What next - Fiction - Looking at the past for help - Looking to the future too

Many are asking me - so now what Rob - if the sky really is falling what do we do now?

Sometimes fiction helps. Jack Whyte wrote a series on the transition of Britain as a Province of Rome to the Dark Ages. The first 3 books deal with a time like our own today. In a "World made by Hand" James Kunstler looks into the future.

Skystone (book 1) Is a time as ours was maybe a year ago. The system still worked and it was inconceivable that anything could really shake it. But some events take place that cause the protagonists to start to question its real stability.

The Singing Sword (book 2) Is a time like now. The protagonists are now clear that they are in not for a bump but a fall. Few agree with them - collapse is unthinkable. The protagonists decide that they will have to build a community that can be self sufficient and resilient - they trade gold for iron and are thought fools - they buy horses - they recruit good people - they decide on a place far from a big city. They are seen as being alarmists and fools.

The Eagles Brood (book 3) Is a time that may happen ahead of us. The collapse of the system is complete and Britain is cut off. Anarchy builds and swirls around the community. London is a wasteland. The wisdom of their choices is now clear.

The series goes on for many more books and leads us into the Life of Arthur. The first two books are excellent and you will find that they match our own experience now. How we are blind to obvious signs. How like passengers on the Titanic - we assume safety. How hard it is to be different.

Kunstler starts after a collapse. In the World made by hand, we enter a world that is only a ruin of the one we know. What is it like to recreate a world made by hand. This book is not a polemic but a very gripping novel with real characters. The "lesson" is gently woven into the narrative as he explores what it might be like to live in an America that is made up of isolated communities where there is no connection and not governmenrt at all - back to the frontier!

In the end it is a hopeful book as well. (PS become a junk dealer - much of what we put into the dump will be very useful)