July, 19, 2004 archives

earth abides by george r. stewart was written in 1949, but only really has a few anachronisms that show its age. it’s a really strong post-apocalyptic story, with the human population pared down even further than any other similar book i’ve read. i think the biggest liberty that the author takes is to have the primary character live so long considering the complete lack of medical knowledge, but it is an easily forgiven stretch because it allows for the story to reach much further into the real establishment of an actual community and culture after the plague that wipes out most of the human race.

(i picked up the book based on the mention on boing boing, in reference to the straight dope question and answer about how long power would stay on in the event of a mass zombification.)

another month, another charity. in this case, the same charity i donated to this month last year: childrens hospital los angeles.

another charity worth checking out (i’ll get to it in september): accion international.