National Post
Canada’s National Post newspaper ran a feature article on The Knowledge, as well as two other new post-apocalyptic titles: ‘For Tamara‘ poetry book and ‘Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction‘.
Last week, on his way to deliver a lecture at the Royal Institution, one of the foremost scientific organizations in London, Lewis Dartnell left his laptop on the tube. He was heading there to talk about his new book, The Knowledge, a how-to guide that outlines how humanity could rebuild civilization in the event of an apocalypse. The irony wasn’t lost on Dartnell that for many people losing one’s laptop, and not an asteroid hurtling toward the Earth or a fast-spreading pandemic, is about as apocalyptic a scenario as can be imagined.
Dartnell, a U.K. Space Agency research fellow who, at 32, is already one of the England’s leading science writers, describes The Knowledge as “a thought experiment.” But it’s a book with real-world applications, something to be stored in the basement next to a supply of AA batteries and bottled water, just in case of emergency. Basically, it is a thorough-yet-readable compendium of the things survivors will need to know to help get civilization get back on its feet if it were ever brought to its knees by something like nuclear war: Dartnell discusses crop rotation, the importance of lime and even devotes an entire chapter to advanced chemistry. This isn’t a tongue-in-cheek tome like The Zombie Survival Guide (Max Brooks’ 2003 bestseller on how to live in a world overrun by the undead) but a book that might one day save your life.
Read the full article on the National Post website
