Earth Abides discussion

I read Earth Abides by George Stewart years ago and just remember liking it. Now from an older person's perspective and the climate of the day, and rereading it again, I cannot stop thinking about it. To me it hits every aspect of society and ecology. It makes me think about religion, law, capital punishment, racism, mental health and disease, politics, leadership, the value of the individual, all aspects of a society, and how it must grow together for the benefit of all. When Ish was alone, all he had to do was survive and do as he wished. As he began to look for and found and grow his "Tribe", he had to think about others. It also made me realize how much whoever started the tribe could perhaps color or try to color the views of others. If a religious zealot was the strongest leader, the tribe might accept those views and become very religious, superstitious, or unaccepting of others. In the beginning the leader would be very powerful especially if he had some other important skills as well. It also made me realize the responsibility of leadership and how it must weigh on the person. No wonder that there are so few great ones. Just thinking about the second generation coming along and not having any realization of what went before is mind boggling. Just imagining that all the knowledge gained for millenniums being lost in a generation or two is frightening to say the least. I suppose greed, corruption, and perhaps evil is in the DNA of human beings and will always need to be dealt with, but there is also the good, hope, creativity, and wonder. We do have those in our society who try to rewrite history to their liking, but there are others who try to keep the past alive.
This book is very thought provoking even though written in the 40s, maybe more astounding because of being written then and being so timely today.

Joan, after reading your discussion starter, I clicked on the book's cover and was routed to a list of "Philosophical Science Fiction" which included an interesting assortment, including a couple other SFF favorites: Lowry's "Giver" and Keyes' "Algernon"

I have read Earth Abides multiple times over the decades and appreciated it each time. I'm habitually hesitant to give 5-stars, but have no doubt "Earth Abides" warrants that rating.

(Could be time to try Wren's "Gift" again for comparison.)

The Giver
Flowers for Algernon
A Gift Upon the Shore

Is Giver a children's book. My daughter uses it in her class. I have also read Algernon. Makes me also think of Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut. Some books are just timeless with universal truths in them.

Is Giver a children's book. My daughter uses it in her class. I have also read Algernon. Makes me also think of Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut. Some books are just timeless with universal truths in them.

I am still trying to get comments in the right place. I certainly give Earth Abides 5 stars. Someone just recommended The Road to me although said it was very graphic.

The Road is a much better book n my opinion. Earth Abides annoyed me that they didn't seem to do anything to make themselves self sufficient, such as farming, but survived on years old canned food etc. The new generations could have been educated about agriculture rather than going straight back to a hunter gatherer way of life.

I agree but think about our kids today. Do you think they would do anything requiring work? I'm not sure how they would survive without their smart phones. It took man thousands of years to come out of the caves. Without a history and those who came before, the new generation would have to start from scratch. Having supplies at their fingertips would make it too easy to want to learn how to do anything that required work. It was the idea of "play" that got their attention with the bow and arrow. Then the malfunction of the guns and ammunition caused them to remember the bow and arrow as a more reliable tool to get food. The creativity came when they used pennies for the points. Using what is available and then putting it to new use is what would allow them to survive.
One of the disappointments to me was the lack of bodies and cars on the roads. Of course this was written in 1949, certainly before the roads and bulk of automobiles of today. I was born in 1939. The roads to California were not that great then. Of course, this also means that the roads and bridges would have deteriorated much quicker than the ones of today. The trip from CA to NY, twice, was not very plausible. This ideas presented in this book has lived in my mind for years and after rereading it has awakened all those thoughts again. I am going to try The Road, then I will be able to compare them as you have.

I also read "Earth Abides" in college years ago, and still consider it one of the finest stories I've ever read. It is one 'oldie' I wouldn't hesitate to recommend for anybody to read.

Grampy wrote: "I also read "Earth Abides" in college years ago, and still consider it one of the finest stories I've ever read. It is one 'oldie' I wouldn't hesitate to recommend for anybody to read."

It was and still so thought provoking, I can't get it out of my head.

I agree with the above sentiments.

As "proof of concept" that the book leaves a powerful impression, I read the book once 50 years ago. When thinking of books to post to my account here, Earth Abides leaped out of the cobwebs of my mind and demanded a place.

Definitely a worthy read.

Ish is a jerk that can understand why things occur where others around him do not....oh how special he is..

Oran wrote: "I agree with the above sentiments.

As "proof of concept" that the book leaves a powerful impression, I read the book once 50 years ago. When thinking of books to post to my account here, Earth Ab..."
Exactly! I joined goodreads today, and just like yourself the book was an obvious one to review. I note the comment from David about Ish being a kerk, and that from Danielle about moving on and DOING something, but that is one of the solid points of the book. Everything is so easy they don't need to do anything... until the water supply starts to fail. Real behaviour by real, complacent characters.

Danielle wrote: "The Road is a much better book n my opinion. Earth Abides annoyed me that they didn't seem to do anything to make themselves self sufficient, such as farming, but survived on years old canned food ..."

Why do you like The Road better? All Father and Son did was scavenge. Sure Earth Abides folks lives off of the past but they also attempted to preserve the past and go forward as well. Oh yeah and E.A. has character development, and plot. E.A. is much much better than The Road imo. in fact I read The Road, then gave it away because I didn't want it to pollute the other books on my shelf, then figured Id give it another chance a few years later. So I bought it again....and can you guess what I did with my second copy???

What I really loved the most about Earth Abides is that the writer was so ahead thinking in his mindset. In my studies I have even come to refer to a scenario where there are lots of resources and few people as an Earth Abides scenario.

The Road would be the opposite end of that spectrum. The Road is advanced stages of a nuclear winter. Lots of people and little resources.

