# Please recommend a good end of the world book **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 2, 2005, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-end-of-the-world-book/288060 "2005-02-02T22:22:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-end-of-the-world-book/288060/21 "2005-02-02T23:38:56Z")
Cool, thanks for all the suggestions. I am heading to the library tonight, and I think I’ll be starting with “Lucifer’s Hammer” … ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-end-of-the-world-book/288060/22 "2005-02-02T23:48:38Z")
When Worlds Collide does the deed with a nice 1950’s flavor. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-end-of-the-world-book/288060/23 "2005-02-03T00:43:29Z")
> [@Tapioca Dextrin](#): > > If you really want to see the whole world end, then [Moonseed](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/006105903X/qid=1107387956/sr=8-14/ref=pd_bbs_14/103-5811222-3111029?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) by Stephen Baxter is pretty good. I was going to suggest this one, as well. It’s pretty unique in that it really IS the “end of the world”. ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-end-of-the-world-book/288060/24 "2005-02-03T00:45:33Z")
Most of the action is further into the future, but the last third of **Evolution** by Stephen Baxter would count. Also, **Oryx and Crake** by Margaret Atwood. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-end-of-the-world-book/288060/25 "2005-02-03T01:20:08Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > 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. The Bible 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Graycat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Graycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Graycat)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-end-of-the-world-book/288060/26 "2005-02-03T01:25:29Z")
I third _Earth Abides_. I think that Octavia E. Butler’s _Parable of the Sower_ and\*Parable of the Talents might also fit the bill. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-end-of-the-world-book/288060/27 "2005-02-03T01:36:18Z")
Octavia Butler’s **Dawn**. A quick synopsis: Our heroine, who has survived the immediate fallout from a devastating nuclear war which has killed probably 99%+ of humanity, is woken from a state of suspended animation on board an alien spaceship, intermittently, over a period of a couple of hundred years. Gradually, she is educated and socialized in the ways of the new order to come, in which she and a few selected others will play a key role: that of encouraging and similarly educating other “woken” human survivors. The price humanity will pay for their rescue is that these aliens are promiscuous gene-traders, who are intent on pursuing a cross-breeding program with their captives/patients. In the future, the Earth will be re-populated with these beings who will be, genetically and culturally, half-human and half-alien. ---
**Author:** ![EmeraldGrue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dc4da7/32.png) [@EmeraldGrue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmeraldGrue)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-end-of-the-world-book/288060/28 "2005-02-03T01:53:38Z")
Am I really the first person to recommend _The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy_, or is it just so obvious no one bothers? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-end-of-the-world-book/288060/29 "2005-02-03T02:14:29Z")
I know I’m “fourthing” or maybe “fifthing” these books, but Earth Abides and Alas, Babylon are great. I think the former was made into a radio play at one time, my father remembers hearing it. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-end-of-the-world-book/288060/30 "2005-02-03T02:16:45Z")
I’d recommend Good Omens (by Nick Gaiman and Terry Pratchett). ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-end-of-the-world-book/288060/31 "2005-02-03T02:25:40Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > When Worlds Collide does the deed with a nice 1950’s flavor. Actually, it has a 1930ish flavour. By the same author (Philip Wylie), I would recommend _The End of the Dream_. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-end-of-the-world-book/288060/32 "2005-02-03T06:03:34Z")
sixthing “Earth abides”… by far my favorite book. ---
**Author:** ![JohnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/848f3c/32.png) [@JohnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnM)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-end-of-the-world-book/288060/33 "2005-02-03T06:33:45Z")
> [@Walter M. Miller](#): > > First he examined the jotted notes. They were scrawled by the same hand that had written the note glued to the lid, and the penmanship was no less abominable. Pound pastrami, said one note, can kraut, six bagels- bring home for Emma. Another reminded: Remember- pick up Form 1040, Uncle Revenue. _A Canticle for Liebowitz_ begins with the end of our civilization in a nuclear holocaust, and ends with another more than a millennium later when mankind repeats the same mistake. IMHO, and many others, one of the greatest nuclear war novels. ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-end-of-the-world-book/288060/34 "2005-02-03T07:22:20Z")
Jeez, to post #33 without _Canticle for Leibowitz_. How bout one of my favorite classic scifi books, _Childhood’s End_ by Arthur C. Clarke? Another interesting one is _Doomsday_ by Whitley Streiber IIRC. About the US after a short nuclear exchange. It is written in the style of a news reporter documenting all of the changes and adjustments and so forth, in what attempts to be a hyper-realistic fashion. It takes place mostly in Texas, which is interesting cause that’s where I grew up. IIRC they talk about Governor Mark White getting radiation triaged because he took a helicopter tour of San Antonio, which got totally pummelled (Houston was spared). Mark White was actually governor during my adolescence, so it was kind of bizarre reading about this alternate history. ---
**Author:** ![QuarkChild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c5a1d2/32.png) [@QuarkChild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuarkChild)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-end-of-the-world-book/288060/35 "2005-02-03T07:48:35Z")
“The Postman” is very good. I read it just recently on the recommendation of some of the posters on [Fark.com](http://Fark.com). It’s by David Brin. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-end-of-the-world-book/288060/36 "2005-02-03T07:55:41Z")
“On the Beach” would be my first choice. Beware, there is no happy ending. BTW, did you know Stephen King’s “The Stand” started out as a short story in his “Night Shift” compilation" I think it was called “The Beach”. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-end-of-the-world-book/288060/37 "2005-02-03T08:37:31Z")
> [@edwino](#): > > Jeez, to post #33 without _Canticle for Leibowitz_. > > How bout one of my favorite classic scifi books, _Childhood’s End_ by Arthur C. Clarke? > > Another interesting one is _Doomsday_ by Whitley Streiber IIRC. About the US after a short nuclear exchange. It is written in the style of a news reporter documenting all of the changes and adjustments and so forth, in what attempts to be a hyper-realistic fashion. It takes place mostly in Texas, which is interesting cause that’s where I grew up. IIRC they talk about Governor Mark White getting radiation triaged because he took a helicopter tour of San Antonio, which got totally pummelled (Houston was spared). Mark White was actually governor during my adolescence, so it was kind of bizarre reading about this alternate history. Actually, the title was _Warday_ and Streiber wrote it with the help of James Kunetka. It was the book I though of when I saw this thread. The Streiber-Kunetka team did a similarly themed non-nuclear war inspired end of the world story called _Nature’s End_ as well. But I recall this one being quite depressing, while _Warday_ had a more hopeful theme to it. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-end-of-the-world-book/288060/38 "2005-02-03T09:44:54Z")
The definitive last-man-on-earth book is _The Purple Cloud_ by M. P. Shiel. If you want an interesting take on the decline of the human race and feel that godawful prose is acceptable if it’s in one of the most fantastic books ever written, there’s _The Night Land_ by William Hope Hodgson. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-end-of-the-world-book/288060/39 "2005-02-03T11:00:06Z")
There’s also an early 80’s nuclear war book about a bunch of people on a plane. IT’s _Down to a Sunless Sea_ by David Graham. I wouldn’t put it in the category of _Earth Abides_ or a lot of the other ones that have been mentioned, but it can be an interesting read. Hard to find sometimes though, since it’s out of print and I don’t think a lot of libraries have it. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-end-of-the-world-book/288060/40 "2005-02-03T12:45:58Z")
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