My aunt bugged me for a long time to read this book, because it's about all that great apocalyptic, last-man-standing kind of stuff that fascinates me and led an old boyfriend to think I was a terrible person because I thought it would be interesting if 99% of the population died from a virus a la The Stand and left the rest of us to fend for ourselves. So sue me, I'm a biologist.

But anyway, this is an intriguing, 50s-era take on what would happen in the wake of nuclear war; the story of a small town in Florida miraculously shielded from fallout, and how it copes with its isolation, finding sustenance, and trying to connect with other survivors. Probably not much useful instruction in the event that people push Pakistan to its limit or Kim Jong Il finally loses his last nugget of sanity, but a fun read nonetheless.