The Aftermath

By Samuel C. Florman

Book Overview

The year is 2010 and the world as we know it has come to an end. A huge comet has smashed into the earth off the coast of California, vaporizing and generating a fiery rain that engulfs the globe in a destructive holocaust. But at the opposite pole of the planet, there is a "safe zone" encompassing part of the southeast African shore and the southern tip of Madagascar where the damage is extensive but not total. Spared from destruction is a luxury cruise ship, the Queen of Africa, which carries 600 of the world's leading engineers. These outstanding technologists, traveling with their immediate families, are engaged in a seminar dedicated to finding solutions to humanity's eternal needs-shelter, food, energy, environmental preservation, and the like. But when the impact of the comet sends shock waves around the world, the passengers' first priority is to abandon ship for terra firma. Thus they head for the South African coast to begin the task of "starting over." In KwaZulu Natal the passengers find a surviving community of about 25,000, including many experienced agricultural and industrial workers. These people have been cast back, physically, to the Stone Age, but intellectually they are at the forefront of technological progress in the 21st century, and they have at their disposal the natural resources needed to embark on an industrial revolution. So begins an epic adventure of rebuilding the world from scratch, but in an unpredictable, and sometimes hostile, environment, survival itself may be the real challenge. "The Aftermath" is a provocative adventure story that provides a scientifically sound blueprint for surviving Armageddon.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312266529
• ISBN13: 9780312266523
• Release Date: December 2001
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Very thought provoking

I really enjoyed this book, although it wasn't the usual exciting page-turning thriller. Imagine that you're on a cruise with the world's smartest engineers in most disciplines, and suddenly the world as we know it is destroyed by a comet. The only survivors are in a circle of land which encompasses some of the south part of Africa and the surrounding sea. They know that their supplies won't last forever. They know they're in a race against time to try to reconstruct and bring things back up to date as soon as possible - before any pass away and the knowledge is lost forever. They become very frustrated because they have big plans but don't have the very basic tools to do anything with, such as nails or metal. They argue as they try to figure out some system of government and money. Luckily they form a trust and an alliance with the local people who already know how to survive without technology. Finally, when things begin to take some semblance of shape they are attacked by a group of hostile people who also survived, who arrive by boat. Suddenly priorities change drastically. I liked the book because I learned some things I didn't already know. I didn't like the way it ended and thought it was a bit sappy, but then in retrospect, maybe it was important that it did end that way!

Very interesting book

This book does not deserve the bad reviews it recieved from other readers who have posted here. It is very well thought out (and it is obvious the amount of research that went into it). At the end of the book, I was wishing there was a sequel, because I was curious about what would happen next.What kind of government would be set up? What would happen to the narrator, what happened to the two boats that went out in search of the rest of the world?It is very intriguing.This book is a good book- in its catagory. You won't like it if you expect it to be an adventure novel, or... whatever. It is what it is- the story of a bunch of people trying to rebuild a society. Their story is not glamourous, or rife with dangerous situations. It doesn't dissolve into a gory, bloody mess. If you read it for what it is, and not what you think it might be, you will probably like it.