Questions About Earth Abides

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Tony Minoldo Because you're probably the end result of what 40 years of horrendous education caused to the USA (and now is causing to the rest of the World): I'm b…moreBecause you're probably the end result of what 40 years of horrendous education caused to the USA (and now is causing to the rest of the World): I'm by noi means a conspiracy theorist, but Hollywood films have greratly contributed, making a majority of movies with ceaseless and mostly meaningless constant action and not time to analyse...This book, if you made an effort, is a masterpiece...Now, with a new deadly virus rampaging, just imagine the collapse of civilisation, and how, contrarily to most Hollywood movies, not ex marines in their 30s will survive...The survival would be of course random, due to genetics or where the survivors live (to avoid contagion), and how, once the few months of canned food expire in the shelves, only those used to plant or find their own food, hunt, fish and cook, would survive...The book is marvelous, give it a chance...Please?(less)

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For a reader who enjoys philosophical debate, narrative force, and timeless themes would any of you care to weigh in on whether I should read this or Alas, Babylon. Also, has anyone actually been able to stomach Canticle for Leibowitz without learning Latin. I am not often in the mood to hear about any human's loins "girded." Suggestions?

Greg Degiere I found Earth Abides to be much more compelling, for three reasons I can identify.

First, the ideas it deals with are much more universal and interesti…moreI found Earth Abides to be much more compelling, for three reasons I can identify.

First, the ideas it deals with are much more universal and interesting -- how people relate to one another, parenting, and on a biggest scale, what is civilization and what about it is worth saving? And the events that lead to the establishment of the state should be fascinating to anyone who was read Locke or Paine, or even has thought about how societies create governments.

Second, it's more exciting. Alas, Babylon constructs a hard-to-believe world, despite the fact that its catastrophe is much more obviously likely. Earth Abides is believable from the start.

Third, and this is related to #2, Earth Abides is more intellectually honest. It creates a world in which almost everyone has died and deals in a serious way with how the few survivors would act. Alas, Babylon creates a world that experienced a nuclear war that hardly has any effect at all on the survivors in the one place in Florida where it is set. To my way of thnking, On the Beach was more honest.

It's been a long time since I read A Canticle for Leibowitz so I cant comment much on it, except to say I remember enjoying it a lot.(less)

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Should you read this? "Earth Abides" is one of the most important books I have ever read. I buy a copy for all of the important people in my life. I think about the message and see just how George R. Stewart was able to predict the demise and evolution of what we always considered culture and society. Read this book! And support your local library. You'll see what I mean.

Quietguy Earth Abides is a great... journey. It spans a young man's life after most on earth perish. It does not "explain", it quite simply allows you to live …moreEarth Abides is a great... journey. It spans a young man's life after most on earth perish. It does not "explain", it quite simply allows you to live this experience through it's narrative. I've read it many times over - have actually worn out two paperback editions. I plan to add it to my Kindle soon... YES, buy it, read it and simply enjoy it's story.(less)

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What does anybody make of the italicized passages through the book? They seem, with the exception of the opening transcription from a radio broadcast, to be slightly scholarly, detached discussions (though often employing the second person) on various aspects of history, linguistics, anthropology, natural history.

Casey I agree that they are definitely of a scholarly nature. It seems almost though that these passages are the true observations of Earth "Abiding". They …moreI agree that they are definitely of a scholarly nature. It seems almost though that these passages are the true observations of Earth "Abiding". They are just statements and facts about what is happening and will happen to the Earth (and the things mankind has left behind). They almost seem to be what Ish would write himself as the observationist / anthropologist that he constantly claims he is. (less)

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Does this seem too much like "I Am Legend" to anyone else? Yes, the movie came out until the 2000's, but that was the third time it the novel was cinematized, first in the 50's as "Last Man On Earth", then in the 70's as "The Omega Man".

Andrew Wilson Apart from the timing of the two books and the likelihood that the writer of I Am Legend would have read Earth Abides, there was a lot of this kind of…moreApart from the timing of the two books and the likelihood that the writer of I Am Legend would have read Earth Abides, there was a lot of this kind of fiction post-war. These books, short stories and novellas reflected the concerns of the time, after the use of atomic weapons and, for the first time, the possibility that human society could be destroyed by human actions.

When I started reading, as a kid in the late 60's I read a lot of these stories, of which Earth Abides and A Canticle For Leibowitz stood out. I should get hold of a copy of the latter for a re-read.(less)

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