Garrett is a bright and buoyant guide and Bunker rattles briskly along. And he’s scrupulously fair to his subjects, mostly letting them speak for themselves. Indeed, a weakness of the book is that it is too fair to them. Fundamentally, prepping is a bleak and unpleasant philosophy. It might seem like a form of responsible cautiousness, but really it’s a bet against the rest of us ... Some of them appear to be egging the apocalypse on, eager for their underground investments to pay off. Given that, it’s deeply troubling to learn that many of the world’s richest people have a sideline in prepping, getting their off-grid doomsteads in New Zealand ready. But that’s what makes Bunker a necessary read—we should be keeping tabs on what they’re up to.
... a kind of apocalyptic Super Size Me, in which the author force feeds himself a steady diet of paranoia, conspiracy, eschatology and end-times architecture ... there is disquiet here ... There’s a thrilling, chilling coda to Bunker when the author goes on an illegal four-day walk into the ultimate apocalyptic heart of darkness at the Chernobyl exclusion zone ... The self-destruction of our species haunts this book: we realise that all along Garrett has been more interested in exploring human limits than human spaces.
Whether from sympathy (Garrett admits to his own prepper instincts) or academic discipline, the author displays a great deal more tolerance for the cast of conspiracy theorists, paranoiacs, libertarians and hucksters he encounters than many readers might possess. In my narrow-minded case, I find I rapidly lose interest in someone’s opinions the moment they declare that 9/11 was an inside job ... However, when Garrett gets an earful of Truther nonsense, he doesn’t rush to judgment. And he hears a lot of that kind of talk as he visits various bleak bunker sites across America, all of which promise to keep out the coming apocalypse.
A glossary of terms helps to make sense of prepper lingo ... Readers interested in current topics, cultural studies, and survivalism will enjoy this insightful look at prepper culture.
Garrett is a capable writer with a crisp, detailed, visual quality to his work, and he brings a gratifying participant approach to this investigation ... Intriguing and often entertaining reading on a phenomenon that seems timeless.
... an engrossing tour of the fortified living spaces where 'preppers' plan to isolate and protect themselves from the collapse of civilization ... he makes a convincing case that preppers offer hope for humankind’s ability to 'engineer our survival.' This richly detailed account will have readers wondering about their own disaster plans
