Notes from an Apocalypse: A Personal Journey to the End of the World and Back

From the prize-winning author of To Be a Machine - meet the men and women preparing for the end of the world In the remote mountains of Scotland, in high-tech bunkers in South Dakota and in the lush valleys of New Zealand, small groups of determined men and women are getting ready. They are environmentalists who fear the ravages of climate change; billionaire entrepreneurs dreaming of life on Mars; and right-wing conspiracists yearning for a lost American idyll. One thing unites them: their certainty that we are only years away from the end of civilization as we know it. Not unconcerned himself by the possibility of the end of days, Mark O'Connell set out to meet them.

About the Author :
Mark O'Connell is the author of To Be a Machine (Granta 2017), which won the Wellcome Book Prize and was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize 2017. He lives in Dublin with his family. He writes for The Guardian, Slate, The New York Times and The Millions.

Review :
Seriously funny... Disturbingly relevant... Some of O'Connell's encounters are deliciously, novelistically weird... The brilliance of the book, though, lies in the analysis... this is ultimately, surprisingly, a hopeful book.... brilliantly done A cross between Bill Bryson and David Foster Wallace... A fidgety, fretful but very funny book with which to while away the days in self-isolation Forensic and funny, like an even more deadpan Louis Theroux, Mark O'Connell ventures into the territory of extremists and reports back with wit, moral courage and a sort of calmly appalled curiosity. This book would have been essential reading even if it hadn't coincided with what appears to be a real apocalypse... Right on the money... Wonderful... hugely engaging One hell of a funny book. A beautiful writer with a keenly honed sense of self-deprecation and the absurd, the tangents he wanders off on are just as fascinating as the subjects he meets... A must-read Extraordinarily good-insightful, affecting, funny, and appropriately terrifying. The perfect handbook for the end times. Mark O'Connell is a truly brilliant writer and Notes from an Apocalypse could hardly be more incisive, or more timely A book that's fretful, wise and funny, and often all three in the space of a paragraph... O'Connell offers us hope as well as black humour. And we need that now Personal, funny and self-deprecating... O'Connell has the sensibility of a poet... despite the ominous theme I frequently had to stop and smile or laugh outright... this timely book is likely to gain cult status for the response of its subject matter, the pleasure of O'Connell's lyricism and wit, and for the message A delightful peek inside the world of "preppers" gearing up for imminent disruptions to our social or political order... A wryly amusing tour of the end of the world O'Connell shows the... nimble ability to move between high and low registers - and the same pinpoint accuracy with a well-timed joke - as Geoff Dyer or, in his pomp, Martin Amis... if we are all heading down the long slide, at least with O'Connell to keep us company, we'll be laughing - and screaming - all the way Anyone with open eyes lives today bound by apocalyptic fears for the future and the maddening same-ness that defines the present day. Notes from an Apocalypse is a penetrating investigation into that new uncanny, which shapes both our collective indifference and our climate rage Notes From an Apocalypse is such a fantastic book. It's harrowing, tender-hearted and funny as hell. O'Connell proves himself to be a genius guide through all the circles of imagined and anticipated doom. Read it, then immediately buy a copy for your "but what's the worst that could happen?" friend' Mark O'Connell's voice is funny, charming and humane, even as he contemplates the grimmest outcomes of the 21st century climate catastrophe. Notes from an Apocalypse is funny and endlessly thought provoking, like Dante's Inferno, if Hell was full of libertarian Tech bros, YouTube survivalists and guys who are really into extreme camping Notes from an Apocalypse was poised to catch a wave, now it seems to have caught a tsunami... perceptive and sensitive Notes from an Apocalypse feels a redemptive read... hilariously absurd Prescient An addictive, fascinating read Favouring metaphor, mythology and literature above scientific data, O'Connell's writing is humane, humorous and poetically philosophical It can't be overstated what witty, thoughtful company O'Connell is when exploring these peculiarly 21st-century dilemmas...uncanny An insightful and surprisingly hopeful read that underpins how we're all trying to make our way through testing times the best way we know how O'Connell moves nimbly between scenes and eras, skipping from the poetry of Czeslaw Milosz to a history of the Grand Tour. It helps that he is funny, too... a timely if eccentric consolation... fascinating Topical... a light-hearted look around the World's End; the Book of Revelation with a Bill Bryson touch... you'll die laughing Very funny... well-written and insightful Written with a rare combination of analytical intelligence and real kindness... Generosity and critical thinking are better than escapism this year As much a compelling memoir of parenthood in a compromised modern world as an apocalyptic study... [O'Connell] proves a perceptive interviewer... frequently funny Both wildly funny and oddly moving O'Connell has a rare ability to be blokeish and woke, funny and frightened and sound: this is a profoundly intelligent book An essential tonic for unprecedented times A masterpiece of investigative reporting A wryly gonzo travelogue exploring the culture of "preppers"... Mixes cultural argument with confessional bathos Fretful, wise and funny, and often all three in the space of a paragraph