Hi-
I'm a new person, so I thought I'd introduce myself. I'm a
scientist/university prof (plant ecologist) who really enjoys reading
science fiction, particularly "natural" science fiction, e.g., "Earth
Abides" by George Stewart and "Ecotopia" by Ernest Callenbach. I'm sure
that others in the discussion group share this interest and could pass on
other interesting titles. I haven't been very successful in finding very
many of these. In the books I have found, often the science is fairly
flawed, or they are sexist or racist -- another reason I find this
discussion group so intriguing.
To spice up my non-majors ecology class at the university, I organize some
lectures/discussion around a natural science fiction title. "Biomes" (the
vegetation types around the world before we destroyed them all) is a
dreadfully boring topic for most students, so I changed it. I began to use
the sci-fi book, "Earth Abides", as part of the biomes unit. The book
worked out really well from the biomes angle, but it was really tiring
apologizing for all of the sexist/racist overtones in the book.
>From a science perspective, the ideas in the book did make a great
springboard for a discussion of how people change the earth. This is really
the entire point of teaching students about biomes in the first place, but
it was much more interesting for the students to start with the sci-fi
approach and then progress to the sci approach. I eventually wrote a sci-fi
thing of my own to use in class to avoid the sexist/racist problem.
Does anyone know of other books similar to "Earth Abides", that discuss the
way the world would change without so many people? I'd really like to vary
the title from year to year.
Beth Middleton
Dr. Beth Middleton
Department of Plant Biology, 411 Life Science II
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois 62901
618-453-3216 FAX: 618-453-3441
Sabbatical Phone and FAX: 618-457-6760
bmiddleton@plant.siu.edu
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