Weather or not you may believe in the End Times, Armageddon, the Apocalypse, or the prophetic date of 12-21-12, many others do. As that prophetic date approaches, there exists a genre of Literature for folks to explore for entertainment and perhaps critical knowledge.
The entire genre of literature is as old as literature itself, for example “The Bible”, full of prophecy, doom & gloom, and hope! I have read hundreds of books in this subject area in the last four decades, and can always find some new, interesting point that differs from the rest.
Forty years ago the themes centered around nuclear war, asteroid strikes, alien invasion, etc. Since the late 1990’s terrorism, war of the worlds, ageless conspiracies, etc. have been added to the mix.
While entertaining, both as books and when made into films with lots of special effects, the themes also bring to light certain skills about survival.
Two of my favorites, “Malevil” and “Farnham’s Freehold” explore core survival skills following a nuclear war. With N Korea, Pakistan, and Iran saber rattling, such a scenario isn’t that far fetched.
Regardless of the “catastrophe” involved, the will to survive and survival skills necessary to accomplish the act are similar. These attributes are the main importance, at least to me, when reading this type of literature. Perhaps it is because I pride myself in having many of these skills.
Here are just a few books I have read in the last forty years, there are many more.
Farnham’s Freehold
Malevil
Lucifer’s Hammer
Alas, Babylon
Why reinvent the wheel, here is a great list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_apocalyptic_and_post-apocalyptic_fiction