The Aftermath: A Novel of Survival

by Samuel C. Florman

The year is 2010 and the world as we know it has come to an end.A huge comet has smashed into the earth off the coast of California, vaporizing and generating a fiery rain that engulfs the globe in a destructive holocaust. But at the opposite pole of the planet, there is a "safe zone" encompassing part of the southeast African shore and the southern tip of Madagascar where the damage is extensive but not total.Spared from destruction is a luxury cruise ship, the Queen of Africa, which carries 600 of the world's leading engineers.These outstanding technologists, traveling with their immediate families, are engaged in a seminar dedicated to finding solutions to humanity's eternal needs-shelter, food, energy, environmental preservation, and the like. But when the impact of the comet sends shock waves around the world, the passengers' first priority is to abandon ship for terra firma. Thus they head for the South African coast to begin the task of "starting over."In KwaZulu Natal the passengers find a surviving community of about 25,000, including many experienced agricultural and industrial workers. These people have been cast back, physically, to the Stone Age, but intellectually they are at the forefront of technological progress in the 21st century, and they have at their disposal the natural resources needed to embark on an industrial revolution. So begins an epic adventure of rebuilding the world from scratch, but in an unpredictable, and sometimes hostile, environment, survival itself may be the real challenge.The Aftermath is a provocative adventure story that provides a scientifically sound blueprint for surviving Samuel C. Florman is a civil engineer and principal in a major New York-area construction company. In addition to scores of articles, Mr. Florman is the author of The Introspective Engineer, The Civilized Engineer, Blaming Technology, and his classic, The Existential Pleasures of Engineering. He lives outside New York City.

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Apocalyptic, Post Apocalyptic, Fantasy

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 11, 2001

Reviews

[Jerecho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this one in 2006, until recently I found this lurking in my shelves. (I put it there, hehe!)

The story of survival, rebuilding and knowledge. It's quite a good book but if you are not related to civil works, electrical and plumbing works, you'll just end up questioning "why?"

Technically I don't like the development of the story. Everything just pops out. Meaning, everything was answer by someone or something. Even the place that they build their village with, has a recall in history. And even the problems they encountered was something that was made in order for someone or a hierarchy to be satisfied.

But if you have nothing to do, and maybe the world today is suggesting that it is near the end, maybe we could look at this book and learn some pointers or two.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the worst novel that I've actually finished in years. I kept reading (then skimming) thinking, I guess, that it can't all be this bad. I was wrong. Let's see if I can convey the fascinating awfulness of this earnest, well-intentioned, and very, very bad novel....

In a nutshell, Earth's entire population has just been destroyed by the impact of a large comet -- except for a cruise ship full of engineers, and a few thousand inhabitants of nearby South Africa. After a few chapters of graceless scene-setting, the engineers settle down to rebuild civilization. They move ashore and build a new town, called, by popular vote, "Engineering Village". They appoint committees and subcommittees for each phase of their Grand Plan, and each distinguished engineer is given page after page to info-dump [1]. Whenever a question arises, a well-qualified historian, mining engineer or Army officer springs to life, info-dump at hand. Florman's done his research, and by God he's not going to waste any of it. Do I need to add that there are no real characters here?

Now, I (and most hard-SF readers) have a pretty high tolerance for literary awkwardness, especially when the author is a technical guy. But there are limits. For me, they were reached when the Bad Guys surface. Florman realizes he needs a little dramatic tension, and imagines a raid by pirates from Madagascar. They are led by their fearsome Pirate Queen, Mary Anne Appleton of Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

Perhaps you are thinking, at this point, that, hey, an African pirate queen from New Jersey could be pretty cool.... Maybe naming the town "Engineering Village" is, I dunno, some kind of satire? Nope. These (and many more!) are all written in earnest. Dead earnest. Deadly, soggy, dogged, dull (but earnest!) prose, pages and pages of it. Such moments of horrified fascination kept me reading (or at least skimming) on into this slow-motion literary train-wreck. So you may want to borrow a library copy, just to see how far wrong a respected writer can go in his first novel. No better inspiration for a beginning novelist could be imagined, than that The Aftermath could actually be published, in hardcover, by a reputable house. Yes, you can do better than this! Florman, a civil engineer, has written several well-received popular non-fiction books about engineering. The best-known is The Existential Pleasures of Engineering, which I recall enjoying, years ago....

Mr. Florman, I'm truly sorry to be so hard on your novel, which I was looking forward to reading. Engineers rebuild the world! Neat. But, frankly, it stinks. I think you should stick to nonfiction in the future.

Florman's novel got some pretty good notices, amazingly enough, including one I saw in the NY Times that led me to pick it up. I should have looked at Amazon first, where it gets such reader's reviews as "Buy this for any engineer you strongly dislike."

My 2006 review, with links:
http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfict...

