[xerces]

I'm in the middle of reading Kunstler's new novel. This book is seriously addictive, warlords, religious zealots, plagues, cities getting nuked...all rolled into one plot. It makes me want to go out there and buy farmland and antibiotics...like right now!!!

[stu2745]

I have nearly finished it.

It's the first "fiction" book I have read where I have found myself making notes!

[ohanian]

But is it a doomer porn?

[xerces]

I finished the book late last night.....WOW!!!

Kunstler apparently has a gift for describing highly realistic scenarios. The ivy-league educated wannabe aristocrat, the trailer trash warlord, the religious fanatic......you could've picked out these people for any medium sized town in America. You could pick out people like this even on a forum like this one or LATOC.

The other thing that really struck me was his descriptions of specific places in cities. He keeps mentioning places where I have recently been to. For example, the Romanesque train station in Albany, I ate lunch on the building's steps last august. The Asia Society in NYC, I was just there last week checking out the ladies. This book has simply hit too close to home, and now I'm having trouble sleeping at night.

[gnm]

So while hes busy detailing stuff in NY does he cover anything west of the Mississippi?

-G

[xerces]

So while hes busy detailing stuff in NY does he cover anything west of the Mississippi?

-G

Not really. Except for the fact that LA was nuked by terrorists.

[killJOY]

He's laughing all the way to the bank

[Revi]

This book, like Last Light, really paints a picture about 20 years in the future. The people in the book can't get very far from home, so there isn't much about places they can't get to any more.

I read it in 2 days.

Possibly the best peak oil book I've read so far.

I'd reccomend it to people who can't stand a bunch of charts and graphs.

It would make a heck of a movie.

[stu2745]

"He's laughing all the way to the bank"... good!

JHK was on BBC Newsnight in January '06 talking sense while the other morons on the show talked sh1t. That was my introduction to PO, thankyou James for that and all the other stuff you do (just in case you read this).

While reading the book I had to keep telling myself I wasn't reading a western from the 19th century.

I looked up some of the locations in the book on GoogleEarth, sad eh

[xerces]

"He's laughing all the way to the bank"... good!

JHK was on BBC Newsnight in January '06 talking sense while the other morons on the show talked sh1t. That was my introduction to PO, thankyou James for that and all the other stuff you do (just in case you read this).

While reading the book I had to keep telling myself I wasn't reading a western from the 19th century.

I looked up some of the locations in the book on GoogleEarth, sad eh

This is so messed up. Out of the locations described in the book, here are the ones I've been to within the last 6 months:

1. The flea market barn(aka redneck dance hall where some peasant woman made a pass at Robert) in Hebron
2. The renovated Romanesque Bank(aka ruins near the warlord's wooden palace ) in Albany
3. The Asian Society building(where Bullocks shacked up with his woman) in Upper East Side NYC
4. The Merion train station (aka where Minor was duking it out with black people in PA) outside of Philly.


Like throughout the book, I can actually visualize how these places would turn out as the resources dwindle.

[Revi]

What town do you think he was thinking of as the setting for the book, Xerces? I was thinking it might have been Schuylerville, but I'm not sure. It was definitely not Saratoga, as it was over on the east side of the Hudson. What towns are on the Battenkill?

It's a beautiful area around there. I wouldn't mind being around there post peak.

Here's the area I am talking about. I'll bet it was Cambridge, NY that is Union Grove in the book:

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?ci ... =ny&zoom=5

[Lighthouse]

... describing highly realistic scenarios. ...

So you think people will start talking like out of a 19th century Mark Twain story after TPOSHTF.

[xerces]

No, but that particular area in upstate NY seems to already be half-way there culturally. I'm saying that in the sense of people's conservative mannerisms and world view. So it's not far fetched to believe that the societies described in the book could form after 10 to 15 years of relative geographical isolation.

[xerces]

What town do you think he was thinking of as the setting for the book, Xerces? I was thinking it might have been Schuylerville, but I'm not sure. It was definitely not Saratoga, as it was over on the east side of the Hudson. What towns are on the Battenkill?

It's a beautiful area around there. I wouldn't mind being around there post peak.

Here's the area I am talking about. I'll bet it was Cambridge, NY that is Union Grove in the book:

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?ci ... =ny&zoom=5

I agree. 44 mi north of Albany, that has to be the town.

[PhebaAndThePilgrim]

Good day from Pheba, from the farm:
Sorry folks, but I did not like this book. I breezed through this short novel in just one evening. I found the writing simple. The descriptions were pat and seemed like they were copied from a "writing for Dummies" book.
For starters, having "terrorists" nuke two American cities fits right into chapter 3 of Kunstler's "Long Emergency". The last thing this country needs is more fear mongering "evildoers", "terrorists" propaganda being spoon-fed to them through shoddy fantasy novels like "World Made By Hand".
I easily saw that Kunstler envisioned himself in the role of the town mayor. Our hero defeats the bad guys, saves a woman and child from a burning building, helps the religious right set up camp, and then helps install running water in the town. What next? Raising the dead? walking on water?
Everybody gets along so beautifully. Life is perfect. Food is perfect.
Our hero has sex with a lusty 47 year old every week. And, being the perfect hero figure, he only does this because he feels sorry for her. Her husband, yes she is married, is not up to the task.
What a bunch of silly nonsense.
Of course, later on, he ends up with a perfect new family. The woman he saved from the burning building moves in with him.
Even the two bad guy groups in the book, the trailer trash truck drivers, and the religious fanatics, are good guys in disguise.
This is the most unrealistic cornucopian dream like post apocalyptic fantasy I have ever read.
How wonderful that both the small town dentist and the doctor survived the combined effects of Peak Oil, a killer virus, nuclear explosions, and assorted other hardships.
"World Made By Hand" is Kunstler's personal dream vision of his perfect world.
This is not the best peak oil book I have ever read. This is not even a good novel. Mercifully, "World Made By Hand" is short. That is the only good thing I can say about it.
My husband could not finish the book. He had to put it down.
We are farmers, and most of his assertions about growing food were not accurate and some were just plain silly.
I paid $24.95 for the book. Fortunately I purchased it from a co-op that supports anti-war efforts, including a peace march this weekend. Unfortunately I could have bought a much better book for 24.95. I reccomend getting this drivel from the library if you really want to zip through it.
Pheba.

