last light book review

LAST LIGHT BOOK REVIEW
First things first. Green shoots news today, courtesy of Ure over at www.urbansurvival.com . Total credit is down year to year. A decrease of 7% in June and a decrease of over 10% in July. You might not use credit cards or have a mortgage, but credit is the lifeblood of business. You expected to get rehired where? Also, a quick note on my bumbling kitchen chemistry. Not enough to stretch out into a full article, so I'll use it here to stretch out today's drivel. I hate wasting anything, and soap scraps are no exception. I didn't like the idea of the scraps in a sock used as a washcloth idea. It is a good idea, but I'm not used to using a washcloth to soap up but rather the normal rubbing the bar to lather. And I certainly don't like the idea of paying my new nemesis ( hell hath no fury as a former evangelical customer scorned, you asshat scum sucking dillhole pukes ) Wal-Mart $1.50 for a round bar of soap for my shaving mug. You know how cheap I am, instead of spending four bucks for a new shaving brush when my old one cracked its handle I just wrapped twenty rubber bands real tight around the old one. And I wanted a snug fit, so I didn't just cut down a regular bar of soap. Double broiler won't work on soap, so I used direct heat with water added to the scraps. The soap got mushy enough that once the water got thick enough ( like a gravy ) I poured the whole thing in the mug and pushed it down in to one mass. It works just fine. In fact, it lathers up better than the regular shaving soap. It has a multiple coloring to it from the varied soap bars, and a few brown streaks from a few burns ( I put an aluminum foil disposable type container such as you use for baking on the burner and a few scraps burned in the boiling process ). But it looks pretty to me, being nearly free.
*
"Last Light" by Alex Scarrow is a quasi-Peak Oil fiction paperback. Expect to pay about ten bucks for it. Before I say any thing else, I want to point out I really loved this book. It isn't about after the collapse. It is about the first week of the collapse. It uses a conspiracy theory plot, making the collapse sudden. So the whole slow decrease of oil supplies is sped up. And it might seem a bit formalistic to some. I usually hate the "cliff hanger at the end of each chapter" type of writing, but this guy does it so well I didn't mind. Nor did I mind the higher than normal mass market book price. It really was that good. Your basic plot is engineer dad in Iraq, daughter in school and mom on a trip. Refineries and shipping lanes are all hit at once, following the pattern of a report dad was paid to write years ago on the system vulnerability. The book is them trying to get back together as a super secret banker group that is behind the attacks send an assassin to kill the daughter who knows the identity of some of them. It sounds gay, but this was a very well written book and it all works together. This wasn't a New York Times bestseller book written for the lowest common denominator. For one thing, it is 500 pages. For another, it actually teaches you something.
*
The author is trying to get awareness about Peak Oil to the general public. It is written for Brits, by a very Brit type of bloke. A lot of bollocks and mates and fags and cars with bonnets and boots and strange spelling of words. But easily followed. Strangely for a Limey, he has a good grasp on firearms. And a pretty spot on description of Yankee attitudes. As long as you don't go in expecting a post-collapse novel, you will not be disappointed. There are enough hints on Peak Oil and conspiracy theories that pepper the story to keep you teased. But it isn't larded with them. No need to scare off the general public, but scary enough to get them interested in further research on the threat of system collapse. It might not be the best Peak Oil fiction, but it is a very good book in general. Despite the price tag, highly recommended.
END
A little short today. I had to take the bike in for its bi-monthly tire flat, plus I'm trying to get the next Chicken Little Magazine posted. If anyone has an idea for a non-copyrighted, public domain book that fits in with survivalism, please e-mail me at jimd303@netzero.com . With a link if you have it. The next Chicken will have the 1911 Boy Scout manual. Thanks to Rawles at www.survivalblog.com for that link. A little bulky at ten megs, six hundred pages with illustrations, but hardly anyone has to worry about dial-up speeds anymore. Look for it later today, over at www.bisonpress.com under the Chicken Little Magazine page. Still dirt cheap.