Books Abide

A book you love and one you didn’t:

Since I would categorize my word consumption as “voracious”, there are many books I could write about. My first instinct is to mention Richard Adams’ “Watership Down” as a book I love, but instead I’m going to write about George Stewart’s “Earth Abides”, since at different times in my life, it has been both a book I loved and I one I didn’t.

The first time I read it, I was because it was assigned reading in high school, and while I enjoyed the post-apocalyptic theme, I was disappointed that there were no supernatural elements to the story. I was still young and immature enough to require monsters in order for my interest to be fully engaged.

The second time I read it, I was finishing up my sociology degree at San Jose State, and I enjoyed it much more, realizing that it was the human story at the core of the book that made it interesting, not the trappings of apocalypse. The collapse of civilization doesn’t need the supernatural to render it fascinating. After all of the intervening years since I last read it, I still consider it one of the more thoughtful entries in that particular sub-genre.

These days, with TV shows like The Walking Dead leading the way, one doesn’t have to look far to delve into the what-ifs of post-civilization survival stories. We’re at our best when our surroundings are at their worst, or are we?

I posit that this cultural interest in the collapse of civilization is tied in with our fears that it might happen in our lifetimes. After all, much of the science fiction created during the mid twentieth century seemed to revolve around the idea of alien invasion, and many of these stories, like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, featured alien infiltrators. Behind these fanciful stories was a very real fear of the Soviet Union. Our entertainment choices often reflect our fears and help us work through them.

Perhaps George Stewart was ahead of his time, or perhaps we’ve always feared societal collapse.