book data
1,184 ratings,
3.89
average rating, 245 reviews
(more data...)
edit
published
October 15th 2009
by Brilliance Audio on CD Unabridged
(first published 1949)
details
Audio CD, 13 pages
characters
setting
United States
literary awards
isbn
1441806148
(isbn13: 9781441806147)
description
An instant classic upon its original publication in 1949 and winner of the first International Fantasy Award, Earth Abides ranks with On the Beach and…more
find at:
Amazon • WorldCat • more options…
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Next Best Boo...: * Your Latest Splurge | 8306 | 10947 | 3 minutes ago | |
| The Next Best Boo...: The Title Game | 8175 | 8069 | 6 minutes ago | |
| Gigi's Company: The Last Letter Game (Book Titles) | 1061 | 509 | 2 hours, 40 min ago |
friend reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists.
Add this book to your favorite list »
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 2,053)
All ratings
|
5 stars (385)
|
4 stars (416)
|
3 stars (275)
|
2 stars (85)
|
1 star (23)
|
avg 3.89
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Read in September, 2008
Men go and come but the earth abides.
I picked up Earth Abides because it was one of the inspirations for Stephen King's The Stand and because I've been in a post-apocalyptic mood lately. Earth Abides didn't disappoint.
It grabs you from the start. Isherwood Williams (Ish), gets bitten on the hand by a rattlesnake just after discovering an old hammer in the desert. After days of suffering from the rattler's bite, Ish wakes up and no one else is around. The beginning rem...more
I picked up Earth Abides because it was one of the inspirations for Stephen King's The Stand and because I've been in a post-apocalyptic mood lately. Earth Abides didn't disappoint.
It grabs you from the start. Isherwood Williams (Ish), gets bitten on the hand by a rattlesnake just after discovering an old hammer in the desert. After days of suffering from the rattler's bite, Ish wakes up and no one else is around. The beginning rem...more
Like this review?
yes
(9 people liked it)
9 comments
Read in October, 2008
Cold War-era post-apocalyptic fiction is a favorite genre of mine. Although the idea that the world will end has always been with us, it wasn't until the development of the nuclear bomb that we as a species were faced with how easy it would be to annihilate ourselves. Nowadays, it seems like every day brings another potential agent of mass destruction: biological warfare, global warming, fundamentalist terrorism... We're so used to the idea that the world could end at any minute that it hardl...more
Like this review?
yes
(4 people liked it)
add a comment
It comes across as a little dated. (When the hero sprays his pregnant wife's clothes with DDT because of flea concerns and it's considered a good thing, you gotta laugh.) But the core story holds up remarkably well.
Instead of the typical apocalyptic aftermath story with brave survivors fighting for survival, we get a small band of average people who would rather coast along by scrounging off the old world rather than trying to rebuild.
Stewart was doing a version of 'L...more
Instead of the typical apocalyptic aftermath story with brave survivors fighting for survival, we get a small band of average people who would rather coast along by scrounging off the old world rather than trying to rebuild.
Stewart was doing a version of 'L...more
Like this review?
yes
(3 people liked it)
9 comments
Read in January, 2005
recommended to Huan-hua by:
book clubrecommends it for: lovers of post-apocalyptic fiction
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
add a comment
Read in September, 2007
With the expiration of most of earth's population rendering most technological advancements useless and thrusting religion as we know it into obscurity, man has to learn to inhabit, and assign new meaning to, an uncivilized earth. Although a little slow at times, Earth Abides is a thoughtful, eloquently written novel, avoiding many of the pitfalls of the post-apocalyptic sci-fi garbage that it spawned. Written in 1949, it is remarkably apt today, only dating itself at times in it's treatment of ...more
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
add a comment
I couldn't even finish it. I really wanted to; it was a neat take on the good ol' end of the world story, but I just couldn't get past how dated it was:
"He took a cigarette from the lacquer box on the coffee table"
"He turned on the radio and waited for the tubes to warm up"
"He laid down on the davenport"
"Again, he spent the night at a travel lodge along Rt. 66"
It just kept taking up more and more of my energy to n...more
"He took a cigarette from the lacquer box on the coffee table"
"He turned on the radio and waited for the tubes to warm up"
"He laid down on the davenport"
"Again, he spent the night at a travel lodge along Rt. 66"
It just kept taking up more and more of my energy to n...more
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
add a comment
Read in August, 1975
recommends it for:
All
There is more to life than being an observer. The protaganist, Isherwood Wiliams, watches the world or what is left of it deteriorate and wonders why someone doesn't do anything about it.
