen used FOIA requests to unseal a lot of previously classified documents; interviewed politicians, military leaders, and scientists; and wrote a super scary write-up of what she learned. And what she learned is bad. In less than an hour and a half, hundreds of nuclear warheads could be released onto this planet. 

Should you read this? Probably not during the week of a huge national election in which a madman was elected to lead these United States of America. But maybe if you feel like you want to know how quickly you can die? 

I listened to the audiobook read by the author and man, Jacobsen's voice is calm and soothing and it was such a contrast between how she sounded and the words she was saying. It was bewitching.

I don't know, friends. Great book, but not the book for every reader. 5/5 stars

Lines of note:

...all it takes is one nihilistic madman with a nuclear arsenal to start a nuclear war no one can win. (timestamp 4:17:56)

Ahem.

They are accustomed to traveling deep underwater for 70 days at a time: no texts, no emails, no radio contact, no radar signature. US Ohio-class submariners pride themselves as being the ultimate nuclear deterrent. Only an insane person would want to be on the receiving end of its wrath. (timestamp 6:38:57)

Oh, dear. 

But executive branch people at Site R are fighting over line of succession protocols from Article II, section 1, clause 4 of The Constitution. At issue is the still unresolved, post-9/11 piece of congressional legislation about what to do after a mass decapacitation event. (timestamp 7:48:40)

Egads. Did anyone else watch Battlestar Gallactica? I keep thinking of the scene where Roslin is 43rd in line of succession...

In a time of nuclear crisis, a central question remains: Who will perform their job dutifully and who will ditch their post and run? Will those in the military chain of command choose country over family or family over country? Can anyone predict such things? Will fate and circumstance play a role? (timestamp 8:08:14)

I'm running. No question here. 

The consequences of a paranoid leader's fear of a preemptive decapitation strike are as real as the nuclear weapons themselves. True in this scenario, true in real life. (timestamp 8:25:36)

Ahem. 

...the only way nuclear war ends is in nuclear holocaust...(page 8:49:51)

Oh, dear AGAIN.

There will be no more fresh water, no more toilets to flush, no sanitation, no street lights, no tunnel lights, no lights at all, only candles until there are none left to burn, no gas pumps, no fuel, no ATMs, no cash withdrawals, no access to money, no cell phones, no landlines, no calling 911, no calls at all, no emergency communication systems, except some high frequency HF radios, no ambulance services, no hospital equipment that works. Sewage spills out everywhere. It takes less than 15 minutes for disease carrying insects to swarm, to feed on piles of human waste, on garbage, on the dead. America's complex system of systems comes to a sudden, apocalyptic halt. (timestamp 10:35:41)

Please let me dead before this comes to pass. 

Hat mentions: 

None

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