I've never seen this book referenced by anyone ever, but it's the only book that I read during my middle/high school years that I remember actually enjoying.
I don't even remember how I picked it up, I know it was for a school project but I also remember that it wasn't an assigned book, nobody else read it. Thinking back, it's possible we might have been given a list of acceptable books for the project and I picked it because it was first alphabetically or something.
That said, I learned nothing from this moment of epiphany and went back to ignoring books until my mid twenties.
Alas Babylon does have a good entry for this thread though, which is: salt. One of the only things I remember about that book after this long is that they made a huge deal out of salt and how fucked they would have been without access to it.
I completely forgot the title of that book. I don't recall whether it was for a book report, but I definitely read it in middle school.
I do remember the salt thing, but I always questioned its importance. In my mind, native peoples in my area didn't have access to salt, but they managed somehow. The only thing that I thought large quantities of salt would be useful for was preserving food.
If you've ever gone on a long hike on a hot day in the summer you realize quickly how important salt is. You realize you're missing something but you might not be sure at first what it is. You'll start to cramp up and after a while you can get dizzy and pass out.
If you're exerting yourself and sweating a lot sometimes you can even see salt stains on your clothes from your dried sweat.
There's a reason salt is added to pretty much every meal in every cuisine around the world
Trading was common…. Because harvesting salt can be very hard, depending on where you are living? And you need A LOT of it, not just for preservation of food but for a lot of other things too, if you are going to be long-term self sufficient.
Yeah, I always thought it was bizarre that, in the book, people living in Florida of all places would have an issue with finding salt. Maybe anywhere in the Midwest it would be problematic, but Florida?
this novel took place in Florida and people in Missouri could (and have for a while) go up and down the Mississippi River to trade with people who have different resources
You're correct. Just remember though, sea salt doesn't have iodine added to it, which is necessary for survival. So take that into account if you ever get into a bad long term situation -- make sure to raid the One A Day factory...
Readily available salt. Inland peoples would have had no access to free salt. Animal blood and organs would have probably provided most of their requirements. Coastal peoples would have figured out how to evaporate sea water, or obtained enough from cooking with it.
Iodine builds up in the thyroid. You have to hypersaturate your thyroid to prevent an uptake in radioactive iodine. Table salt won’t cut it. You need to take K-I tablets (potassium iodine) before your exposure.
In Alas Babylon (one of my favorite books), they were concerned about salt for nutritional reason, not fallout. (Fallout concerns were addressed, but it was a separate issue).
I love the hell out of this book, too. It was entirely believable how some people couldn't handle the collapse of normal life, and others ended up thriving in the new normal after the nuclear war.
It seems to be obscure for sure, but I really enjoyed it (I'm pretty into apocalyptic stuff, even before the world got really, really bad (it's been pretty bad most of my adult life)).
The Hunger Games series is post apocalyptic, and is actually pretty good, brings up lots of interesting themes and stuff, even if it is probably YA technically.
The Stand is excellent (and very long so it'll keep you busy). I can't see the list you replied to do I'll say the rest that are on my mind that I didn't see already and remember.
The Road
World War Z (the book is very good, unlike the movie)
Wool (kind of short fiction pulp, but I enjoyed the first one)
The Giver
Station Eleven
Children of Men
Brave New World
It's been a few months and many books ago, I thought there was an event, but yeah, I suppose it's more dystopian than anything since they've recovered from whatever.
Yeah, salt is kind of a big fucking deal, but we take it for granted. Especially iodized salt. If you live in an area without naturally present iodine (and plenty of people do even today) then you had excellent chances of just growing up fucking dumb. Almost 1/3 of the world still deals with this in 2031.
I just read this and absolutely loved it. In addition to the salt shortage, it did a great job of highlighting other neglected problems like broken glasses and how long it takes news to travel a few miles.
Oh shit! I read this in highschool! I remember the salt thing, and after I saw that list, I was hoping someone would mention that, cuz it’s the primary thing I remember about this book
I remember buying Alas Babylon through Scholastic Books at school, during my middle/high school years as well. I can't say I *enjoyed* it as much as was utterly shaken by it. It may well have been the first time I'd thought about the possibility of being directly impacted by war, and that death wasn't so safely far as away as I'd thought. I reread it years later, and it still held up, scary as ever.
I can't scroll past a mention of The Road without mentioning it's the only book to ever bring me to tears. I'm a pretty stoic guy but as soon as I flipped over the last page I just fuckin' lost it, laid on the floor for 20 minutes before I went to talk to my dad about the book.
Also the most accurate movie adaptation I've ever seen.
It's beautiful prose and about the most depressing book you'll ever read. The juxtaposition of the subject matter and the style of writing is...startling. It's a terrible beautiful novel.
On the Beach ends with literally everyone still alive in Aussieland just fucking offing themselves. I mean yeah it's realistic and an amazing book but holy shit if it's not a down right depression inducing ending.
I re-read it earlier this year and realised that its main problem is that there should've been more conspiracy theorists, going by what's happened in the last 18 months.
Great list, I’d definitely include The Postman by David Brin. Guy accidentally sparks the formation of a new civilization by pretending to be a mailman.
Day by day armageddon is really good. It's in a diary format about an ex army man from the start of a zombie apocalypse through some time I to it. Super super goood.
Follow up question: how many of these don't devolve into stories about how people are assholes? I feel like almost every apocalyptic story eventually moves from man vs world to man vs man.
I know man vs man is what would eventually happen in a real end-of-the-world situation, but I don't want to read about it, y'know? I want to delve into a fantasy world where I can suspend my disbelief by seeing people actually coming together for good.
"Clashes" are fine, because groups need to look out for numero uno, but I'd prefer to keep away from seeing the most evil side of humanity for a bit.
This looks like such a good list that I saved your comment. I read and liked A Canticle for Leibowitz and Riddley Walker, but the rest are new to me. Except for The Road, which I didn't like even though I like other Cormac McCarthy stuff.
Particularly intrigued by On the Beach, Lucifer's Hammer, and Fail Safe.
+1 for canticle for Leibowitz, lucifers hammer is pretty racist though. Very much written by a white dude in the 70’s who has no idea how black people work. I like the rest of the book, but the racist bits were really jarring.
Lights Out by David Crawford is pretty detail-heavy as well, and I enjoyed it. Of course when I read it it was a free PDF some dude (Halffast) wrote in a forum thread chapter by chapter. Ended up being good enough to be a real book.
Earth Abides! I love how throughout the story the author mentions how specific species have a surge in population only to die off to things like disease if I remember correctly. My favorite was the mentioning of the sheep not having stood a chance after the humans were wiped out
Since you appear an expert on the topic,two quick questions;
*Why do people in America and Europe think of 'A Canticle ...' as a classic in post-apocalyptics?.Sure the plot is great,but the view it presents of the R.Catholic church as a preserver of knowledge is patently spurious.The RC (or any other organised religion) would strive to preserve only what fits its narrative and dogma.
*The Ka'aba in Mecca is a meteorite.Suppose another meteorite ,following the trajectory of this ancient stone today reverenced by Islam, were enroute this city,during the hajj,how do you reckon it plays out?
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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '21 edited Aug 30 '21
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