Raymond F. Jones 4 hr 13 min read

When a comet's dust settles over the Earth, every engine and machine seizes and dies, and as civilization breaks down, a small town and its scientists must fight to survive.

Raymond F. Jones's 1958 novel is a gripping juvenile post-apocalyptic and hard-SF tale. Vivid, thoughtful, well-paced. Read it for a first-rate breakdown-of-civilization story from the author of This Island Earth, a comet that halts all machinery, the collapse and panic that follow, and the reasoned struggle of science against disaster and the mob.

In its time

Published in 1958, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

4 hr 13 min read (a novel-length work, settle in).