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Jun 19, 2010

Dan rated it:

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...

8 comments like (27 people liked it)

Feb 03, 2011

Jim rated it:

I thought about giving this 5 stars as it is one of the best & earliest of the modern, serious apocalyptic SF novels. Written in 1949, it is a bit dated in some ways (the use of chemicals, lack of panic, & some equipment) but overall, it held up very well over the years. I don't agree with some of the specifics, but the story is not so much about specific technology, but about humanity & I think he presented a very interesting set of ideas.

If you're looking for action & adventure More...

8 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jun 27, 2011

Daniel rated it:

Sometime in the 10 days that it took me to read through this book, I decided that the title could be renamed to "Earth Bides"--as in the Earth bides its time, and so does George R. Stewart in his deliberate study of the decline of civilization following a world-wide plague. After a strong first part, Stewart's story dips into a depression of shallow character development and didactic storytelling. Agenda takes the fore, and Stewart's writing takes a manipulative turn as his character m More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Aerin rated it:

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...

1 comment like (15 people liked it)

May 24, 2009

Kemper rated it:

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...

20 comments like (12 people liked it)

Jul 31, 2008

Huan-hua rated it:

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0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Matthew rated it:

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...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 17, 2008

Jeff added it

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...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Feb 10, 2011

Alice rated it:

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0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 20, 2007

Bob rated it:

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.

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 28, 2010

Crys rated it:

The characters never read hooked me and drew me in.

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Nov 26, 2011

Mur rated it:

I am a couple hours into the audiobook, and annoyed that Ish is kind of a dick. I understand the book will reflect the thinking of the time, but that doesn't make me enjoy the sexist writing any more (this is why I have trouble with classic SF). beyond that, Ish doesn't seem to really mourn the world, he keeps a detached and scholarly view of everything. he abandons a drunk because he doesn't want a companion of that ilk, then feels little remorse when he finds the man dead of alcohol poisoning More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 27, 2008

Thomas rated it:

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...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 02, 2009

Sisimka rated it:

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!

7 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 29, 2010

Liz rated it:

As an employee at UC Berkeley there is a kind of liberation that comes with reading of someone breaking into Doe library after the fall of civilization as we know it to get to the books inside. I do hope he remembered to have them scanned by the people at the checkout desk. :-)

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 07, 2007

Deborah rated it:

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...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Mar 06, 2009

Mary rated it:

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...

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Dec 08, 2011

Jayme rated it:

Great book. I really enjoy apocalyptic fiction. I have read a lot of it and this one has got to be towards the top of my list.

This book takes on more of an human approach to the end of the world. There is not a great deal of action but the pace does not get sluggish. Unlike most end of the world fiction this one has a much broader scope and looks at the future of a "Tribe" of survivors instead of just the main character. Plus in most of these type of stories there is o More...

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Oct 24, 2011

Brandon rated it:

I just finished this book. 1/2 of the book reminded me of the series on the History Channel called Life after People. The short of it is that 999 of 1000 people are destroyed by an airborne plague. Almost all the people are gone, but the infrastructure remains intact. The author reasons what would happen in this scenario initially focusing on how the earth would reclaim certain human-maintained things like roads, lights, sewage and forests.

The second portion of the book primarily hi More...

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Sep 07, 2011

The_antichris rated it:

I will read almost anything that involves wiping out 99% of Earth's population, but Earth Abides is a remarkable, singular example of the genre. Humanity dies not with a bang, nor with a whimper, but with a courageous, dignified going into the dark. But that isn't the point of the novel, not really: it takes place off-screen, while Ish, the protagonist, is on a solitary research trip in the mountains, and sets the stage for a subtle character study; a plausible imagining of how small, isolated c More...

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Jul 19, 2011

Austin Bruce rated it:

I enjoyed Earth Abides more than any novel I've read in a long time. Although we modern readers can quibble with many of the technicalities of this book written in the late 1940s, it's obvious the author did lots of research and had a great deal of feeling for his subject. To label Earth Abides as just another post-apocalypse novel does not do it justice. Though it was one of the first of this sub-genre, the focus is on the human story, not the sensational events. In addition, the writing is More...

