Lucifer's Hammer (novel)

[Odoreida]

I read it when it came out back in the 1970s.

It's set in the future. IIRC about the year 2000 or so.
A comet is spotted heading toward Earth, panic ensues.
The comet hits Earth about halfway through the story.
The comet doesn't do anywhere near as much damage as feared, but civilization has already collapsed from the panic.
The rest of the book is about people picking up the pieces as best they can sort of along the lines of the later book The Postman.

I thought of it recently for some reason.

[Va Lefty]

1. Read that book in the eighties. I'm rereading The Stand.

"M-O-O-N. That spells coronavirus. Laws yes."

[exboyfil]

2. I loved Niven and Pournelle as a kid

This is my first book I read by them. I thought the calving of the comet caused more widespread damage. Also immediately after impact China and the USSR had a nuclear exchange.

Other great books by them:

Inferno (my first exposure to Dante)
Footfall
Mote In God's Eye

On reread they don't hold up as well (at least being the difference between a 14 year old and a 50+ year old)

[Hugin]

5. Seeing as now I have nothing, but, time on my hands...

I'll have to check them out. Thanks for reminding me.

I think I remember reading MIGE. Don't remember what I thought of it as a book.

I didn't know about the other two.

[Foolacious]

6. I had the same reaction on trying to reread "The Mote"

Didn’t hold up well. Plot mechanics and characters that seemed fine when I was a teenager didn’t work in my sixties.

[Boxerfan]

3. The surfer was very memorable...

I have it still a well worn paperback-maybe I'll crack it again.

[Jamastiene]

4. Now, I want to read it.

Thanks for the unintended book suggestion. It was a good one.

[ismnotwasm]

7. Haven't read that in years

Don’t like the author much, but that book is worth a revisit. Sci-fi is my favorite genre

[Hestia]

8. Another good book series is Dies the Fire - about people banding together after an EMF

What always struck me about LH (I read years ago) was the plan put into action by the Hollywood producer or director who took Boy Scout troops for a week of rough camping - very few outside supplies - in case they became stuck in the woods somehow and needed to know how to eat and clean drinking water, etc.

Of course, we could not do what he did - went and wrote *checks* for massive trade supplies - spices like pepper, bottles of liquor, massive amounts of meats that he then made into jerky and pemmican. That was when checks took a week or more to clear your account.