How then, do we move backwards? How does a society, with most of the people having no clue of future events, move from being dependent on a vast and intertwined network of goods and services produced by the indigenous people of whereever, to a local resource and renewable energy based society, and do so in the timeframe available (20-30 years using the most liberal extimates, 10-20 with resonable estimates, 5-10 with worst case scenarios), all the while prices on everything increasing, world politics getting more militaristic, governments continuously reducing civil liberties, shortages of goods on the market and weather patterns resembling bad Hollywood movies?
Joined: Sep 30, 2004 Posts: 975 Location: On one of the blades of the fan
Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 6:45 am Post subject: Re: [Peak Oil... novels]
Quote:
julianJ
I'd add The Parable of the Sower by Octavia S. Butler: she's unique in being as far as I know, the only black female SF writer, and this book is about survival in a disintegrating US: I felt it was horribly realistic - it's not about PO, in fact I don't think it states explicitly why the USA falls into chaos, but it did seem very convincing to me.
I'm sad to report that Octavia S. Butler has died at the young age of 58.
There's a nice piece about her on Counterpunch.org:
Butler Obit
This one is kind of different. In self defense, whales develop a psychic Call, a kind of siren song that sweeps across the land luring any large animals (including humans) into the sea. In the chaos that ensues as civilization collapses, orbital defenses are activated that bombard and destroy any vehicles over a certain size or speed, and any use of electricity. The society that develops under the constraints of the Call and the orbital watchers is interesting to say the least. The first 2 books deal with development of a computer composed of matrices of human computing elements working at desks, the 3rd centers on a feudal society where the knights fly biplanes (with wingspans limited to less than 30 feet or ZAP!).
Joined: Aug 15, 2005 Posts: 264 Location: Hicktown OK
Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 2:46 am Post subject: Re: [Peak Oil... novels]
I just finished reading all three books in the "Dies the Fire" trilogy, and they were simply awesome. The second is called "The Protector's War", and the third, "A Meeting at Corvallis". Have to be the best set of books I think I have read in many years.
I have read and have in my library: The STand (full version of course),
Alas, Babylon
Lucifer's Hammer
Friday
and really want to get ahold of Earth Abides..remember reading it a long time ago and haven't read it since.
Here is an book available online only, and I honestly think it compares very favorably with any of the above titled books; I was that impressed. It's called Lights Out, and it's about what takes place among a group of people after an EMP burst...hope someone here reads it and likes it because it is well worth the read:
Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:03 pm Post subject: Re: [Peak Oil... novels]
medicvet wrote:
I just finished reading all three books in the "Dies the Fire" trilogy, and they were simply awesome. The second is called "The Protector's War", and the third, "A Meeting at Corvallis". Have to be the best set of books I think I have read in many years.
I'll look for Dies the Fire.
I read and loved the Stand, Alas Babylon, don't remember Lucifer's Hammer (read it long ago). What is Friday? I must have read Earth Abides but I don't remember it either. What is it about?
Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 1:35 am Post subject: Re: [Peak Oil... novels]
I do not see Ape and Essence by Aldous Huxley. Toward the end a usable energy source was discovered, a large number of buried books where once stood the Los Angeles Public Library. Nuclear war had caused global cooling . A band of survivors burned the books to keep warm..
Joined: Oct 16, 2005 Posts: 227 Location: Australia
Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 7:32 am Post subject: Re: [Peak Oil... novels]
"The Road" by Cormac McCarthy is a post apocalyptic story of survival and the human condition ... it's a beautifully written story about a terrifying possibility.
"Last Light" by Alex Scarrow. I've just started reading this one and oh my god it's like my nightmares have been published in fictional print. This book describes to the enth degree what a rapid collapse of civilization would be like if oil were to suddenly stop flowing.
A trailer for Alex Scarrow's 2nd novel, a conspiracy thriller based around Peak Oil
I haven't able to get this book yet...but the writer is ONLINE so you can actually send him a message via youtube!
Hmmm
I finish reading it some weeks ago, I highly recommend it, is a fast paced, well written book and for us, all the related PO topics are there, politics included (I won't say more no to spoil the story). _________________ Stocking up on popcorn
Joined: May 14, 2005 Posts: 2125 Location: Along the banks of the muddy Mississippi
Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 8:52 am Post subject: Re: [Peak Oil... novels]
pstarr wrote:
I must have read Earth Abides but I don't remember it either. What is it about?
My favorite end of civilization novel. I am rereading it at the moment, with The Road waiting in the wings as the next novel I read.
The book description from Amazon.com:
Quote:
A disease of unparalleled destructive force has sprung up almost simultaneously in every corner of the globe, all but destroying the human race. One survivor, strangely immune to the effects of the epidemic, ventures forward to experience a world without man. What he ultimately discovers will prove far more astonishing than anything he'd either dreaded or hoped for.
Amazingly enough, it was written in 1948 or 1949, but still reads very well. _________________ “Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.” (Ted Perry)
for five bucks each. I'm selling autographed copies as well directly, for less than the cost on line (It ticked me off that they set such a high price on the things...)
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