[Brian Keith · Rating 1 out of 5]

OK, BIG thumbs down on this one. My fahter-in-law gave me this one to read. I made it to Chapter 5, and cannot go on. Sorry, it is fairly slow moving plot (even with the comet hitting the earth and end of the world going on in the background), no concerns on survival in a post apocalyptic world, no urgency. Even worse, there was no emotional connection to any of the characters. I found myself disinterested the more I read, making this read almost painful. I did not like the personal journal chapters mixed in, trying to act as a ledger of sorts documenting the survivors' journey. There did not seem to be any indications of improvement in this book, so I finally gave up.

In reading the other reviewers here, this seems to be a correct move. One reader described this book as, "Sterile"; this is spot-on. Maybe if I were an engineer, this book would have been more interesting. But I'm no engineer, so I'll bring this one to work and see if anyone else can slog through it. Good luck on this one.

[3Bassi D · Rating 2 out of 5]

The AfterMath entails life on earth after a comet crashes into earth vaporizing and generating a fiery rain that covers the globe causing complete and utter destruction.Although most of the earth is engulfed in this inevitable destruction theres is a safe zone which remains unharmed which is located in Madagascar. The book goes into depth how they intend to rebuild the human race. I absolutely dislike this book and would not recommend it to a friend or acquaintance due to its lack of a story and due to a poor character development. As for the story, this book does have a logical one but not one that is truly engaging. The book is almost like a sequence of event first they "began.....with the collecting of wood",then they "built shelter", ETC(Pg.46)... Thus creating more of a bucket list rather than a book and leaving the audience not truly feeling the story or the current situation. As for the poor character development,the characters are just people in a novel and truly doesnt develops them. The most we get in this book is a description" Nick,he was a biomechanical enginner at Princeton",the same goes for "Jesse"or "andy" who are the main characters(pg.13-15).The poor character development just basically makes the characters seem insignificant leaving the audience to feel nothing and overall leaving an unengaged audience with no symapthy,happiness, sadness, or even rage about the characters.Overall a poor book and not one that i would recommend for an acquiantance or friend.

[Peter Aaron · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cack, mostly.

[Sarah (is clearing her shelves) · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only positive thing I can say about this is that I didn't find any grammatical errors in the writing.

[Paul, · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know what book the reviewers were reading, but it wasn't this one. This was a pretty good book about a group of engineers trying to rebuild society from scratch after a global disaster. It was written by an engineer, and you can definitely see his bias towards pragmatism. In this case, the engineering stereotype holds true and there's really no emotive appeal, character depth, or a compelling storyline. However, there is some really interesting history of technology stuff. There is a pretty solid layout of the complex interrelationships between the different technologies and the difficulties involved in making technical advances. This is the aspect that really drew me into the book as I'm looking to go into the development world. The Aftermath leaves me with a lot of questions. How were the first machine tools created? How did we get something that was exactly circular or exactly a centimeter long? How did people come up with the idea of mining? When did we start using iron and what circumstance lead someone to think of it? Unfortunately, because this isn't a textbook, a lot of those questions weren't answered satisfactorily. I also find it somewhat amusing to think that 25,000 people with no other resources could rebuild a society from the Stone Age to the Modern Age in 10 years when that is also the best estimates for rebuilding Haiti with all the resources that the most advanced technical civilizations on earth have devoted to it. Perhaps Florman is a little bit optimistic. :)

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had an interesting premise - what would happen if a bunch of the world's leading engineers were thrown back to the Stone Age and left with nothing but their knowledge and materials of the Earth to rebuild? However, I don't think this book did nearly as well as it could have. An amazing post-apocalyptic setting... and a good 2/3rds of the book consists of engineers arguing, forming this committee and that committee and another sub-committee and going to meetings of all these committees... it was very dry.

I know that Florman comes from a heavy engineering background, so I can understand he would want to focus on what he knows. But I know most readers would probably want to read about other parts of the rebuilding process instead of, "The Joint Planning Subcommittee had a meeting and talked about xyz. Here, have 30 pages of their conversation."

[John Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a fan of post-apocalyptic books I don't know how I came across this title but I'm glad I did.

In saying that, it's fairly heavy going ... well researched with a huge ... I mean a HUGE amount of scientific and cultural detail about what a society needs to rebuild and of African culture and history.

If you like the style of Andy Wier "The Martian" you will prbably love this too but that heaviness is why I marked it down to a 4/5 but its a great read. I don't want to give too much away but give it a go.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

What if the world has come to an end? and few people only survived? will their be a salvation coming out their way?

The Earth was struck by a giant comet that brought a horrible distraction among the human race. Cities are gone,houses tarnished,Idyllic life vanished and lives has put to an end.But on the other side of the world a group of respected governing people and engineers -in different special fields- has been spared.

SAFE ZONE a place on the other side of the globe that had been struck mildly by the disaster. A Queens African ship was sailing towards their destination suffered inevitable catastrophe comes from the great shock of the world. Nearly thoudsands people had survived. Together with a variety if engineers and politicians, this people took a long path to redeem everything that they had built before the disaster came. It was like going back to ice age, They designated people in their special fields, work their whole strength to maintain the hope and optimism of the entire Engineering Village. Kwazulu Natal is where they have decided to build the new city for these people. Things are going so well with the guide of the Governing Council and other respective groups comprised with various people from in-lander’s and out-lander’s. Both parties have decided to focus on innovation, starting from the three basic needs of people Food,water and shelter. Then they planned to jump into something that other people hoped would go fine, the minerals and necessary things that a city needs, machinery,minerals,and various products that could be that start of the continuous innovation.

