Turns out that the wife of the book's hero had already foreseen this eventuality - a full decade earlier, she had gathered several dozen phone books from the city of Chicago - to be prepared.
We are NOT saving phonebooks, nor hoarding toilet paper, but that scene from the survivalist novel really makes one realize what a THROW-AWAY pampered lot we all are, and how we rely on so many things that could easily disappear if TSHTF. . . . just think of how few plastic bags you'd ever toss away IF you had absolutely nowhere to get another one ever again. . . . .
LOL!!!
ONE SECOND AFTER is about the aftermath of an EMP and raises similar issues.
Never, in the history of man, have we been so vulnerable - so dependent on others - and most don't even know it. Without that thin wire from the house to the road - we're plunged into chaos.
I grew up on a farm deep in the Maine woods with my g'parents. No electricity, No phone.
We always had a years food on hand: in the garden, in gleaming canning jars, in barrels - chicken and eggs in the coop; butter, milk, beef and pork in the barn; berries on the vine; apples on the trees; meat in the woods and fish in the waters.
We cut our own wood for heat and cooking, had a water pump on the side of the sink, hot water tank on the side of the stove - etc etc
Never had to worry about a "power outage".
Now I wouldn't want to live without my hot water spigot and bath tub or computer, but I could survive.
More people need to learn to old ways and stock up on food staples.