Ice!

This is a surprisingly hard to obtain book. My daughters and I have worn out one copy with re-reads, and a replacement was difficult to find.

This posits a rapid change in climate because of pollution, and follows a few people who are successful in adapting to the new conditions, both physical and cultural.

A very good and absorbing read.

Ice! by Arnold Federbush is a reasonably difficult book to find in secondhand bookstores, but is however now available to borrow from the internet archives online library for reading in pdf/epub format.

Written in 1978 it details the collapse of civilisation worldwide due to fast paced climate change caused by pollution. Most of the story is spent on the changing climate which results in an ice age and the unraveling of aspects of society, with the last, roughly a quarter, detailing the characters survival and adaption thereafter. It's not an uplifting story of survival, but rather quite a bleak tale of humanities woe. There are some plot holes as the narrative takes some getting used to as the transitions between character dialogues show more aren't always as clear as they could be, but you do get used to the manner in which it is written.

Whilst the story is dated by the 1970s alarmist idea of climate change resulting in an ice age (as opposed to what is now being documented), as well as by the mention of Yugoslavia and Apartheid South Africa; it is nonetheless an interesting story and thought provoking.

Worth checking out. show less