# Can you recommend a post apocalyptic novel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 11, 2006, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-post-apocalyptic-novel/383659 "2006-12-11T06:36:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-post-apocalyptic-novel/383659/21 "2006-12-11T18:24:46Z")
There’s [Into the Forest](http://www.amazon.com/Into-Forest-Jean-Hegland/dp/0553379615/sr=1-15/qid=1165861191/ref=sr_1_15/104-5759447-4376709?ie=UTF8&s=books) but it’s more about 2 isolated sisters dealing with being alone in the world than a viewpoint from all of society. There’s no great apocalypse, just the electricity going off and no more gas, weeds growing in the roads, etc. ---
**Author:** ![TristramAiblins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@TristramAiblins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TristramAiblins)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-post-apocalyptic-novel/383659/22 "2006-12-11T20:41:38Z")
If you’re looking for something a bit humorous for a Post apocalyptic, then **Greener Than You Think** is for you. It’s pretty much just a satire on the whole genre. It’s about a strain of devilgrass mutated by humans that takes over the world. [Enjoy!](http://www.amazon.com/Greener-Classics-Modern-Science-Fiction/dp/0517558661/sr=8-1/qid=1165869552/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-6611511-0356960?ie=UTF8&s=books) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-post-apocalyptic-novel/383659/23 "2006-12-11T20:49:54Z")
Another vote for Stirling’s _Dies the Fire_ – which, BTW, has given rise to a [trilogy,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M._Stirling#The_Emberverse_series) with a second trilogy planned. I give it props for good storytelling and characterization – but I have my doubts as to whether a worldwide interruption in powered technology would destroy civilization **quite** as thoroughly as Stirling envisions. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-post-apocalyptic-novel/383659/24 "2006-12-11T21:12:54Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] **Davy** by Edgar Pangborn. Maybe the best SF novel ever. Search it out; it’s the gold standard for post-apocalyptic novels, but never was popular enough. [/QUOTE] I came here to recommend **Davy** also. You won’t regret reading it. I’ve read most of the books recommended here, and I’d put **Canticle** in second place - though it is of wider scope than Davy. Avoid the sequel at all costs, though. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-post-apocalyptic-novel/383659/25 "2006-12-11T21:34:32Z")
[QUOTE=yanceylebeef] [The Road](http://www.amazon.com/Road-Cormac-Mccarthy/dp/0307265439/sr=1-1/qid=1165849967/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-3138186-3595366?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Cormac McCarthy is easily in the top five books I’ve read this year. [/QUOTE] It was Stephen King’s favorite too, according to his column in Entertainment Weekly. It’s certainly the bleakest PA book I’ve ever read. Other books can make it fun (in a perverse way) to imagine yourself in a PA world (mine has me and Jimmy Smits as the sole survivors), but not so with The Road. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-post-apocalyptic-novel/383659/26 "2006-12-11T21:47:15Z")
When Worlds Collide by Philip Gordon Wylie was followed by a sequel, After Worlds Collide. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-post-apocalyptic-novel/383659/27 "2006-12-11T23:57:02Z")
Also try: [No Blade of Grass](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_Of_Grass) by John Cristopher (UK title, _The Death of Grass_) [The Day of the Triffids](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_of_the_Triffids) by John Wyndham And despite some valid criticisms, I really enjoyed the granddaddy of the genre, [Earth Abides](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Abides) by George R. Stewart (1949). Or you could try the _great_-granddaddy, [The Purple Cloud](http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/11229) by M.P. Shiel (1901), which answers the question, “What if the last person on Earth were a huge jackass?” (I won’t spoil it with specifics, but I didn’t like the book because the protagonist seemed like a jerk.) ---
**Author:** ![Surbey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@Surbey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surbey)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-post-apocalyptic-novel/383659/28 "2006-12-12T05:28:50Z")
wow, thanks guys ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-post-apocalyptic-novel/383659/29 "2006-12-12T06:56:29Z")
_Where Late the Sweet Bird Sang_ By Kate Wilhelm ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-post-apocalyptic-novel/383659/30 "2006-12-12T13:00:42Z")
**Eternity Road** by Jack McDevitt (who seems to get little love on the Dope for some reason). Well, I won’t spoil it. But it’s a great PA novel. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-post-apocalyptic-novel/383659/31 "2006-12-12T20:24:59Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] I came here to recommend **Davy** also. You won’t regret reading it. I’ve read most of the books recommended here, and I’d put **Canticle** in second place - though it is of wider scope than Davy. Avoid the sequel at all costs, though. [/QUOTE] What, [_Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Leibowitz_and_the_Wild_Horse_Woman)? Haven’t read it – what’s wrong with it? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-post-apocalyptic-novel/383659/32 "2006-12-12T20:30:59Z")
Other than the fact that it reeks, you mean? Terry Bisson couldn’t write a suicide note. If you liked _Canticle_, avoid the sequel like the plague. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-post-apocalyptic-novel/383659/33 "2006-12-12T20:41:12Z")
I’ll defend Bisson – he’s a wonderful writer – but he should have left Saint Lebowitz alone. It was an assignment from hell: you’re competing with a classic of the field on its own turf. There’s no way you’d please the audience, even working from Miller’s manuscript, since everything bad would be blamed on you. But don’t let it prevent you from reading **Voyage to the Red Planet** (the most charmins SF book ever) or **Talking Man** of **Pirates of the Universe** (which could be considered post-apocalyptic). ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-post-apocalyptic-novel/383659/34 "2006-12-12T20:41:56Z")
**Lucifer’s Hammer** is a really well done look at an apocalyptic event itself; a classic in the “impact” style, where a meteor or comet ruins everyone’s day. If you want one that takes place well after the event itself, maybe **The Postman** by David Brin. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-post-apocalyptic-novel/383659/35 "2006-12-13T03:21:59Z")
[Down to a Sunless Sea](http://www.amazon.com/Down-Sunless-Sea-David-Graham/dp/0449445097/sr=1-1/qid=1165979802/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-1213440-3250555?ie=UTF8&s=books) is sort of unknown, but a real find. Kinda unsophisticated, but I loved it. I think it was a unique situation for the survivors to be in. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-post-apocalyptic-novel/383659/36 "2006-12-13T05:05:04Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] [No Blade of Grass](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_Of_Grass) by John Cristopher (UK title, _The Death of Grass_) [/quote] A second vote for **The Death of Grass**. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-post-apocalyptic-novel/383659/37 "2006-12-13T05:16:51Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] **A Canticle for Leibowitz** is post-apocalyptic, although even the first and earliest part is quite a long way after the actual event. It’s absolutely one of my favorite books ever and if you don’t read it you’re doing yourself a huge disservice. Also, **The Postman** , despite the movie, is an excellent book. [/QUOTE] These are probably the best two. I will add [\*\*Emergence \*\*](http://www.amazon.com/Emergence-David-R-Palmer/dp/0553255193) if you can find it. A great book written in a very Heinlein like fashion. \*\*Footfall \*\* and \*\*Lucifer’s Hammer \*\* were both very good. Jim ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-post-apocalyptic-novel/383659/38 "2006-12-13T05:20:23Z")
> [@](#): > > A second vote for The Death of Grass. John Christopher also has two trilogies that are technically post-apocalyptic and are somewhat less disturbing than _No Blade of Grass._ (I really like him, but some of his stuff just disturbs me, like _The Lotus Caves.)_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-recommend-a-post-apocalyptic-novel/383659.md?page=1)