Please recommend a good end of the world book

Cafe Society
1

I am in the mood to read a “fall of the human race” type book. Not where the crisis is avoided at the last second by something. But a story that takes you through the actual downfall and the immediate aftermath. Something along the lines of the first half of “The Stand”.
So obviously I have read “The Stand” and one other book I remember was called “Swan’s Song”. I also remember a nuclear war one that was made into a movie, but can’t recall the title (maybe “The Longest Day” or “The Day After”?)

So, can anybody recommend something? Thanks and have a great day.

2

*On the Beach * - Neville Shute

*Lucifer’s Hammer * - Larry Niven/Jerry Pournelle

*Alas, Babylon * - Pat Conroy

3

2nd on Lucifer’s Hammer. (Asteroid, roving groups of cannibals, hardy mountain folk trying to survive.)

Also, Earth Abides. (Strange sickness, group of survivors in the Bay Area, revert to hunter gatherer society.)

Great books!

4

The Forge of God by Greg Bear fits, sort of.

A small group of humans survive but Earth becomes an asteroid belt.

5

a short story:

“I Have no Mouth and I Must Scream” - by Harlan Ellison

6

How about Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut?

Although On the Beach was the first thing I thought of.

7

There’s always I Am Legend, in which pretty much everyone else in the world is either dead or undead. Not a particularly good book, but at least it’s short, and it’s much better than The Omega Man movie that was made from it.

I believe The Postman fits your requirements, but I haven’t read it.

8

It doesn’t cover the aftermath much, except in an epilogue and a sequel I haven’t read but have heard is rather weak, but Greg Bear’s The Forge of God is a great “end of the world” type book, in a more alien invasion style.

  • Tamerlane
9

Dang! I was gonna recommend Earth Abides and someone beat me to it.

I seem to have read many, many good end-of-the-world short stories. I think as a rule they work this theme better than novels (only their names are harder to remember).

10

The sequel is as weak as The Forge of God is good.

11

And when you’re done with those and need a lighter look at the end of the world, please consider Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchett.

12

Its not a book, but the short story Twilight is an excellent read. I can’t recall the author right now.

13

James Morrow’s This is the way the World Ends

Guess what it’s about?

14

Olaf Stapleton’s Last and first men has the world end a number of times, leaving only a few survivors each time. Also done on a very long timescale.

Donald Wandrei has written a number of good short stories considering the end of the world. My personal favorite would be “Black Fog” where the earth passes through a black fog of some sort in space, and everyone soon realizes that nothing is reproducing anymore. The last humans are born 9 months later, and obviously, food soon becomes a problem…

15

For short stories, look for a book (or books, there might be more than one) titled Bangs and Whimpers. I haven’t had a chance to read it myself, but it’s a collection of stories about the end of the world.

16

Wolf and Iron by Gordon R. Dickson is one of my favorites for covering the purely mechanical/social aspects of a good apocolypse. It’s a good read.

17

I don’t know if that one would fit. I mean, yeah, there’s a nuclear war, but in the end…

they get found by the military, who confirm that civilization didn’t collapse, there’s still a functioning government, and the US is starting to rebuild

18

End of the World News by Anthony Burgess is a pretty original take, involving Freud, Trotsky and a a big lump of rock.

19

But as far as the members of the community are concerned, the world as they knew it **did ** end.

20

If you really want to see the whole world end, then Moonseed by Stephen Baxter is pretty good.