Good Books

The Common Man has a morbid obsession with books and movies about the end of the world. Or at least the end of civilization. It's not that The Common Man wants to see the world burn. Far from it. Indeed, unlike those escapist nutjobs who cheered back in '96 when the aliens blew up the White House in Independence Day, The Common Man loves this world and this country (for all its faults) and does not yearn for a massive blizzard or devastating plague to kill everyone, so that the planet is cleansed or some such nonsense. Rather, The Common Man likes watching and reading about the end of the world because, as he sees the world being torn down, he gets to see what holds it together. That's why The Common Man has really enjoyed the last two books he's read, Max Brooks' World War Z and Richard Matheson's I Am Legend.

Brooks' novel, billed as an "Oral History of the Zombie War," is a cross between an ethnographic study and Night of the Living Dead Brooks assumes the persona of a U.N. appointed researcher, looking into the aftermath of a massive zombie uprising and how humanity survived. From the outbreak's beginning in China, to survivor's tales in Japan, the United States, Russia, South Africa, Canada, and Antarctica, Brooks' researcher criss-crosses the globe to get answers.

Unlike most sci-fi and horror novels, WWZ is able to circumvent most of the fright and the gore that would turn off casual readers. Instead, because readers know in advance that these men and women survive, they can act as calm observers to the ways that governments and individuals respond to the chaos around them. Readers get to examine not just what causes society to fall apart (overconfidence, style over substance, isolation, paranoia, and greed) but what stitches it back together again (religion, propoganda, cooperation, and physical connections rather than virtual ones).

It's a fabulous, fast read, in an accessible style and well paced. Each of the stories is sharp and memorable. It is biting in its critique, and generous in its reverance for humanity. Yet, it also wonders just at what point people start to lose that humanity when faced with crisis. The Common Man has never read another book like it, and recommends it highly, even for those who don't normally go in for sci-fi.

Matheson's I Am Legend, on the other hand, is old school sci-fi. Written in 1954, Matheson's novella has been adapted into film four times, most faithfully in Vincent Price's The Last Man on Earth. As most of you know, thanks to Will Smith, the story revolves around the lone survivor of a plague that has killed most of humanity and transformed others into vampires. The book centers around Neville's attempts to retain his humanity in the face of the crushing horror he witnesses every day and night, his struggle to find purpose and meaning in life when everything that used to give his life meaning has been stripped away, and what makes up identity and civilization.

The writing style is dated and it's easy to overlook the references (and critiques) of the Cold War and nuclear testing that always seem to pop up in '50s sci-fi. The story really is a downer, as Neville's slow downward spiral is inevitable in the face of the tragedy that has befallen him. But it's a compelling vision and a true classic of the genre. If you like science-fiction, this is a great book, especially the version just released by Tor Books (for the movie) that also has other Matheson short stories (including the excellent "Mad House," the story of a failed writer and professor whose frustration and anger are channeled into his home, which begins to fight back).