Earth Abides

Read somewhere once that Earth Abides was Jimi Hendrix's favorite book.

What struck me after reading George R. Stewart's 1949 novel was the narrator mentioning that within a generation or two after a viral plague eliminates virtually all human life from the planet, children couldn't grasp that skyscrapers, bridges and highways had been built by human beings who'd lived before them, and were not naturally-occurring topological features like rocks, hills and streams.

Children born after the pandemic had never known or participated in a time when most American families owned automobiles, or lived in houses. People under 20 didn't think radios were important because no one had ever been broadcasting for them to listen to.

Naturally, folks under 20 got bored and annoyed when adults tried to explain what office buildings and bridges were all about. And why highways had once been significant.

Because highways had no relevance for people who have no place to go, just as telephones have no significance for a generation of people accustomed to talking face-to-face to express their immediate biological needs.

Just as a bridge has no importance for people who lack the curiosity to see what's on the other side.

People without imagination or an interest in "what came before me?" are restricted to re-creating the same experiences and believing that what they see is all that exists in the world.

I wonder what the caveman who invented the wheel had to dream about.

Earth Abides is lost. It is lost because it has been crowded out by the glut of novels published each year. When you're talking to someone you just met and you discover they 'love' science fiction, and you ask with great anticipation if they have read Earth Abides, the answer is "No, Should I?" -www.lostbooks.org/reviews/1998-06-11-1.html