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49 Best Post Apocalyptic Books of All Time


Our goal: Find the best Post Apocalyptic books according to the internet (not just one random person's opinion).

    Here's what we did:
  1. Type "best post apocalyptic books" into our search engine and study the top 7+ pages.
  2. Add only the books mentioned 2+ times.
  3. Rank the results neatly for you here! 😊
    (It was a lot of work. But hey! That's why we're here, right?)

(Updated 2024)

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Last Updated: Monday 1 Jan, 2024

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  1. MOST RECOMMENDED!
    1
    The Road

    The Road

    Cormac McCarthy

  2. 2
    Swan Song

    Swan Song

    Robert R. McCammon

  3. 3
    The Stand

    The Stand

    Stephen King

  4. 4
    Earth Abides

    Earth Abides

    George R. Stewart

  5. 5
    The Passage
  6. 6
    Oryx and Crake

    Oryx and Crake

    A Novel

    Margaret Atwood

  7. 7
    On the Beach

    On the Beach

    Nevil Shute

  8. 8
    One Second After

    One Second After

    William R. Forstchen

  9. 9
    Blindness

    Blindness

    Jose Saramago

  10. 10
    A Canticle for Leibowitz

    A Canticle for Leibowitz

    Walter M. Miller Jr.

  11. 12
    Station Eleven

    Station Eleven

    A Novel

    Emily St. John Mandel

  12. 13
    I Am Legend

    I Am Legend

    Richard Matheson

  13. 14
    The Dog Stars

    The Dog Stars

    Peter Heller

  14. 15
    Wool
  15. 16
    Alas, Babylon

    Alas, Babylon

    Pat Frank

  16. 18
    The Children of Men
  17. 19
    The Postman

    The Postman

    David Brin

  18. 20
    Eternity Road

    Eternity Road

    Jack McDevitt

  19. 21
    The Slynx

    The Slynx

    Tatyana Tolstaya

  20. 22
    Parable of the Sower
  21. 23
    Lucifer's Hammer

    Lucifer's Hammer

    Larry Niven

  22. 24
    The Girl With All the Gifts
  23. 25
    Metro 2033

    Metro 2033

    Dmitry Glukhovsky

  24. 27
    The Drowned World
  25. 28
    The Last Man

    The Last Man

    Mary Shelley

  26. 29
    Riddley Walker

    Riddley Walker

    Russell Hoban

  27. 30
    The Long Tomorrow

    The Long Tomorrow

    Leigh Brackett

  28. 31
    Things We Didn't See Coming
  29. 32
    Cat's Cradle
  30. 33
    MaddAddam
  31. 34
    Roadside Picnic

    Roadside Picnic

    Arkady Strugatsky

  32. 35
    Bird Box

    Bird Box

    A Novel

    Josh Malerman

  33. 36
    Cell

    Cell

    Stephen King

  34. 39
    Life as We Knew It

    Life as We Knew It

    Susan Beth Pfeffer

  35. 40
    Planet of the Apes

    Planet of the Apes

    Pierre Boulle

  36. 41
    The Book of M
  37. 42
    Into the Forest

    Into the Forest

    Jean Hegland

  38. 43
    The Death of Grass

    The Death of Grass

    John Christopher

  39. 44
    California

    California

    A Novel

    Edan Lepucki

  40. 45
    The Sheep Look Up

    The Sheep Look Up

    John Brunner

  41. 46
    Children of the Dust

    Children of the Dust

    Louise Lawrence

  42. 47
    Damnation Alley

    Damnation Alley

    Roger Zelazny

  43. 48
    Down to a Sunless Sea
  44. 49
    The Wild Shore

FAQ

  • How was this Post Apocalyptic books list created?

    We searched for 'best Post Apocalyptic books', found the top 5 articles, took every book mentioned in 2+ articles, and averaged their rankings.

  • How many Post Apocalyptic books are in this list?

    There are 49 books in this list.

  • Why did you create this Post Apocalyptic books list?

    We wanted to gather the most accurate list of Post Apocalyptic books on the internet.

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