# Post-Apocalyptic Book Suggestions? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 31, 2014, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-apocalyptic-book-suggestions/697034 "2014-08-31T07:53:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Martha-Shumway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f14d63/32.png) [@Martha-Shumway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha-Shumway)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-apocalyptic-book-suggestions/697034/1 "2014-08-31T07:53:08Z")
I recently read Cormac McCarthy’ s The Road and really enjoyed it. Though I’m a pretty voricious reader I’ve never really read any post-apocalyptic fiction before and I really enjoyed it! A friend suggested Robert McCammon’ s Swan Song. I felt it was perhaps overly-long, but it was an fun read and a real page-turner. I’m hoping you astute Dopers could suggest other compelling books in this genre. I read Stephen King’s The Stand umpteen years ago but don’t really feel the need to revisit it. I’m hoping to find well-written books that don’t insult the reader’s intelligence (no zombies please). Any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![LewisDartnell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cc9497/32.png) [@LewisDartnell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LewisDartnell)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-apocalyptic-book-suggestions/697034/2 "2014-08-31T09:29:36Z")
Hi Martha, I recently wrote a popular science book about how you could rebuild civilisation after an apocalypse ([www.the-knowledge.org](http://www.the-knowledge.org)). Here’s my recommended list of the very best post-apocalyptic novels (no Zombies!): [Best post-apocalyptic books - The Knowledge](http://the-knowledge.org/en-gb/best-post-apocalyptic-books/) Lewis ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-apocalyptic-book-suggestions/697034/3 "2014-08-31T10:53:34Z")
[Here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=466304)[are](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=502143)a [bunch](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=544417)of [threads](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=567182)on the [topic](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=595162). (taken from the[book recommendations sticky](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=599130). There may be more threads linked later in that that I didn’t link). ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-apocalyptic-book-suggestions/697034/4 "2014-08-31T13:44:01Z")
[Drowned World](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Drowned_World) - ages since I read it, but I loved it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-apocalyptic-book-suggestions/697034/5 "2014-08-31T14:13:01Z")
> [@LewisDartnell](#): > > Hi Martha, > I recently wrote a popular science book about how you could rebuild civilisation after an apocalypse ([www.the-knowledge.org](http://www.the-knowledge.org)). Here’s my recommended list of the very best post-apocalyptic novels (no Zombies!): > [Best post-apocalyptic books - The Knowledge](http://the-knowledge.org/en-gb/best-post-apocalyptic-books/) > > Lewis I just wanted to say I enjoyed your book. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-apocalyptic-book-suggestions/697034/6 "2014-08-31T15:03:37Z")
Earth Abides and Emergence are my two favorites. The City of Gold and Lead is the first in a trilogy of sort-of post-apocalyptic stories (post-alien invasion). ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-apocalyptic-book-suggestions/697034/7 "2014-08-31T15:08:29Z")
I enjoyed Lucifer’s Hammer when I read it many years ago (asteroid collision story). Also if you want an image of a world that is slowly dying I would suggest Make Room Make Room by Harry Harrison. It is the basis of Soylent Green but the movie is a much thinner story than the book (and Soylent is just Soy and Lentils in the book, aka cheap food). ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-apocalyptic-book-suggestions/697034/8 "2014-08-31T15:26:10Z")
I know you said no zombies but John Ringo thought about and solved the logical issues with your typical zombie novel. His books aren’t for everyone, but I love his stuff Anyway the first book in the series is To Sail a Darkling Sea (Full disclosure in the second book in the series there is a minor character named after me 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-apocalyptic-book-suggestions/697034/9 "2014-08-31T15:34:04Z")
A brand new, really different and pretty excellent one is **Bird Box** by Josh Malerman. No zombies, I promise. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-apocalyptic-book-suggestions/697034/10 "2014-08-31T16:08:26Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > A brand new, really different and pretty excellent one is **Bird Box** by Josh Malerman. No zombies, I promise. Could you give the cliff’s notes version of the premise? The Amazon description is not clear. I get a sense it is like Stephen King’s Cell (which BTW I couldn’t recommend for this thread. Awesome idea and set up but goes off the rails after that) but not sure. ---
