Rating: 
Summary: Earth Abides
Review: The idea of an apocalyptic end of our planet and of humankind has always been extremely prevalent in society. From religion to movies, theories of annihilation can be found everywhere. But few books attempt to tackle the subject of life after the end. I think George Stewart wrote this book in the 60's and I wanted to see what his ideas were on that subject. The premise was great, but I was extremely disappointed with Earth Abides because Stewart brings in many themes/ideas but never goes into any of them in any detail whatsoever. There is absolutely no emotional connection with any of the characters,and even less so with Ish, the main character. I felt like I was waiting for something to happen throughout the book, and it never came. The author attempts to tackle way too many "big" subjects at the same time, and in the end,he fails. The only reason I gave this book even one star is because the reader can learn about how the world may deteriorate in the future when man is no longer here.One could say that that is a positive thing.
Rating: 
Summary: Hard to abide a novel that reads like a term paper
Review: If they did an audiotape of "Earth Abides", only Ben Stein would be up to the task of delivering the text into spoken words. The novel wastes no time getting into its subject matter. Within the opening pages, an unknown plague wipes out the vast majority of humanity, leaving the remnants to either rebuild civilization or bear witness to its final collapse. It sounds promising, but the delivery never comes.The story is narrated in the first person by "Ish", a young college student whose circumstances enable him to survive the disaster. Very early on, the reader gets the first inklings that this novel will serve as a sounding board for George Stewart's various preoccupations. The first hint is the dominant theme that nature has some innate sense of population control that strikes suddenly and absolutely on all levels, and this is explored not just in discovering what happened to humanity but also in a number of situations as the story advances. In fact, Ish seems to be merely a mouthpiece for a number of observations, ideas, and insights postulated by Stewart. For a work of fiction, "Earth Abides" reads more like an apocalyptic version of "Future Shock", the landmark Alvin Toffler sociological study. Unfortunately, it reads as dryly as "Future Shock" as well. All of Stewart's ideas are presented in a dry, impersonal manner, which precludes any emotional connection with the story itself and thus lessens the impact of these insights in the end. Recommended only for the most voracious of sci-fi readers.
Rating: 
Summary: A Perennial Classic
Review: This is the 'end of the world as we know it' novel that all others are compared to. Even though it was written in the 1940's (copyright 1949) it is timeless, not aged at all, a great literary work. It all starts when the main character, Ish, is bitten by a rattlesnake and laid up in a remote cabin, unconscious for an extended period of time, while, unknown to him, a plague destroys over 99% of the population. There begins a superb story of the trials and adventures of one man, and eventually a small group of people, as they battle nature and themselves, and attempt to re-establish civilization. This is one of those rare novels where characterization and plot and setting all mesh together into one beautifully written yarn, that after reading it, you will never forget it, it is that powerful. If there ever existed the proverbial page turner, this is it. Of course, being written in the 1940's no mention is made of personal computers, CD players, and the like, but if civilization was gone these most likely would be of little use anyway. The philosophy and human interest angles contained in this book are well done. The scenes and descriptions of the demise of civilization and peoples' reactions to it, depicted by Stewart, seem very realistic. Your heart will be with the characters of this book when you read it.
Rating: 
Summary: I wish I could give it more stars.
