Earth abides
by George Rippey Stewart · first published 1949
72% recommend28% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Gentle, realistic post-apocalyptic story of a disease killing most people and society rebuilding around Berkeley. Valued for its candid look at how technology and knowledge fade and animals rebound.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The story of rebuilding civilization after a plague nearly wipes out the human race.
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Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
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depends on the subgenre :) Superhuman: Slan by A.E. Van Vogt More Than Human by Theodore STurgeon Odd John by Olaf Stapledon Post Apocalyptic: The Day of The Triffids by John Whyndham Earth Abides by George R. Stewart A Canticle for Lebowitz by...don't remember Space Opera/Adventure: any of The Culture novels by Iain M. Banks The Reality Dysfunction series by ...don't remember Hyperion series…
on “Ask YC: What's the most inspiring sci-fi book you've read?” ↗Here is a real list, shorter and MUCH higher quality: 1. The Cyberiad 2. Babel-17 3. The Stars My Destination 4. The Sheep Look Up 5. More Than Human 6. Lord of Light 7. To Your Scattered Bodies Go 8. Earth Abides 9. Dying Inside 10. City 11. Last and First Men 12. Slan 13. The World of Null-A
on “32 Sci-Fi novels that you should add to your reading list” ↗A good sci-fi book on this topic is the Earth Abides: http://www.amazon.com/Earth-Abides-George-R-Stewart/dp/03454... From one of the reviews: One thing that disturbs people about Earth Abides is its incredible humbling realism about the human condition.…
on “A new book compiles knowledge necessary for society to recover after disaster” ↗That reminds me of the excellent novel Earth Abides https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Abides
on “Deep underwater, submariners are likely unaware of pandemic” ↗My two favorites that stand out this year: Earth Abides by George Stewart 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
on “Ask HN: What are some of the best books you have read in 2022?” ↗I think people speculating in this thread would greatly enjoy Earth Abides by George Stewart.
on “Ask HN: If we woke up tomorrow and...” ↗Earth Abides (50s post-apocalyptic set in the Bay Area) Blood Meridian Lord of the Flies Deliverance
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?” ↗Sometime Never: A Fable for Supermen, by Roahl Dahl The Earth Abides, by George Stewart. Story is set in Berkeley, CA after a disease kills most life on earth, maybe a little too on the nose these days... Paolo Bacigalupi's short stories (e.g. Pump Six), some of which…
on “Ask HN: What's your favorite book that nobody you know has heard of?” ↗Second Alas, Babylon! And, in a similar vein, Earth Abides, by George R. Stewart. I’ve read that one about five times. It’s also about an end-of-civilization scenario. And something about it is strangely grounding and life-affirming.
on “Ask HN: Which book would you pick to re-read for the rest of your life?” ↗…totem pole. Where are you going to get the raw and human resources to maintain what remains let alone rebuild industrial processes? And what if those "human resources" don't want to rebuild? The novel Earth Abides by George R. Stewart has a pretty candid take on what would happen if an academic survived a systemic collapse of the United States and tried to rebuild the Old World from what was left of the survivors.…
on “Are ‘Dark Ages’ Inevitable?” ↗I rather enjoyed the book Earth Abides by George R. Stewart. It considers all these problems in depth through it's narrative.
on “You're Not Going to Make It” ↗Earth Abides by George R. Stewart is a more gentle post-apocalyptic story, but very beautiful. Not really much in the way of hackers. I like how it chronicles a procession of animal population boom and bust cycles…
on “Ask HN: Dystopian Sci-fi books that take place in San Francisco to recommend?” ↗Earth Abides by George R. Stewart takes place around the Berkeley area in a post-apocalyptic world. Not quite sci-fi but a fantastic read nonetheless.
on “Ask HN: Dystopian Sci-fi books that take place in San Francisco to recommend?” ↗…the standard stuff (asimov, clarke, niven, heinlein) 1. The Cyberiad 2. Babel-17 3. The Stars My Destination 4. The Sheep Look Up 5. More Than Human 6. Lord of Light 7. To Your Scattered Bodies Go 8. Earth Abides 9. Gateway 10. City
on “Found: first amino acid on a comet” ↗If anyone likes this topic, you should read Earth Abides (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Abides). From Wikipedia: It tells the story of the fall of civilization from deadly disease and its rebirth. Beginning in the United States in the 1940s, it deals with…
on “If you became the last person on Earth, what would you do? Realistically.” ↗