**Author:** ![PorchePine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@PorchePine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PorchePine)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-apocalyptic-book-suggestions/697034/11 "2014-08-31T16:33:48Z")
Canticle for Lebowitz. You can read it in an afternoon. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-apocalyptic-book-suggestions/697034/12 "2014-08-31T16:41:18Z")
[Metro 2033](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_2033_(novel)) fits. Post-apocalypse; what’s left of humanity is living in the Moscow subway stations. ---
**Author:** ![Martha-Shumway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f14d63/32.png) [@Martha-Shumway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha-Shumway)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-apocalyptic-book-suggestions/697034/13 "2014-08-31T17:04:30Z")
Thank you to everyone for such interesting suggestions! I apologize profusely for not thinking of checking the really useful Book Recommendation compilation thread (I sure won’t overlook that resource again.) It looks like the Dope has a bunch of great options for me, and please know how much I appreciate you guys! ---
**Author:** ![LewisDartnell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cc9497/32.png) [@LewisDartnell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LewisDartnell)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-apocalyptic-book-suggestions/697034/14 "2014-08-31T17:44:32Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I just wanted to say I enjoyed your book. Cheers, thanks very much! Do add your thoughts to the book’s Discussion page: [Discuss -](http://the-knowledge.org/en-gb/discuss/) - what do \_you think would be the most important knowledge to preserve if all else is lost…? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-apocalyptic-book-suggestions/697034/15 "2014-08-31T20:57:55Z")
> [@PorchePine](#): > > Canticle for Lebowitz. > > You can read it in an afternoon. That’s my favorite example of the genre, too. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-apocalyptic-book-suggestions/697034/16 "2014-08-31T22:13:03Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Could you give the cliff’s notes version of the premise? The Amazon description is not clear. I get a sense it is like Stephen King’s Cell (which BTW I couldn’t recommend for this thread. Awesome idea and set up but goes off the rails after that) but not sure. The story is divided between present and what happened five years ago. Not _too_ spoilerish, but… [spoiler]Five years ago something invaded the earth and people who see them can’t cope with what they’re seeing and go insane, committing violent acts or gruesome suicide. To avoid that, people cover up their windows and don’t go outside unless they’re blindfolded. Now our heroine has just decided that her children, both age four, are finally old enough for them to risk traveling to a place where there are other people. It’s a long hard journey by boat blind-folded.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![slowlearner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@slowlearner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slowlearner)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-apocalyptic-book-suggestions/697034/17 "2014-08-31T23:21:07Z")
L Ron Hubbard’s Battlefield Earth, very old school pulp type sci fi in that the science ain’t so good and the prose not much better but the dang book will grow on you, nothing to do with Dianetics or the awful Travolta movie. Daniel F Galouye’s Lords Of The Psychon, also old school but very optimistic and maybe accidentally a meditation on classic (unwritten) Buddhism. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-apocalyptic-book-suggestions/697034/18 "2014-08-31T23:43:11Z")
Having read all the usual post-apocalyptic suspects, I think [Richard Herley’s _Refuge_](http://www.amazon.com/Refuge-Richard-Herley-ebook/dp/B004V5I0WK#) is probably the smartest and best thought out. It doesn’t hurt that it’s a fast-moving, razor-sharp adventure tale, either. ---
**Author:** ![PeacePlease](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71c47a/32.png) [@PeacePlease](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeacePlease)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-apocalyptic-book-suggestions/697034/19 "2014-09-01T00:55:37Z")
> [@PorchePine](#): > > Canticle for Lebowitz. > > You can read it in an afternoon. Doesn’t appear to be available in ebook format. Bummed!! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-apocalyptic-book-suggestions/697034/20 "2014-09-01T01:09:21Z")
> [@PorchePine](#): > > Canticle for Lebowitz. > > You can read it in an afternoon. Meh. Didn’t like it, myself. I suggest _War Day_ by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka, a travelogue about the aftermath of a limited nuclear war between the US and USSR; _The Last Ship_ by William Brinkley, about the sole surviving U.S. Navy warship after a fullscale WWIII and the new society its crew struggles to create (very different from the TV series it inspired); and, of course, the classic _On the Beach_ by Nevil Shute, about the slow dwindling of humanity as postwar radiation covers the globe. All very different; all very good. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-apocalyptic-book-suggestions/697034.md?page=2)