A new book that is written, sort of on the Earth Abides scenario, is Calizona. Pretty good book about some guys who win the lottery and prep like crazy just in time for the apocalypse. But they're not exactly alter boys, more like the cast of Rescue Me transplanted into the apocalypse. Sort of a catch-22 apocalypse story.

I think Earth Abides is even more powerful today than when it was written. I agree wholeheartedly with Joan. Very few of the people I know would know what to do if they had to recreate society in a situation as described in the novel. I could see most of them surviving on canned food as long as it existed and never learning hand agriculture or hunting without guns. I dabble in gardening and have a strong science and history background but think I would even have a hard time recreating a primitive hunter/gatherer society if I had to.

Yep. Most preppers only have the resources to survive for a few years. Essentially they will only outlive the rest of us by a year or two, but the ending would be the same. You should read Calizona. The author really did his homework and gave deep consideration to both the long game as well as the short game. There were a lot of things in the book that made me stop and really think (and laugh outloud a few times too.) I think Calizona is going to become the newest of the top shelf of apocalyptic novels.

I read Earth Abides last year and found it to be a most profound and thought provoking read... It is as relevant today as when it was written in the late 1940's... It will be a book which I shall keep in my collection...

I recently read Earth Abides for the first time. I was frustrated by the fact that the children didn't even have basic reading skills. Despite that, I did really enjoy the story. The one thing that mind has grasped on to was the naming of years. I would like to implement that in my own life - a way of looking back over the whole year to see what was the defining event.

I read EARTH ABIDES when I was in my thirties and had none of the baggage of thinking it is some unassailable classic. The attitudes toward women and minorities bugged me until I realized Ish has a superior attitude toward everyone, period. I'm also so bored with pure "regular person" characters who've been scrubbed of any of those attitudes and prejudices we have to deal with every day in folks who don't share our personal values.

I was startled by the slow pace and lack of pulp-style contrived problems. There is a serene tone throughout that puts this above something like The Stand, which I love, yet it doesn't get so bogged down in the realities that the characters just eat and sleep in the devastated world. It is a "quiet disaster" ala the John Wyndham disaster novels.

It has dated in terms of attitudes, but if I tossed every book that didn't agree with my perspectives on life, I'd have no books. Aside from a few annoying moments, the book has a marvelous tone. The use of capitol punishment, for example, is addressed in a realistic way; in the situation we see, it simply has to be done, or the struggling community would collapse. That's the essence of drama, a situation that can't be passed on, it must be addressed, the characters and/or the reader challenged with a situation without a good answer according to their comfortable beliefs.

An excellent book, far more involving and challenging than the usual post-apocalypse novel of today with its comic book situations. Very different in tone from The Road but I actually prefer it, and find it more adventurous and original.

I read EARTH ABIDES in my 50s and thought the author was lazy. The characters seem created to espouse the author's attitudes. In particular, the second generation was shown as lazy and content. Why didn't they, as adolescents, rebel against "the establishment"? Also, the author's attitude towards race is dated, to say the least. Ish debates about marrying a woman who is darker than he is. Ugh!

Brenda wrote: "I read EARTH ABIDES in my 50s and thought the author was lazy. The characters seem created to espouse the author's attitudes. In particular, the second generation was shown as lazy and content. Why..."

Race? Well, any book will reflect the time it came from, and if you read a lot of older stuff you will find similar things. H Beam Piper and tobacco, for example. John's comment above re Ish's attitude is also pertinent.

I just started reading Jacqueline Druga's stuff. She has quite a library of EOW books on the market. Just finished her first book and it reminded me a lot of Earth abides. A woman wakes up in a mass-grave, the world is quiet, she finally finds others... Last Woman was worth the read.

Danielle wrote: "The Road is a much better book n my opinion. Earth Abides annoyed me that they didn't seem to do anything to make themselves self sufficient, such as farming, but survived on years old canned food ..."

how did the characters in The Road behave any different?

I also was surprised by that and the fact that education wasn't stressed. They weren't even teaching their children to read.

Tammy wrote: "I also was surprised by that and the fact that education wasn't stressed. They weren't even teaching their children to read."

Ish attempts school, and what he learns is that education is social and contextual. The kids squirm and resist because outside of school there aren't books and words; nature is their text. When Ish plants the seed of bow and arrow technology it is because he has finally learned to build upon the context in which the kids live. by the time Ish dies the tribe, which is also an adaptation to context, has become proficient in using bows and arrows to survive. Also, the teaches them the rudiments of democracy, which will become the distinctive hallmark of his descendants. Seems to me he passed on knowledge that applied to the world the survivors lived in, a positive patrimony if you will.

DH wrote: "Tammy wrote: "I also was surprised by that and the fact that education wasn't stressed. They weren't even teaching their children to read."

Ish attempts school, and what he learns is that educatio..."


The problem was no one cared about education until the children were already rooted in their ways. I found so much of this story to be unrealistic. How many real Christians do you think would stop worshiping, because someone else didn't like it? So as a result, a generation later, Ish became their new 'god'. Maybe in his own mind, as evidenced by how he looked down upon everyone else who was too dumb to help him rebuild society.

And what would be realistic? The world as anyone knows now is gone. With the situation we have right now with the current president, I would ask what is a "real" Christian? Many follow this man, how do you think they would react in a world where, to survive would require a totally new paradigm. With him it is every man for himself. Let us hope if such a devastation ever occurs, there is someone who wants to rebuild society. Children without guidance would follow the path of least resistance. Read Lord of the Flies, it's frightening.

*Facepalm* For one, good job making this about our current political situation. I'm used to readers being able to transcend the right now, but my bad. I'm saying as a Christian, I'd continue going to the church with any other believers that survived -which was all but two in the original setting, if I recall. Those two were allowed to destroy what they believed - and felt good about it.