Notes from An Apocalypse

From the prize-winning author of To Be a Machine - meet the men and women preparing for the end of the world

In the remote mountains of Scotland, in high-tech bunkers in South Dakota and in the lush valleys of New Zealand, small groups of determined men and women are getting ready.

They are environmentalists who fear the ravages of climate change; billionaire entrepreneurs dreaming of life on Mars; and right-wing conspiracists yearning for a lost American idyll. One thing unites them: their certainty that we are only years away from the end of civilization as we know it.

Not unconcerned himself by the possibility of the end of days, Mark O'Connell set out to meet them.

Seriously funny... Disturbingly relevant... Some of O'Connell's encounters are deliciously, novelistically weird... The brilliance of the book, though, lies in the analysis... this is ultimately, surprisingly, a hopeful book.... brilliantly done Sunday Times
A cross between Bill Bryson and David Foster Wallace... A fidgety, fretful but very funny book with which to while away the days in self-isolation The Times
Forensic and funny, like an even more deadpan Louis Theroux, Mark O'Connell ventures into the territory of extremists and reports back with wit, moral courage and a sort of calmly appalled curiosity. This book would have been essential reading even if it hadn't coincided with what appears to be a real apocalypse... -- Mark Watson
Right on the money... Wonderful... hugely engaging -- Book of the Week Observer
One hell of a funny book. A beautiful writer with a keenly honed sense of self-deprecation and the absurd, the tangents he wanders off on are just as fascinating as the subjects he meets... A must-read Irish Independent
Extraordinarily good-insightful, affecting, funny, and appropriately terrifying. The perfect handbook for the end times. Mark O'Connell is a truly brilliant writer and Notes from an Apocalypse could hardly be more incisive, or more timely -- Sally Rooney
A book that's fretful, wise and funny, and often all three in the space of a paragraph... O'Connell offers us hope as well as black humour. And we need that now Daily Telegraph
Personal, funny and self-deprecating... O'Connell has the sensibility of a poet... despite the ominous theme I frequently had to stop and smile or laugh outright... this timely book is likely to gain cult status for the response of its subject matter, the pleasure of O'Connell's lyricism and wit, and for the message Irish Examiner
A delightful peek inside the world of "preppers" gearing up for imminent disruptions to our social or political order... A wryly amusing tour of the end of the world Financial Times
O'Connell shows the... nimble ability to move between high and low registers - and the same pinpoint accuracy with a well-timed joke - as Geoff Dyer or, in his pomp, Martin Amis... if we are all heading down the long slide, at least with O'Connell to keep us company, we'll be laughing - and screaming - all the way The Irish Times
Anyone with open eyes lives today bound by apocalyptic fears for the future and the maddening same-ness that defines the present day. Notes from an Apocalypse is a penetrating investigation into that new uncanny, which shapes both our collective indifference and our climate rage -- David Wallace Wells, author of The Uninhabitable Earth
Notes From an Apocalypse is such a fantastic book. It's harrowing, tender-hearted and funny as hell. O'Connell proves himself to be a genius guide through all the circles of imagined and anticipated doom. Read it, then immediately buy a copy for your "but what's the worst that could happen?" friend' -- Jenny Offill
Mark O'Connell's voice is funny, charming and humane, even as he contemplates the grimmest outcomes of the 21st century climate catastrophe. Notes from an Apocalypse is funny and endlessly thought provoking, like Dante's Inferno, if Hell was full of libertarian Tech bros, YouTube survivalists and guys who are really into extreme camping -- Colin Barrett, author of Young Skins
Notes from an Apocalypse was poised to catch a wave, now it seems to have caught a tsunami... perceptive and sensitive Notes from an Apocalypse feels a redemptive read... hilariously absurd Sunday Business Post
Prescient -- ‘50 brilliant books to transport you this summer’ Guardian
An addictive, fascinating read -- Best books of the year so far i paper
Favouring metaphor, mythology and literature above scientific data, O'Connell's writing is humane, humorous and poetically philosophical Sunday Independent
It can't be overstated what witty, thoughtful company O'Connell is when exploring these peculiarly 21st-century dilemmas...uncanny Daily Mail
An insightful and surprisingly hopeful read that underpins how we're all trying to make our way through testing times the best way we know how Stylist
O'Connell moves nimbly between scenes and eras, skipping from the poetry of Czeslaw Milosz to a history of the Grand Tour. It helps that he is funny, too... a timely if eccentric consolation... fascinating Economist
Topical... a light-hearted look around the World's End; the Book of Revelation with a Bill Bryson touch... you'll die laughing Sunday Telegraph
Very funny... well-written and insightful Spectator
Written with a rare combination of analytical intelligence and real kindness... Generosity and critical thinking are better than escapism this year -- ‘Books to help you escape lockdown’, chosen by Sarah Moss Guardian
As much a compelling memoir of parenthood in a compromised modern world as an apocalyptic study... [O'Connell] proves a perceptive interviewer... frequently funny TLS
Both wildly funny and oddly moving -- Books of the Year Observer
O'Connell has a rare ability to be blokeish and woke, funny and frightened and sound: this is a profoundly intelligent book -- Anne Enright Observer
An essential tonic for unprecedented times -- Books of the Year Morning Star
A masterpiece of investigative reporting -- Books of the Year Daily Express
A wryly gonzo travelogue exploring the culture of "preppers"... Mixes cultural argument with confessional bathos -- Books of the Year Guardian
Fretful, wise and funny, and often all three in the space of a paragraph -- Books of the Year Telegraph

Mark O'Connell is the author of To Be a Machine (Granta 2017), which won the Wellcome Book Prize and was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize 2017. He lives in Dublin with his family. He writes for The Guardian, Slate, The New York Times and The Millions.

Veteran worrier, author of To Be a Machine and father-of-two, Mark O'Connell, meets the anarchists, environmentalists, far-right nut-jobs and super-rich who are preparing for the end of days. From the prize-winning author of To Be a Machine - meet the men and women preparing for the end of the world In the remote mountains of Scotland, in high-tech bunkers in South Dakota and in the lush valleys of New Zealand, small groups of determined men and women are getting ready. They are environmentalists who fear the ravages of climate change; billionaire entrepreneurs dreaming of life on Mars; and right-wing conspiracists yearning for a lost American idyll. One thing unites them: their certainty that we are only years away from the end of civilization as we know it. Not unconcerned himself by the possibility of the end of days, Mark O'Connell set out to meet them.

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