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4.35 AVERAGE
4.35 AVERAGE
informative
tense
fast-paced
Re-reminder that we are screwed.
The tech is all rather cool though.
The tech is all rather cool though.
challenging
dark
informative
fast-paced
I read Nuclear War: A Scenario during the recent Israel-Iran war, when it genuinely felt like we might be one bad decision away from the abyss. Partly (but by no means entirely) because of that context, I don’t think I’ve ever read anything more sobering or more necessary in a long time. Annie Jacobsen doesn’t do melodrama or political editorializing; she just walks you, minute by minute, through how a nuclear exchange might actually unfold. The result is terrifying precisely because it’s so calm, clinical, and plausible.
This isn’t speculative fiction – it’s a war game with real-world inputs, down to the command protocols, satellite blind spots, and human fallibility built into every step. You can feel the dread ratcheting up with each chapter, not because of shock value, but because you realize how little room there is for error. And how often error is exactly what happens.
Reading this while the headlines were full of real-world escalation made it hit like a punch to the chest. It’s not just a cautionary tale, it’s a map of how we destroy ourselves while still insisting we’re in control. I give it a solid five stars not because I enjoyed it, but because I needed to read it. We all do.
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
Extremely informative but very very dark
Still feel weird giving non fiction book a rating but would probably give it a strong 3 to a light 4.
Pretty harrowing take on nuclear weapons and the fragility of the perpetual stalemate the world sits in. There are some fictional liberties taken to fully explore aspects of nuclear policy/responses but probably needed to happen for the book to be what it is.
The survivors will definitely envy the dead.
Pretty harrowing take on nuclear weapons and the fragility of the perpetual stalemate the world sits in. There are some fictional liberties taken to fully explore aspects of nuclear policy/responses but probably needed to happen for the book to be what it is.
The survivors will definitely envy the dead.
dark
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
I am surprised to see how profoundly this book has influenced my opinion and beliefs about WMDs while making few moral arguments about the use of WMDs beyond simply describing the specifics of their use.
challenging
dark
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
This book is absolutely terrifying. I grew up in the 80s, the height of the Cold War and the peak of nuclear proliferation. I was raised on movies like The Day After and Threads. I lived next to McChord Air Force Base and remember waking up in terror at night when the planes would rev their engines on the tarmac. Jacobsen’s book brings all that horror back in a flash. She brings a sense of humanistic detail to her scenario, and she emphasizes the futility of nuclear war at every step of the way. There’s no happy ending for humanity, and she never gives the sense that once it starts, this war could be stopped. It just gets worse and worse.
dark
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
fast-paced
this is the second time i've read this book. i really enjoyed it. i wish it would focus a little more on what would happen in the lower hemisphere or touch a little more on what nuclear fallout would affect down there. i did enjoy the facts and how it is telling a story around the concept of nuclear war. if you were ever curious about what it would look like, this one is definitely for you