End of the World Books

[warrenss2]

Books that are about the fall of mankind buy various methods. Not POST apocalyptic , like Andra Norton's Daybreak 2250AD... just apocalyptic, where the character's actions take you through the sink to barbarism.

I use these readings to get me "in the mood" for my apocalyptic gaming.

My recommends are:
Day by Day Armagedon - J.L. Bourne - zombies.
World War Z - Max Brooks - zombies... like the survival guide too.
Patriots - James Wesley, Rawles - social & economic collapse - currently reading it... a little too Christian... waiting to see if they compromise their religion in anyway.
Dies the Fire Series - S.M. Stirling - laws of physics change... explosive chemical change fail world wide.
Earth Abides - George R. Stewart - virus.
Ill Wind - Kevin Anderson & Doug Beason - artificial virus used to eat an oil spill eats all petroleum bases products.
Emergence - David R. Palmer - some sort of bug wipes out homo sapiens... good luck the next step in man's evolution is around to continue.

What are your recommends? I'd love to add more to my book shelves!!!

[Predatorpt]

I recommend this one:

http://www.amazon.com/One-Second-After-William-Forstchen/dp/0765317583

I found it rather gripping.

[dijit]

A classic in the genre: Day of the Triffids.
You say Patriots is a little too christian, in what way (i've not read it btw)?

[Pil]

For a book report I read Bill McGuire's "A guide to the end of the world: everything you never wanted to know". It's non-fiction though, it's a collection of natural disasters waiting to happen, quite an entertaining read

[starkadder]

What about one of the ultimates, Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men?

One of the most interesting is Clifford Simak's City. It still shows good writing in an increasingly empty genre.

Brian Aldiss's Greybeard. Children of Men stole the whole plot.

And, of course, the real I am Legend by Richard Mattheson. Only Vincent Price's version Last Man on Earth got close.

[Malebolgia]

Most important one IMO: The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. 111 years old and still going strong

The Stand by Stephen King also gets a vote from me.

The Dark Tower (1-7) by Stephen King are also somewhat apocalyptic mixed with pre-apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic (and probably my favorite series ever ).

[starkadder]

I know it's a cop-out quoting Wiki but there are some seriously good ones referenced in this article:
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalyptic_and_post-apocalyptic_fiction

[Blackwolf]

 J.G. Ballard's novella is good,can't remember the name and Fritz Lieber wrote 3, the Wolves or something?Three short stories in one book. And then there is the Postman......much better than the horrible film.

[starkadder]

Not totally on thread but amusingly apocalyptic was James Blish's Black Easter and the sequel The Day after Judgement.

[warrenss2]

You say Patriots is a little too christian, in what way (i've not read it btw)? - It's just things like two people stopping to fall to one's knees in prayer when a friend shows up (only one example). I've always been one to pray on the move, quietly in one's head, because in my experience it's not always a good idea to do it stationary... especially when the world is going to the crapper in a wicker hand basket and you have to look out for potential hostiles.

Most important one IMO: The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. - How COULD I have neglected to include that classic in my list?!?! Fantastic book!!

Quoting Wiki is such a cop-out, Starkadder!   

[dijit]

You say Patriots is a little too christian, in what way (i've not read it btw)? - It's just things like two people stopping to fall to one's knees in prayer when a friend shows up (only one example). I've always been one to pray on the move, quietly in one's head, because in my experience it's not always a good idea to do it stationary... especially when the world is going to the crapper in a wicker hand basket and you have to look out for potential hostiles.

Ok, that sounds a little much even for me
And HG Wells the master of the genre - great book.

[Andy H]

I've just finished reading 'The Third World War', by General Sir John Hackett (of Arnhem fame). It tells the story of how WWIII came about, in the past tense. He wrote it in 1979, but its written as a political and military history as if the event happened in 1985. As the author was a senior member of the NATO command structure for many years before retiring and writing the book, it has an absolutely chilling ring of reality to it. Most disturbing of all is the description of the nuclear bombing of Birmingham (UK), which is told in clinical, 100% real terms by someone who knows exactly how such an event would unfold.

Did you know that UK motorways have (or had) a building exclusion zone around them so that in the event of a nuclear detonation they would be comparatively debris-free, allowing emergency services and the army to move around the country? Me neither!

By the sound of it, the book was intended as a warning to the political elite and the general public, and there are a number of cautionary events (the US air bridge across the northern Atlantic only staying open thanks to the UK's recently upgraded air defences, which in reality were a major cause for concern in those days for example).

Highly recommended, even if the world doesn't actually end (but comes damn close...won't spoil the ending!).

[JollyBob]

That sounds excellent Col Kane, I may have to keep an eye out for that one myself.

It reminds me of a similar story I heard about why the roads up here (Cumbria) are so bad - apparently we have never had a motorway or improved road network in the county because of Sellafield. If it goes boom, they can seal the county off by simply blockading everything west of the M6.

@Warrenss2 - if you think that is too religious, I guess you won't be interested in the Left Behind series of novels then? The plot basically revolves round the people who were left behind after the Rapture, and how they divide between those who support the Antichrist and those who oppose him and try to earn a pass into heaven by being God's army on Earth. Ongoing apocalypse fiction indeed.

I've not read any myself, but am morbidly fascinated by the alleged fundamentalist right wing Christian ethos of the books. There is a Wiki page if you are interested in finding out more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_Behind_(series)

[Andy H]

I can believe it JollyBob. One of the scariest elements of the book was reading about places I was raised in. I actually grew up in High Wycombe, equidistant between the UK air command, and the US nuclear strike command air bases, and both were mentioned in the book. I grew up in the '80s, when the book is set, with the ever-present threat of the apocalypse literally on my doorstep, so reading a book that actually describes what for me as a child was a very real fear, was truly gripping...

[Deathwing]

The Oblivian Society, while derivative, was a fun read.  It's post nuclear with mutant action. 

Joey