Review: I love end-of-the-world fiction. Call me a gourmand of it, if you will. Well, one story I had missed was, "Earth Abides". So, I read a lot of reviews here at Amazon and I decided to buy it. I gave it three stars because I did not finish it. Usually, I can read anything. Even bad fiction becomes a challenge to conclude; disappointing fiction is a different story. It's just isn't my type. Though, I can appreciate what others see in it. Summary: A fellow goes off hiking and is bit by a rattlesnake. After his near-death experience and recovery (lasting about 2 weeks), he comes back to society to find no one home. The book follows his life as he: travels, struggles, meets other survivors, starts a fledgling society. The strengths of this book encompass one man's struggle to survive an unthinkable situation. It is wonderful at explaining some the effects of a global disaster in which only the people are gone. Our ordinance remains. But all eventually decays. The next generation of human society loses it cerebralness, but gains an innate link to the earth. Man exterminated by a virus with extreme prejuidice has now become just a creature not a ruler of the earth. In fact, just as I am typing this out; I am getting excited to read it. But, here come the negatives. The weaknesses are few, but very important. Characterization. Stereotypes abound, while the earth abides. Women are merely wombs needed for their matronly duties. Which would be true in this case. But there is no other extrapolation of feelings and thoughts for the women other than a prehistoric regression of their being and worth. All other characterizations are weak. The protagonist grows on in years but not in emotional or intellectual depth. There are other things that I did not like in the book. When things start to break down, our hero does nothing to stop it; even when he has others to help him. On grand scale, when the infrastructure fails, nothing is done. Not even attempted. One man may not be able to save a power plant or water system. But a group could. Well, possibly. After all, they have all the time in the world. Even if the those infrastructure repairs are ignored, what about personal systems? Our hero is a graduate student in Geology, and this book was only written 50 years ago. The Cold war is in it's infancy. Bomb shelters, survival gear are not unheard of. Oh well. That's what I don't like. Conclusion: I think if I was a teenager I might have read this book differently. But being in my early 30s and a scientist skews my notion of this type of fiction. Please read this book. You may be able overlook, or not even think what I pointed out were points against it. Personally, I'd suggest reading, "The Stand", "Warday" or "I am Legend".
Rating:
Summary: It's not about the end, but a new begining!
Review: This book is with out a doubt one of the best I have ever read. Stewart portrays the end of our world, as we know it and tells the story of a man's need to survive in a world he no longer knows and trusts. This novel is not one of action and amazing death defying feats, but one of a man's introspective thoughts and of the will to live in a world that has been brought down by it's own ignorance and naiveté. This book is like a huge juicy red stake, there is almost too much meat to handle. I recommend this book to anyone who likes to think, and think seriously about what it means to be human!
Rating:
Summary: Onan the Barbarian
Review: One-and-a-half stars really. Not much happens in this book.The main character spends most of his time musing over the fate of the earth and observing the effects of erosion on human artifacts, now that most of the world's population has been wiped out. One of the racier sections I recall was his observation of a storm water drain overflowing.It took two or three pages. However, the book is readable enough to fill in a bit of time while trapped in a hospital bed for a few days, and might even have earned as many as three stars from me, were it not for the "hero's" much over-inflated sense of self worth which manifests itself on nearly every page, most often by refering in his thoughts to all of his friends as simple, stolid, dull, or just plain stupid.Not to mention what he thinks of those whom he doesn't count among his friends! Maybe we are not meant to like the "hero", but I think we are, and I can't help thinking that this story could be written by one of those aneamic, spotty, embittered social outcasts that one often finds lurking in the shadows at science fiction conventions, more at home with his onanistic fantasies than with any human being. I quote: "...he realized that in some ways...he felt a new security and even satisfaction at the contemplation of a solitary life. His worries in the old days had been chiefly about people. The prospect of going to a dance had more than once sent him into a sweat; he had never been a good mixer; no one had asked him to join a fraternity. In the old days, such things were a handicap to a man. Now, he realized, they were actually a great advantage. Because he had sat on the edge of so many social gatherings, not quite able to mingle in the conversation, listening, watching objectively, now he could endure not being able to talk, and again could sit and watch, noting what happened. His weakness had become strength. It was as if there had been a blind man in a world suddenly bereft of light. In that world, those with seeing eyes could only blunder about, but the blind man would be at home, and now, instead of being the one who was guided by others, he might be the one to whom others clung for guidence." His intellectual snobbery becomes glaringly obvious as he begins to meet other survivors, and is at it's most repellant when he discusses "half-witted" Evie, whom one of the other survivors found "dirty, grovelling, and unkempt, living in filth with merely enough intelligence to open cans to feed herself on whatever they contained, without cooking or preperation." This doesn't seem too much of a crime, and neither does the only other thing that seems to be "wrong" with her, that she can't hold a conversation. Nevertheless, the "hero" goes on to say:"It would have been better, he had often thought, if they had merely put a can of sweet ant-poison within her reach somewhere." Of course, we must remember that when this book was published, in in 1949, social policy in the US was still under the sway of brianiac and boffin advocates of eugenics, and many "subnormals" and "moral degenerates" were still being sterilized by court order, despite the widespread revulsion over the results of Nazi social engineering procedures based on the same premises. A good antidote to the attitutudes expressed by this book is to be found in Jonathan Kellerman's excellent thriller "Survival of the Fittest", wherein eugenicists lurk behind a spree of cowardly murders. Kellerman's book is also recommended as a healthy locus for introspection by any readers of "Earth Abides" who find themselves agreeing with the "hero's" attitudes and solutions.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for any science fiction fans
Review: I found this book totally by happy accident, and it remains one of my all-time favorites. What is chilling is that the basic premise of the book is quite possible and believable, given diseases like Ebola that are out there. He gave real-life examples of other species that became overpopulated, and then were nearly wiped out by a plague. What is man but another species of animal on this planet, and we are not immune--look at the Black Plague, for example. A truly unique look at what might happen to the earth if we are nearly wiped out, and what might happen to the people left to survive afterward. A great read!