As days,weeks and months goes by, Engineering Village had been so productive with all their plans ahead of them, hope raise, people begin talking about the future ahead of them and not isolated with the catastrophe that had happened. But what they did not know, another life had been spared along Madagascar. Where group of hungry criminals are on sail to find a place to stay alive, led by a frustrated and cruel Queen Ranavolana.


On the day of a wedding celebration at engineering village, the hostile criminals had landed the shore and was about to explore bloodily, the entire city. But like what they say, good people always win a battle and mean and hostile people always walk home dead. A bloody war was released and everything went wild and furious but because of the professional lead of the governing council, the hostility of the Queen has put to an end, leaving them behind jails.

Another day had pass and Engineering Village has continue its course with hope and happiness to see the world that they had before, and now its coming alive in their open eyes.

It so interesting to read such great book like this, every scene was so epic. The knowledge and philosophy that the character possess was like a big wave from that ocean that will nestled you and drove your inner self madly. I also love the fact that it has so much information and knowledge to offer with how they describe and analyze things. The context of the minerals, the machinery and the people behind great inventions. I am praising this book so much with awe, for it holds a true treasure of love, family and hope story. The caress of every word coming form this respective individual was such a great example how to think your life ahead without being selfish.I was actually furious when those criminals wanted to ruin everything, and that Queen was so arrogant, sarcastic and her hostility brought me to just want to tear her apart. The book was very compelling, you’ll not gonna put it down once you have touch it. All you want to think of is what happen after every turn of story.

A great gift for the engineers out there.

[Andy Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is essentially that a comet strikes the Earth and incinerates everything except of a small area including part of South Africa and Madagascar. As it happens, a gathering of a few hundred world-class engineers and their families are on a cruise ship within this 'safe zone' at the time of impact. Along with 20,000 or so people on the land these survivors attempt to build a society.

On the plus side, this is quite an interesting take on the apocalyptic fiction genre. The way that the engineers, ship's crew and survivors use their skills to quickly develop different aspects of modern(ish) technology seems pretty realistic and is interesting. It's nice to read a book where it doesn't all go 'Mad Max' within 24 hours of the catastrophe occurring.

On the negative side, there's a lot of talking and banging on about different types of engineering (which I found OK as an engineer myself, but isn't of general interest probably) and meetings of different committees. Also, it seems a bit convenient that such a collection of people happens to survive in an area of the world that happens to have all sort of natural resources.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good book. I loved that Florman never left questions unanswered and really described things the way they would HAVE to happen. Nothing just fell into their laps, they had to follow the realistic process which is where this book truly shined. It was very well-rounded with characters and sub-plots. I would definitely recommend this book, especially for anyone into post-apocalyptic sci-fi.

[Phair · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, that was different. More like a textbook, or better-an outline, on the history of technology than a novel. I learned some stuff but there were no real characters nor a plot beyond the basic scenario. Still, sort of interesting and informative and left me wondering what would happen to this new society. Overall this was OK but I wouldn't really recommend it.

[John Giroux · Rating 1 out of 5]

If it were possible to give a book zero stars, this one would qualify. What can I say... some engineer wrote it as his dissertation as to how civilization would begin again after some holocaust. I don't know how else to explain it, but just read other reviews (especially on Amazon) that dis this book and you'll get a good idea why it sucked in my opinion. A one word description? STERILE.

[Clare · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise was good - one of those post-apocalyptic tales, but it just seemed too convenient that the survivors would be a ship full of scientists who were uniquely qualified to help mankind get back on their feet.

[ThomasAD · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not only is the description of the effects of a comet hitting the earth incredibly interesting, but the process a group of engineers take to rebuild society is written in a straightforward almost documentary style that is very engaging and seemingly authentic.

[Topher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yet another post-apocalyptic book in which the convenient ship of most western-hemisphere engineers is thrown together with the very rarely portrayed at all and highly convenient african farmers. It had some interesting and semi-redeeming ideas in it though.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, apocalyptic. No, not like other apocalypse books. This one was written by an Engineer! (Too) much empahsis on Engineering discourse and process and discipline. Classically countered by an arts-type. Uncharacteristically optimistic. Well-researched!

[Ariel · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was more "ENGINEERING!" and less "zomg, a disaster" for me.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a comet destroys life on earth as we know it, a cruise ship full of engineers begins a brave new world on the coast of south Africa.

[Falbs · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's got some kind of interesting takes on how engineering evolved, but the characters suck and not a page went by that I didn't think "This was written by a very conservative old white man".

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

(added this years later; read it before Goodreads)

Probably enjoyed it.

Newmarket library.