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4.35 AVERAGE
4.35 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
dark
informative
medium-paced
very well researched. i appreciated jacobsen's journalistic integrity: there's a lot to read between the lines about america's historical and present-day nuclear policies. although i do wish this had focused less on the minute-by-minute (sometimes second-by-second) account of choices world leaders would have to make in a nuclear war scenario and instead on what would happen to people, what would happen to the earth. i get that the point is that it would happen quickly and totally, but i just kept thinking i don't care where the president would be at this point!! what's happening in the impact zone, in the surrounding areas, etc.? i'll have to look into accounts of chernobyl for that, i guess.
i also wonder if the author doesn't have a responsibility to include a chapter covering what do we do with this information? like there is no conversation about disarmament, about policy in the u.s. and abroad, etc. like we can all agree this scenario is horrifying, and we are living with one misstep away from total annihilation: maybe let's take steps to deescalate?? instead the sort of (not really) positive note in the end is maybe, if human beings manage to survive the war, a small fraction of the global population could survive the 24,000-year recovery period for the planet, and we'd be able to look back on our own species' folly. maybe.
also pet peeve mostly due to this book drawing on u.s. military terms: there were too many acronyms! it made my eyes glaze over and it was hard to stay focused with a million acronyms flying around.
i also wonder if the author doesn't have a responsibility to include a chapter covering what do we do with this information? like there is no conversation about disarmament, about policy in the u.s. and abroad, etc. like we can all agree this scenario is horrifying, and we are living with one misstep away from total annihilation: maybe let's take steps to deescalate?? instead the sort of (not really) positive note in the end is maybe, if human beings manage to survive the war, a small fraction of the global population could survive the 24,000-year recovery period for the planet, and we'd be able to look back on our own species' folly. maybe.
also pet peeve mostly due to this book drawing on u.s. military terms: there were too many acronyms! it made my eyes glaze over and it was hard to stay focused with a million acronyms flying around.
Forget Poe or King. I’ll take on rapping ravens and killer clowns any day of the week. In her book, Annie Jacobsen gives us an enemy we cant beat. She forces us to witness a game with no winners; only losers. And the loss isn’t just everyone you know and love. The biggest loss is humanity itself. We have failed as humans.
While this book is utterly depressing, it is also captivating and very informative considering most of what she writes about is highly classified.
Ugh, I need a drink.
While this book is utterly depressing, it is also captivating and very informative considering most of what she writes about is highly classified.
Ugh, I need a drink.
Just not the right time; I’m trying this on audio only but I feel like it would be better for my retention/enjoyment to either do a physical read or immersion read.
Definitely will return to it one day, tho
Definitely will return to it one day, tho
An absolutely nightmare-inducing read of well-researched insights into not just how the world may end, but how goddamn quickly it can end.
dark
medium-paced
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
medium-paced