[julianj]

I just went back through this thread and cut and pasted every book I hadn't read into a doc, Into the Fire is on top of the list.

Thanks

Julian

[MD]

Heinlein produced a number of apocolyptic and post apololyptic novels.
One of his last, "Friday", actually gave an unspoken nod to peak oil. In it, the United States had broken up into regioinal states, where high tech mass transit existed, but personal transit was by horse and buggy!
It was written around 1980.

Heinlein made some remarkably accurate predictions in his fiction. In the seventies one of his novels included the use of a "sony memory stick", where an author was able to carry his entire working library on a memory module the size of his thumb

[bhowle]

Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach is highly recommended.

Book Description
"Ecotopia was founded when northern California, Oregon, and Washington seceded from the Union to create a "stable-state" ecosystem: the perfect balance between human beings and the environment. Now, twenty years later, the isolated, mysterious Ecotopia welcomes its first officially sanctioned American visitor: New York Times-Post reporter Will Weston.

Like a modern Gulliver, the skeptical Weston is by turns impressed, horrified, and overwhelmed by Ecotopia's strange practices: employee ownership of farms and businesses, the twenty-hour work week, the fanatical elimination of pollution, "mini-cities" that defeat overcrowding, devotion to trees bordering on worship, a woman-dominated government, and bloody, ritual war games. Bombarded by innovative, unsettling ideas, set afire by a relationship with a sexually forthright Ecotopian woman, Weston's conflict of values intensifies-and leads to a startling climax.

Also, highly recommended - Ishmael by Dan Quinn

From Publishers Weekly
Quinn ( Dreamer ) won the Turner Tomorrow Award's half-million-dollar first prize for this fascinating and odd book--not a novel by any conventional definition--which was written 13 years ago but could not find a publisher. The unnamed narrator is a disillusioned modern writer who answers a personal ad ("Teacher seeks pupil. . . . Apply in person.") and thereby meets a wise, learned gorilla named Ishmael that can communicate telepathically. The bulk of the book consists entirely of philosophical dialogues between gorilla and man, on the model of Plato's Republic. Through Ishmael, Quinn offers a wide-ranging if highly general examination of the history of our civilization, illuminating the assumptions and philosophies at the heart of many global problems. Despite some gross oversimplifications, Quinn's ideas are fairly convincing; it's hard not to agree that unrestrained population growth and an obsession with conquest and control of the environment are among the key issues of our times. Quinn also traces these problems back to the agricultural revolution and offers a provocative rereading of the biblical stories of Genesis. Though hardly any plot to speak of lies behind this long dialogue, Quinn's smooth style and his intriguing proposals should hold the attention of readers interested in the daunting dilemmas that beset our planet. 50,000 first printing; major ad/promo.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal
Winner of the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship, a literary competition intended to foster works of fiction that present positive solutions to global problems, this book offers proof that good ideas do not necessarily equal good literature. Ishmael, a gorilla rescued from a traveling show who has learned to reason and communicate, uses these skills to educate himself in human history and culture. Through a series of philosophical conversations with the unnamed narrator, a disillusioned Sixties idealist, Ishmael lays out a theory of what has gone wrong with human civilization and how to correct it, a theory based on the tenet that humanity belongs to the planet rather than vice versa. While the message is an important one, Quinn rarely goes beyond a didactic exposition of his argument, never quite succeeding in transforming idea into art. Despite this, heavy publicity should create demand. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 10/15/91.
- Lawrence Rungren, Bedford Free P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Good summer reading, both.

Bob[B]

[I_Like_Plants]

Oh man this is a great thread!! I'll have to write down the titles of, and get, some of these books you guys are talking about!

I can think of one, one of the "cyberpunk" authors wrote one called Islands In The Net, it's kinda long, and the main idea seems to be that while there are people in the world described that live more in the information net than outside it, and are loyal to, and dependent on it, there's a whole world outside it where things are wild and feral and non-cyber. Plot: One of the protagonists actually gets cast out into the Big Bad World and deal with the desert, bandits, stuff like that.

[Zok]

I was assigned the book “Alas, Babylon” (by Pat Frank) in one of my high school English classes (a hundred years ago). This book was probably the beginning of my fascination with ‘end of the world’ scenarios.

I have read it again as an adult and found the concept to be just as intriguing now as it was then. That said, there is one important caveat to the recommendation to consider the book: “Alas, Babylon” was originally published in the late 1950s and contains more than its fair share of blatantly racist and sexist ideas and full-on stereotypes. But, if you are able to look beyond that, the thematic IDEAS proposed in the book are interesting.

