by Annie Jacobsen

Annie Jacobsen writes a horrific tale of what the absolute worst case scenario of how a nuclear war could spiral out of control into a full exchange…

Listen this is well written. Jacobsen did a lot of research and the amount of name drops and sighted papers is impressive. But a like a lot of anti-nuclear propaganda this book takes the reality and spins it up to 11. Spoilers follow…

So, the North Koreans launch a surprise ICBM attack. I could buy that. That they snuck a snorkeling diesel submarine across the Pacific, and no one noticed. That Sub was then able launch a missile, without warning, much less likely. That Russia would not have noticed the initial attacks, would have misinterpreted a counterstrike as a strike on them. More likely now, I guess, but still, Putin and company are not suicidal. I don’t know, this is the absolute worst case scenario presented a very likely. Excellently well written, but at the end I couldn’t get over my suspension of disbelief.

397 pages

4/5