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Summary: This book has stayed with me for 30 years!
Review: I first read this book when I was 14, having borrowed it from the school library. I read it twice more in the following year. It affected me deeply and since then it has quite often crossed my mind to find the book again and re-read it. How surprised and happy I am after idly checking this website to see if that title would come up! I plan on ordering the book so I may savour every word of it all over again!
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Summary: Great book!
Review: When my teacher first informed our class that we were going to read a science fiction book, my heart sank; I hated science fiction books! However, when I started to read Earth Abides, I found myself becoming engrossed in this book. The plot and the characters were something new and fresh to me in this age of quick storytelling. This was actually the first book I didn't skip to the end to read the final chapter because I was bored. It held my attention the whole time, and I was disappointed when it ended. This book reminds me of the movie "Deep Impact" because of the armageddon plots. I hope this is turned into a movie because it will probably be just as good as the book!
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Summary: What motivates us to contnue living.
Review: I throroughly enjoyed reading The Earth Abides because it compelled me to consider what motivations there are for the individual to continue living. I felt the most interesting part of the book was the notion that the individual must actively define what direction his life is to take, the setting of the story added to the importance of this decision and entertained different options and the validity of those decisions.
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Summary: The Best in this genre!
Review: Of the novels written on this subject, I think I have read them all, this is by far the best. Most interesting is the authors attempt to regenerate civilization. Methodically covers natures reaction to the demise of man, fascinating! "The Stand", "Alas Babylon", "Lucifer's Hammer" are all outstanding; "Earth Abides" stands alone!!!
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Summary: A GOOD BOOK! MADE FOR BRUCE WILLIS OR NICOLAS CAGE
Review: Allow me to digress for a minute. Has anyone ever seen the Bruce Willis movie The 12 Monkeys? Anyone besides me that is? I didn't think so. Back to the subject hand. The plot of Earth Abides is similar to that movie. A biological plague devastates the United States and the rest of the world. Isherwood, "Ish" Brown, comes across a dying man named Barlow. After Barlow's death, Brown's the last man on Earth. If I may digress again, it's also similar to the 1971 Charlton Heston movie "The Omega Man." Ish sets out on a cross-country trek to preserve our culture. In Arkansas, he finds roads in disrepair, and forests reclaiming everything. That's all I'm telling you. If you want to find out "the rest of the story," READ THIS BOOK!!!
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Summary: Timeless and the ideas are very current.
Review: I have read this book at least 6 times over the years. It ranks in my judgement with Jules Verne's, "Mysterious Island", and Johann Wyss', "Swiss Family Robinson". I have also read these books at least 7 times as well. I feel the three books could be invaluable in a survival library. They all teach survival in different circumstances!
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Summary: Survival after the collapse of civilization.
Review: Typical? maybe today, an age where every scenerio of doom has been played over and over again like some bad rock song. Fear not! This book is good. It was fresh once. . .now it reminds us of what fiction use to be written like. Like a good Doyle or Burroughs. I liked it.
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Summary: Who Could Forget It?
Review: I first read "Earth Abides" in a borrowed copy in the early 1950s ... and many, many times since. My problem then was losing the title --- but never the story. Finally, in the late 1960s, my 15-plus year project of telling the story over and over in search of a title (and a copy of my own) paid off. That copy, well thumbed is well kept. It's on my top shelf, handy for a quick read every couple of years or so. I just finished it again today ... not the first time I've made it through in one sitting and then regretting hitting the last page. In part, the book helped lead me to the East Bay (Clayton) in the 1980s and my time there also makes the story real and special. Now it's back to the top shelf ... the only proper place for this really "great read!!!"
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Summary: A terrific book.
Review: Like some of the other reviewers, I read this book 25-30 years ago. It changed how I viewed the value of the work we do. Stewart makes a strong case that if we can't maintain the infrastructure of our phyical world (roads, bridges, water works, electric plants, etc.), all our knowledge about the rest of the world is for naught. Stewart also explores "events in nature" and how them affect humans. In his book Storm, Stewart quotes Sir Napier Shaw: "Every theory of the course of events in nature is necessarily based on some process of simplification of the phenomena and is to some extent therefore a fairy tale." In Storm the phenomena is a Siberian wind blowing south; in The Earth Abides, it is a virus. In both cases the earth is fine, but human are worst for wear. By the way, like The Earth Abides, Storm, and a third Stewart book, Fire, are set in Northern California. Everyone familiar with the great Pacific storms or the forest fires, will find these books fascinating.
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Summary: As an AVID READER
Review: I read this magnificant book over 30 years ago and I still canNOT get it out of my head. I was born and raised in the Berkeley/El Cerrito area. While reading EARTH ABIDES, I could visualize, with extreme clarity, all the areas mentioned in the book. I actually put myself in the possibility of REALITY while: the electricity ran out; the overgrowth of flora/fauna; the animals going wild; seeking tires at dealerships on Shattuck Avenue; seeking other humans in Berkeley, the UC Berkeley library; the creating of another human generation; no racial hostility; etc. I just ordered two more of EARTH ABIDES to give to friends who grew up in the Bay Area. They will be astounded and will love it. Although written in 1949, and what is going on in the world today, was this another prophecy?
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