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
2 comments
Read in December, 2007
I'm halfway through this classic novel. I'm a fan of end-of-the-world tragedies and this is clearly the archetype. I can appreciate that Stewart is to disaster novels what Tolkein is to fantasy novels. However, thus far I am only interested instead of captivated. The reason for this is the characters. The most compelling character is the disaster. The narrator, as a disengaged observer of events, fails to draw me into the story or make me feel the tragedy of events. I look forward to the italici...more
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
1 comment
recommends it for:
Teens and Older
This is my favorite novel of all time. I first read the story way back when I was in high school, so I can recommend this to young readers.
The story may well be the first post-apocalyptic novel of its kind - I know of no others that have proceeded it and I do not count H.G. Wells' The Time Machine as in this category. Regardless, I consider this book to be the standard against which all other post-apocalyptic novels should be judged.
George R. Stewart is well suited to wri...more
The story may well be the first post-apocalyptic novel of its kind - I know of no others that have proceeded it and I do not count H.G. Wells' The Time Machine as in this category. Regardless, I consider this book to be the standard against which all other post-apocalyptic novels should be judged.
George R. Stewart is well suited to wri...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in May, 2009
This was the first 'post apocalyptic' novel I ever read. Oddly, I found it on my mother's bookshelf when looking for something to read one day. This is one of those books I'll remember forever, and probably one of my all time top ten. I wonder how it will stand up to a re-read?
5/1/09: Stands up awesomely well to a re-read. Its a classic!
5/1/09: Stands up awesomely well to a re-read. Its a classic!
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
6 comments
Read in January, 1981
what i loved about this book was it's reality... what would happen if?
a massive epidemic - nearly everyone on earth dead... the practical end of what would happen next. gathering a few survivors, building a new life and lifestyle. the main charactor (your basic mild mannered guy) over time realizing that he needed to teach the next generation what they'd need to survive without common utilities or grocery stores. this book made me think... and one of the best 'visuals' .... 'he sat and wa...more
a massive epidemic - nearly everyone on earth dead... the practical end of what would happen next. gathering a few survivors, building a new life and lifestyle. the main charactor (your basic mild mannered guy) over time realizing that he needed to teach the next generation what they'd need to survive without common utilities or grocery stores. this book made me think... and one of the best 'visuals' .... 'he sat and wa...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
1 comment
Read in June, 2007
This was read for ENG 360A Class taken in 2007.
Readings Environmental Novel English Class required.
This was a really quick read and I actually read it for an English class.
It's a post apocalyptic story followin one survivor and the issues he needs to deal with and think about.
I'm usually not too keen on these types of stories but this one caught my attention because of the timelessness in regards to survival and ecology.
Stewart address...more
Readings Environmental Novel English Class required.
This was a really quick read and I actually read it for an English class.
It's a post apocalyptic story followin one survivor and the issues he needs to deal with and think about.
I'm usually not too keen on these types of stories but this one caught my attention because of the timelessness in regards to survival and ecology.
Stewart address...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2010
So I'm attempting to read (and collect) the over 400 books in the New York Review of Books classics series. The first one (since Stoner, which sparked my interest in the series) that I am devouring is Names on the Land, written by George R. Stewart. What a world of magnificent writing I've discovered! And it is a full world, as Stewart didn't write about just one topic, but has written over a dozen books, both fiction and non, over innumerable topics. Names on the Land studies the origin of plac...more
Like this review?
yes
2 comments
Read in August, 2005
If I were to teach an upper-level college writing class, I’d use this book as the foundation for my semester. Just as secret service agents need real, expertly crafted, counterfeit bills removed from circulation and brought into their classroom to learn how to identify bad paper, every writer needs a counterfeit novel that made it into circulation and received praise. Through deconstruction of this book, I could teach almost everything writers shouldn’t do.