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May 24, 2011

Elaine rated it:

I love most science fiction, and I always enjoy a good post apocalyptic book. I recently bought this and some other PA books as part of trying to make sense of the horror of the ongoing Fukushima disaster, although this book isn't about nuclear holocaust, but about the end of civilization as it was in 1949, and what happens to one small group of people who live as a community in what was Berkeley, California. I won't lay out the plot, as hundreds of people in this review list have done that, but More...

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May 02, 2011

Adam rated it:

Earth Abides is a strange book. Divided into three sections, I found the first intensely boring, the second interesting if naive, and the third surprisingly touching and deft. We are treated to the aftermath of a plague that wipes out most of humanity. We see not just the first few months after the plague but the full extent of a man's life as he watches new generations grow up that know nothing of civilization.

Life after the plague seems like quite the jolly affair, traveling abo More...

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May 01, 2011

Dani rated it:

What I enjoyed most about this book was that the main character was just an ordinary guy, and his reaction to a world where you were starting afresh was probably typical of most people. But that was also frustrating. He and eventually the few survivors he connects with would simply raid stores for food and supplies, never thinking about what would happen someday when all the food was either spoiled or gone. They have electricity for a while, but that finally ends and you would think that this wo More...

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Feb 11, 2011

Joseph rated it:

Earth Abides is a work of science fiction literature of high caliber. The story follows a few surviving humans on Earth after an extinction event wipes out most the world's population.

I will first mention the bad, because the good far outweighs it. I read this book for my Science Fiction Literature class, and some of my classmates had some complaints about it. The most common of these were complaints about the main character being indecisive and unheroic. Displeasure over the 3rd person

More...

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Feb 09, 2011

Christina rated it:

I am currently taking Science Fiction Literature here at UCF right now, and have to read a new science fiction book every two weeks (conviently, at the same time helping me with this class). Earth Abides is a novel about a man named Ish left with a small amount of people left on earth after a nuclear explosion. The tale begins with Ish meeting a black woman Em and repopulating the earth, along with other friends that they meet along the way, eventually becoming what they name "The Tribe" More...

1 comment like

Feb 02, 2011

Jeffrey rated it:

This novel depicts a world after disease spreads and practically wipes out all of mankind. The story follows Ish, a rather independent individual that is constantly looking for companions in this post-apocalyptic world. The beginning of the novel focuses on Ish surviving as a scavenger living off of the past and what is left of the modern world. There is a distinct moment where Princess (his beagle) runs off to chase a rabbit, Ish contemplates leaving the dog and going on with his journey alone. More...

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Nov 30, 2010

Bob rated it:

Picked this up because I heard this was the inspiration of Steven King's "The Stand". Written in 1949, it tells the story of a man named Ish that is one of the only survivors of a worldwide plague. Ish was based on Ishi, the last Indian who wondered out of the woods in the 1920's in California and was studied by Berkeley. Stewart taught at Berkeley so we see how he came up with this story.

I am puzzled why this is considered a classic and is so well reviewed, other than wh More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 26, 2010

Melissa rated it:

I tried, but this book is too old fashioned for me. It reminds me of something Richard Matheson would write. The main character, Ish, drives me nuts. The women are all idiots according to him - but courageous, since they have the children, so that's okay! Apparently, after a plague wipes out nearly all of humanity, the difference between men & women can be summed up as: "She felt only in terms of the immediate, and was more interested in being able to spot her child's birthday than in all t More...

8 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 06, 2010

Becky rated it:

Isherwood Williams is "Ish" to himself and to most who know him. Ish, a graduate student in geography, out in the wilderness of northern California doing fieldwork, is bitten by a rattlesnake on the opening page of Earth Abides. As he's fighting fever and delirium alone in his cabin, an even larger battle is being waged in the greater world, a battle of which Ish is unaware and which will be lost before he even regains consciousness. A deadly and extraordinarily fast-acting virus, o More...

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