[Revi]

Maybe you would like Cormack McCarthy's The Road. That is a post apocalyptic book that really pulls no punches.

Yes, the picture of life that Kunstler painted was not that dark, but it was a great read, for me.

Last Light by Alex Scarrow is maybe more to your liking too, Pheba Girl. It is a fast crash story of peak oil with a bit of intrigue thrown in there. More troubles with nasty street thugs, and more violence in general.

I think Kunstler was trying to play down the peak oil thing and get people aware of what a world would be like post peak.

You did read it in a single night, Pheba. It couldn't have been all that bad.

[PhebaAndThePilgrim]

Good evening, from pheba, from the farm:
Hi Revi. Actually, I have "The Road" sitting next to my recliner in the living room. I checked the book out of the library. Right now I am reading a very good apocalyptic novel: "Summer of the Apocalypse" by James Van Pelt. The novel is not peak oil. A virus kills off most of mankind. A young man named Eric loses his mother and his father goes to town to find a vehicle to transport her body home for burial. His father never returns and Eric goes on walkabout to find him.
Fast forward 60 years into the future. Eric is now an old man in a different world. He decides to go on walkabout one last time so he can witness first hand the changes that time has wrought.
His grandson and another young man go with him. He wants to see if he can make it to a large library so he can try to find knowledge for the young men. They can barely read and all knowledge of technology is being lost.
The novel goes back and forth between the past and the present comparing how places have changed. Very imaginative and well written.
I will start "The Road" as soon as I finish this book.
Swan Song by McCammon is also good.
Have a good evening.
Pheba.

[dinopello]

Thanks for taking the time for the review. All the different takes on it make me want to check it out. I think Kunstler has 10 novels and I've never read any of them. No real villians? That's disappointing. I guess this guy isn't in it ->

[web]http://www.kunstler.com/eyesore_200304.html[/web]

Here are some of the other reviews I've been reading

Grove Atlantic

NY Sun - this one is pretty good!

Another take by someone

from the last review:

I do recommend reading this book..if you are a male or if you are a hard-hearted woman like myself. For it has one very tragic weakness: it cannot penetrate into the reality and minds of women. And it grossly underestimates the true power of the feminine. As someone who has lived the life he writes about, I know exactly what happens and who gets to do what.

Jim talks about femininity a lot when discussing art and architecture and the aesthetic. But, I can definately see where he, like a lot of men don't recognize the awesomeness of women.

[PhebaAndThePilgrim]

Good day from Pheba, from the farm:
The awesomeness of women? I don't get it. I live in a rural area, and the women are the meanest, greediest, most narrow minded bunch I have ever met. Some of the men care. Some of the men are farmers, and they see the changes nature is going through. They understand the depths of the global warming problem, the energy problem, pollution, etc.
All the women want to do is to go to Wal-Mart and go shopping. they want to go to church on Sunday to show how pious they are, then rip their fellow women to shreds the rest of the week. They never smile, unless they want something from you. They are sniping, dark souled sad people. Sorry, but I am a woman, and I don't consider women any more or any less awesome than men. Especially where I live.
I then go to our big college town, and I see a slightly different picture.
I see mean, greedy, broad minded women who spend most of their time at Target and Macy's. Shopping is a religion. Consumption is their goal. Total self-absorption and malignant narcicism are the diseases.
I don't see women as being any more or any less trapped in the myth of our reality. I have actually met many men that are more aware than most women I know. The sexism runs both ways.
Women are not all "Earth Mothers" trying to heal the planet.
Most of the shopping and consumption is done by women, not men.
We live in a paternalistic society. I agree that women are second class citizens, but please do not paint our sex as above reproach.
We are not better, we are not worse, we just are. All of us.
Pheba.

[dinopello]

I live in a rural area, and the women are the meanest, greediest, most narrow minded bunch I have ever met.

All the women want to do is to go to Wal-Mart and go shopping. they want to go to church on Sunday to show how pious they are, then rip their fellow women to shreds the rest of the week. They never smile, unless they want something from you. They are sniping, dark souled sad people.

I see mean, greedy, broad minded women who spend most of their time at Target and Macy's. Shopping is a religion. Consumption is their goal. Total self-absorption and malignant narcicism are the diseases.

Most of the shopping and consumption is done by women, not men.

That's not my experience AT ALL. Well, not in total of course, I know of people like you describe (not insignificantly from reading about them on this web site, and from curmudgens like Kunstler) and come across some in person now and then. It is all about your local experience and the people you associate with, I guess. I know lots of awesome people men and women, rural and urban. There are innate differences between the sexes and I very much appreciate the traits of the women I KNOW and think they are critical to a functioning civilization. God, you just made me so thankful for where I live and who I know and my life in general. Thanks.