Hundreds of places the ...more
Hundreds of places the ...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Who knew the apocalypse would be this boring?
At first, Stewart's anthropological examination of post-apocalyptic America is fairly intriguing; he takes a 'World Without Us' approach to how the Earth would respond to humanity's absence, and it's interesting enough (even though it's hard to tell how accurate his depiction is).
Problems arise when Stewart's contemptuous narrator, Ish, joins a community of other humans. Though written in the late '40s, Stewart's ideas regardi...more
At first, Stewart's anthropological examination of post-apocalyptic America is fairly intriguing; he takes a 'World Without Us' approach to how the Earth would respond to humanity's absence, and it's interesting enough (even though it's hard to tell how accurate his depiction is).
Problems arise when Stewart's contemptuous narrator, Ish, joins a community of other humans. Though written in the late '40s, Stewart's ideas regardi...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
1 comment
Read in October, 2004
recommended to Rhiannon by:
Victoria Eveleigh
This was a book club choice of my good friend Vicky. The cover made me think it was going to be unrelenting rubbish but it wasn't all bad. The idea itself was brilliant, a quite scientific analysis of what would happen if the vast majority of the human race just died. Unfortunately, the narrative is astoundingly dull and even the interesting bits of plot come across as boring just from the lack of colourful language and any real emotion. Ish, the main character, is an incredibly boring character...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
recommends it for:
Try SciFi, you'll like it.
I spent my childhood watching my brothers reading Science Fiction and wondering what the heck they found so compelling. I honestly think I avoided the genre for so long just because I didn't want to be like them.
(It honestly had nothing to do with the fact that I had an embarrassingly long Judy Blume phase and tended to gravitate towards the almost Harlequin romance novels aimed towards raving, hormonal teenage girls.)
Anyhooo
So now, I'm reading more and mor...more
(It honestly had nothing to do with the fact that I had an embarrassingly long Judy Blume phase and tended to gravitate towards the almost Harlequin romance novels aimed towards raving, hormonal teenage girls.)
Anyhooo
So now, I'm reading more and mor...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in June, 2009
I started this book without a clear picture of when or where it was written, just knew it was "a classic." It started out with the stereotypical "lone survivor surveys the empty cities" scenes and moved on to a cross country jaunt to see what humanity survived. However, there was a scene where he came across a couple, a "negro" couple, whereupon he began to wonder if he should just stay there, become their master and have them provide for him. My first thought was "...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in June, 2009
In George Stewart's Earth Abides, we follow the protagonist, Ish, as he struggles with first his own survival, then a budding society, his own ideals of rebuilding civilization, and finally, reluctant godhood. It is interesting to follow Stewart's vision of how civilization—specifically, U.S. civilization—would rebuild in the midst of our manmade constructs, recorded history/knowledge, and culture. Just as the roads and bridges decay, so does the memory of acquired knowledge and practices of...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in November, 2009
I tried to like it, but YAWN. OK, first there is a massive epidemic and nearly everyone on earth dies. This book then follows what would happen next. Told from the viewpoint of one of the survivors it tells how he slowly gathered a few survivors, and how they built a new life and lifestyle.
Pretty much they scavenged from what was left. The rats and mice ate everything in boxes and bags, so these people lived off the canned goods. I'm not sure that people would be so complacent though...more
Pretty much they scavenged from what was left. The rats and mice ate everything in boxes and bags, so these people lived off the canned goods. I'm not sure that people would be so complacent though...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
2 trivia questions
See trivia...
to-read
(on 688 people's shelves)
science-fiction (on 66 people's shelves)
fiction (on 54 people's shelves)
currently-reading (on 42 people's shelves)
post-apocalyptic (on 42 people's shelves)
sci-fi (on 40 people's shelves)
apocalyptic (on 17 people's shelves)
apocalypse (on 11 people's shelves)
sf (on 11 people's shelves)
More shelves...
science-fiction (on 66 people's shelves)
fiction (on 54 people's shelves)
currently-reading (on 42 people's shelves)
post-apocalyptic (on 42 people's shelves)
sci-fi (on 40 people's shelves)
apocalyptic (on 17 people's shelves)
apocalypse (on 11 people's shelves)
sf (on 11 people's shelves)
More shelves...
