App Shopper: Red Alert by Peter Bryant (Books)

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Red Alert by Peter Bryant

iOS iPhone

It was the worst of all possible worst-case scenarios in the Cold War - an American general loses his reason and orders a full-scale nuclear attack on the U.S.S.R.

From that premise, Peter Bryant's 1958 novel Red Alert spins a grim tale of just how close to nuclear destruction the world can be. A dying man suffering from the paranoid delusion that he will make the world a better place, Air Force Brigadier General Quinten has set in motion a catastrophic air attack on the Soviet Union with Strategic Air Command bombers armed with nuclear weapons. The President of the United States and his advisors frantically try to stop the attack, once it is underway. They order the American bombers shot down, and they succeed -- with one frightening exception. A lone bomber called the "Alabama Angel" eludes destruction. Its crew ignores the President's new orders and proceeds with its deadly mission.

Originally published in the U.K. as "Two Hours to Doom" -- with Peter George using the nom de plume "Peter Bryant" -- this deliberate, precisely plotted novel conjures with the apocalyptic threat of nuclear war and the almost absurd ease with which it can be triggered. A virtual genre of such topical fiction sprang up in the late 1950s -- led by Nevil Shute's "On the Beach" -- of which "Red Alert" was among the earliest and finest examples. Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler's later bestseller "Fail Safe" so closely resembled "Red Alert" in its premise that George sued on the charge of plagiarism and won an out-of-court settlement. Both novels would inspire very different films that would both be released in 1964.

The BeamItDown Books use a very different approach to reading that is absolutely ideal for the screen of the iPhone and iPod Touch. Other reader applications display the text of the book you are reading in individual pages. The number of words that can be displayed on the screen at one time is determined by the size of the font used. This forces you to choose between reading with a very small font size or using a large font and changing pages every few seconds. The problem is that reading with a very small font induces eye strain, while frequent paging disrupts concentration.

The BeamItDown iFlow Reader solves this problem by using an entirely new approach to reading. Instead of paging, the BeamItDown iFlow Reader scrolls text much like a teleprompter. Large, easy to read text scrolls by smoothly as you read. The precise scrolling speed is controlled by subtly tilting the device, which quickly becomes very intuitive and natural. You can personalize your reading experience by selecting the paper color, text color, text size, and the font that you prefer to create a truly enjoyable reading experience.

- "iFlow Reader" is a trademark of BeamItDown Software.