How Do You Avoid Impending Doom? Dig. Bunker: Building for the End Times is nothing if not a timely analysis of people hunkering down over time and across the world. Fittingly enough, Bradley Garrett, a social and cultural geographer, completed the book while quarantined at home due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Prior to the lockdowns, Garrett met with a handful of individuals all motivated to build and fortify bug out locations. Moreover, he visited government funded subterranean facilities meant to protect countries' citizens or, in the United States, high-level officials. Garrett effectively conveyed just how diverse the people building and buying bunkers are. Tech billionaires, con...
Enjoy the Decline Book Review
The Decline is Accelerating Aaron Clarey of Captain Capitalism fame published Enjoy the Decline back in 2013. Clarey, a self-described "motorcycling, fossil-hunting, tornado chasing, book-writing, ballroom dancing economist," made his strong grip on economics clear throughout the 204 pages of Enjoy the Decline. One of Clarey's primary concerns back in 2013 was the government deficit. Having recognized that the government failed to build a surplus during a market upswing, Clarey figured further taxation would be the only way to cure the United States out of its self-inflicted disease. Now, seven years later, we're in the midst of a global pandemic and further built upon our debt...
The Final Day Book Review
The End of the Beginning The third and final book in the One Second After series picks up nearly three years after "The Day." John Matherson and the citizens of Black Mountain are beginning to bring power back online. Each survivor of The Day has grown to be self-sufficient, hunting for food, foraging, and splitting wood. Moreover, each citizen of Black Mountain was responsible to provide a service to the community. "...as it was in the beginning, so it is again..." (43) After the violent encounters with Fredericks and the self-proclaimed government in Bluemont, the townspeople can focus on getting things back to normal. The winter has already proven to be a tough one, so food an...
The Coddling of the American Mind Book Review
Raising Our Children the Wrong Way Safe Space. Microaggression. Trigger Warning. These new terms have invaded the lexicon of college campuses as Generation Z (those born after 2000) begins to leave the safety of their childhood homes to attend college. Greg Lukianoff, an attorney advocating for civil liberties in academia, partnered with social psychologist Jonathan Haidt in authoring The Coddling of the American Mind. The product of their collaboration is a critique of today's parenting style in which children are treated as fragile. Risk averse parents and school administrators don't allow children to assess risks themselves; rather, exposure to any such risks is eliminated thr...
One Year After Book Review
Adapting to Life after "The Day" William Forstchen continues his story about the people of Black Mountain after an EMP strike in One Year After. Readers learn that over 80% of Americans have died in the year following the EMP strike. Over half of the population of Japan, Eastern Europe, western Russia, and the Ukraine have also perished. The survivors find that much of America has devolved into chaos as tribal factions vie for power over the remaining states. China has deployed troops under the guise of "maintaining stability." The US government, in an effort to restore order, issued draft notices to hundreds of military aged men and women in Black Mountain. We rejoin the story's ...