Rating:
Summary: Earth Abides
Review: Recently I took it upon myself to read the twelve books describing end of the world scenarios that are being recommended by Amazon in one of its lists. Of the twelve that I read, this is by far my favourite book. George Stewart wrote a story that is both believable and entertaining. In fact, with only a few minor historical references to culture in the 1940's, one could easily think that this book was written yesterday. I regret that the other books written by Stewart are not widely available. I think he's an amazing writer. Buy and read this book. You will not regret your selection.
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Summary: I am happy. Things are as they are, and I am part of them.
Review: Do you know the joyous feeling you get when you just happen upon a book quite by accident, read just a few chapters of it, and realize that it will be of great signifiance to you? Well, that was my experience with this book! I can't believe that I was not introduced to this book before now. It is with some sadness that I just completed reading it. My degree of connection with the main character, Isherwood Williams (Ish), astounded me; therefore, I must admit that my reaction to this book is quite subjective. It as is though the author looked into my mind and wrote a book about me in a post-apocalyptic world, including my greatest virtues and worst vices. The descriptions of the thoughts, triumphs, failings, joys, and frustrations experienced by the main character are poignantly honest and real. Metaphorically, this story seems to describe, with regard to many things, my existence in this, our so-far non-apocalyptic, world. For example, I find that I constantly struggle to define what I think to be the appropriate balance of individuality and community/state in our world. If you are one who consciously ponders such things or pursues a study of philosophy, I believe that you will view this book as a masterpiece. It just made my top 10, that is sure. I feel that I have gained much in my reading of this book. Mostly, I come away from this reading experience with a renewed feeling of peace and a reassurance in myself and the human spirit. I will no longer, I think, become quite so frustrated with regard to certain things or people in this world. "Am I happy? Yes, I am happy. Things are as they are, and I am part of them." - Jack, great grandson of Isherwood Williams (Ish), the Last American.
Rating:
Summary: The Original "End of the World" Story
Review: That about sums it up for me. All others on this theme are just cheap imitations. Earth Abides is the real thing Civilisation, and some 99.99% of the human race, is gone. The few survivors, all traumatised by what has happened to them (some more obviously than others, but they all are) either just commit suicide, drink themselves to death, live out their lonely lives in some familiar spot, or, as with Ish and his companions, get together into little "tribes". Having already read a few reviews, I get the impression that there are few neutrals on this one. You either love it (the majority, including me_ or hate it. For me, Earth Abides' big virtue is precisely what some people seem to dislike about it. Its characters are just dead ordinary. Even Ish, the nearest thing to a brain among them, is too passive and contemplative to be more than a titular head. There are no survivalists who have long been waiting for the day; no jacks of all trades, conveniently endowed with all the needed skills, and above all no "natural leaders" (aka bullies and control freaks) out to remake the worl in their own image. (Perhaps Charlie had some ambitions that way, but fortunately he is bumped off before the question can arise). They are in fact just a bunch of very average or even below-average people, trying to make a life for themselves amidst the ruins of the world. That, I suspect, is pretty much how such an aftermath would really be. Loooking back on it (I first read the book at age ten) I have some miinor gripes. In particular, the Great Disaster itself seems more than a little "sanitised", with mankind dying and all the bodies neatly tidied away, during Ish's two-week absence. Somehow, that does not quite carry conviction. Apart from that, however, my only real complaint is that Stewart was content witha single book, when the theme deserved a trilogy at least. Read and enjoy
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