On another note … I found a short list of apocalypse type books on the Oak Ridge Public Library website. Some of the books listed in this thread are also on the web page, so it may be a good resource.

http://www.cortn.org/lib-html/ORPL.ORPLLines.htm

Thank you for starting a thread about this topic. It looks like I have a bit of reading to catch up on!

[leal]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gego', 'h')ttp://mfco.net/surv/fiction/

Electricity goes out in the western world and society breaks down; an heroic struggle against evil.

I kept reading it and am waiting for the final chapters to be written.

[Budmeister]

I was hoping you guys would mention a book that for the life of me I can't remember the title. Story goes:
Crude oil tanker spill in the San Fransico Bay. They turn to a scientist who has invented an oil eating bacteria. Scientist has a terminal disease, his wife and child just died in a car wreck, he has nothing to live for. They test a bottle of "good" bacteria, the scientist gives them a tanker of "bad" bacteria. The bacteria only attacks a certain petroleum molecule, rendering the crude oil into a harmless sludge. But it seems everything derived from petroleum has this molecule. Gas in a cars tank, the clothes on your back, the insulation on electrical wiring, everything turns to sludge. Civilization comes crashing down in days.

Has anyone read this book and can remember the title?

Thanks,
Bud

[Librarianne]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Budmeister', 'I') was hoping you guys would mention a book that for the life of me I can't remember the title. Story goes:
Crude oil tanker spill in the San Fransico Bay. They turn to a scientist who has invented an oil eating bacteria. Scientist has a terminal disease, his wife and child just died in a car wreck, he has nothing to live for. They test a bottle of "good" bacteria, the scientist gives them a tanker of "bad" bacteria. The bacteria only attacks a certain petroleum molecule, rendering the crude oil into a harmless sludge. But it seems everything derived from petroleum has this molecule. Gas in a cars tank, the clothes on your back, the insulation on electrical wiring, everything turns to sludge. Civilization comes crashing down in days.

Has anyone read this book and can remember the title?

Thanks,
Bud

[I_Like_Plants]

Could it be "Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters"?

[Budmeister]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Librarianne', 'I') know, I know!!! It's called Ill Wind, by Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason. I loved it. There's nothing like sitting around and looking at all of your posessions, then trying to determine what isn't at least partially made of petroleum products. Try it sometime. Yikes!

[Librarianne]

You're welcome!

[WakingDown]

The Doomsday Report, Rock Brynner
The End of the Dream, Philip Wylie
The Sheep Look Up, John Brunner
Fatal Exposure, Michael Tobias
Carol Johnston's online novel-in-progress about Peak Oil, called "After the Crash." I've read several chapters of it--it's interesting. Google it.

[jobe]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('LadyRuby', 'I')nto the Forest" by Jean Hegland

[geoman]

Isaac Asimov's books while not exactly about Peak Oil have elements of resource scarcity.

He mentions that FFs are finite and the world(s) are runned by nuclear.

Foundation is also a peak and aftermath book.

[OldSprocket]

Good thread. Good suggestions. Good IDs for those of us without memories . . .

Someone here will know the title of the book about all grasses dying. No more wheat, no more rice, no more corn.

[DomusAlbion]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('OldSprocket', 'G')ood thread. Good suggestions. Good IDs for those of us without memories . . .

Someone here will know the title of the book about all grasses dying. No more wheat, no more rice, no more corn.

[OldSprocket]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DomusAlbion', 'N')o Blade of Grass
by John Christopher

Out of print and nearly impossible to find. I have a very old copy. I first read this book when at university some 35 years ago. There's also a movie based on the book.

[DomusAlbion]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('OldSprocket', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DomusAlbion', 'N')o Blade of Grass
by John Christopher

Out of print and nearly impossible to find. I have a very old copy. I first read this book when at university some 35 years ago. There's also a movie based on the book.

[Trefayne]

I recommend the Orange County Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. The earliest book, "The Wild Shore" (1984) is set many years after a nuclear war. The second book is also set in 21st century Southern California, but in a world where consumer culture has gotten even more hyper than in our dimension. That's "The Gold Coast" from 1988. The final book, "Pacific Edge" from 1990, takes place in a third alternate future, where there is a lot less energy but a sane civilization. That book begins with several of the townsfolk chipping away at a freeway with pickaxes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Stanle ... as_trilogy

Another book that might be of interest is "The Fifth Sacred Thing" by Starhawk. It is set in a post-collapse California, with water scarcity, ecological sanity/insanity, and regional conflict.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fifth_Sacred_Thing