There are a number of do-it-yourself guides to civil defence available, but most seem to be aimed at hard-core survivalists who have crack outdoor skills, and lots of specialized equipment. This book is very different and is written for the average citizen by a former U.S. Army officer, Major Cresson Kearny, field geologist and civil engineer who built and field-tested the "expedient" shelters described within while still employed at the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

These shelters can be put together within a few hours by ordinary, untrained men and women. (It is a good idea to take a weekend and practice building them.) They provide good protection during the weeks it may take for fallout to decay to negligible levels of radioactivity. (Expedient blast shelters, which also protect against the shock wave from a nearby explosion, are also discussed.)

The author is clear and thorough throughout, supplying check-lists for supplies, equipment and materials; detailed building instructions and descriptions of the genuine (as opposed to fanciful) effects of nuclear weapons. There is also a valuable discussion of the purchase and use of potassium iodide compounds for protection of the thyroid gland from absorption of radioiodine. Finally, detailed plans and instructions are provided for the construction and use of a home made fallout meter(!) to indicate radiation levels. (It is a lot more accurate than many of the over-priced, defective-or-uncalibrated war-surplus "Geiger counters" on the market!)

The 2001 edition contains a new chapter on the hazards of trans-Pacific fallout, which could drift eastward to the U.S. mainland from a nuclear conflict in Asia. (Such as India vs. Pakistan, or a North Korean nuclear attack on the South or Japan.) There is also a new appendix detailing the persuasive medical and scientific evidence that low levels of ionizing radiation below a certain threshold do no harm to humans or other forms of life, or their descendants. In fact, it may make them healthier. (Far from being crackpot, this concept is known in Biology as "hormeisis" and is discussed in a recent article in DISCOVER magazine; see "Is Radiation Good for You?", DISCOVER Vol. 23 No. 12, December 2002.) This should help to dispel the superstition that radiation is some sort of magic poison, and that any amount is deadly.

Anyone not living in a fool's paradise realizes that the chance of a nuclear detonation in an American city is probably higher now than it ever was when the United States and Soviet Union were locked in mutual stand off. Nuclear deterrence may have worked even on hardened Soviet or Chinese apparatchiks; but to depend on it alone now against psychopaths and apocalyptic fanatics is to invite hideous disaster.

The nuclear bomb (fission based) has been around for over 70 years. Say that again, 70 years, with how intellectual property is freely available on the internet, and the fact that many smaller countries now have the bomb, its only a matter of time before the people that really, really hate America get one smuggled into the USA and detonate it in New Yord City, DC or LA or Dallas or some place where it will have maximum terror. When that happens you are going to wish you had this book in your hands and ready to follow its instructions for a radiation shelter, because a family can quickly make a radiation shelter in the back yard, even in the house itself, with the proven instruction in this book.

When everyone else is going to be wondering if they are safe, you will know that you are safe and as we said earlier, how to construct a radiation fall out meter is included in this book, and it does not use any electricity. I'm serious. Its called the Kearny Fallout Meter (KFM) and it works on basic physics. This book is also available on kindle on Amazon but if are reading this before a disaster, you really want to have a hard copy of it on hand and ready to go.