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Surviving with nothing.

UffDa

UffDa

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I am reading a book. :eek:

It's The Road by Cormack McCarthy*. The story line is about a man and his son trying to survive a post-apocalyptic world. I am about 1/3 through it and it has not been explained what the apocalypse was.

While searching for food, they stumble upon what I presume to be a bomb shelter full of food, clothes and other good stuff. What caught my attention was that the man found a stash of Krugerrands. He played with them a bit and then put them back where he found them. Gold no longer had any value. If you can't eat it or wear it, it's worthless.

When I hear all those adds selling gold, I think to myself, "If gold is such a good investment, why don't they keep it?"

Anyway, the book is a little hard to read, but I thought some of you might be interested.


*He also wrote "No Country For Old Men"
 
Excellent book, have it on my ipod and have listened to it 3 times.
Good stuff in there if you pay attention.
A gun good, 20 guns bad
bullets for THE gun
canned goods, mobility, map, knowlege on how things are done in the country (water, cellars)
 
That's one of the problems I had with the story 'Lights Out' if anyone is familiar. After an EMP the main character was able to get things with silver coins. No one's going to be trading for coins when your basic needs aren't met and NO one is going to 'ALL OF A SUDDEN' know the exchange rate of said coins. The only 'gold' in a survival situation would be ice. You have that and you're king.
 
THe Road is one depressing book. I am reading it at the moment too. "One second After" is also a great read, more "current" and well written. Deep Winter and Shatter by Thomas Sherry are two wonderful SHTF novels, and you can get them on Lulu.com in PDF for $5 each (Hey support your authors!). Light's Out... the list goes on. If nothing else read One Second After and The two Sherry books. :)

All you have to do is look in a newspaper from around the day of the event (Lights Out) and see what Gold was priced at an once, and go from there. Not that everyone would agree, but it gives a ballpark idea. I agree that in a SOLO survival situation, or a limited number of people, metals will have no real value, but with larger groups.... there is ALWAYS someone willing to selling items for coins and such.
 
I have the book, and I've tried to read it. But, I just find it oddly written. Maybe I'll give it another go, but I just really couldnt get into it.
 
MrCoffee said:
I agree that in a SOLO survival situation, or a limited number of people, metals will have no real value, but with larger groups.... there is ALWAYS someone willing to selling items for coins and such.
Click to expand...

I kind of agree with this but I think some metals will have value, just not the same ones that have value today.

Today we value gold and silver because they glitter very nicely on fingers and between breasts. In a SHTF I think steel would have the most value followed by iron and lead. I think people will be more interested in the metals that can be used to make needful tools more than metals that can only be used to decorate. So while gold may not be a completely safe investment, knives always will be.

Just My .02
David
 
I think gold and silver would still have value, though probably not to the common man. They have had value for thousands of years. There will always be someone with resources that wants to collect these "treasures".
 
silenthunterstudios said:
The Road was a great book, although strangely written I will admit. I hope that the movie is just as good.
Click to expand...

A movie? :eek: Really?

I have never read a book written in this manner. There are no quotes for the conversation. Sometimes it's hard to tell who is speaking.

From the description of the landscape, I would guess that the apocalypse was caused by a large object striking the Earth. Almost everything is burned and covered with ash. The sky is full of ash blocking the sun. I guess it could have been a huge volcano or nuclear war, but I doubt it. It seems that the "The Man" does not know what happened.

RE: The value of ammunition. It would only have value if you had a firearm that uses it. The Man found a stash of .45ACP and .30-30 ammo. It was worthless because he didn't have a firearm in those calibers and it seems that the few, if any, of the people that he meets on the road have firearms.

Keep in mind that the devastation described in this book is total. There is nothing left alive except for a few people who are starving.
 
I was in the northwoods and made the mistake of taking it as my only read. One third through, and I felt like slitting my wrist. Great, powerful style, but you need to read it on a sunny day in July, and not a freezing night with the wind shaking your cabin apart.
 
Not sure about you but I can make a zipgun for both .45 and .30-30. I can also make a very effective boobytrap with a nail, a piece of flat plywood and any centerfire round. Plus bullets are great waterproof storage for smokeless powder which is good tinder! one can make a cutting tool from a pressed cartridge. bullets can be used as fishing weights.
 
Yes, the movie is coming out and it actually looks pretty good with Viggo Mortenson (sic) in it.

Gold and silver really only have value if their is a society that is wanting to set up some type of currency exchange that extends beyond borders into other communities. It's only worth what people decide what it's worth. There is no intrinsic value. However, no matter what, if there are people around, then there will always be some type of barter/exchange process that assigns value to things. 1 bullet might be the equivalent value of a gold coin. If that was the case in the road, maybe "the man" would have slipped a box into his pocket in case he ran across a town some place.

Cormac McCarthy writes in a very odd style. He does not use conventional grammar rules, and though he has a great ability to paint a great picture, he's depending on your smarts and ability to peel back the confusion in his writing. Some of it's overdone, I think. For instance, in "The Road", I might be wrong, but I don't remember ever getting the man's name. Was that some sort of intentional symbolism to indicate he could be any man? If so, it's a little too obvious. If not, then it was pointless and made the reading a little more tedious.

To me, it was more of a relationship story than it was a survival or apocalypse type story. That's fine.
 
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