Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World (2024) by Dorian Lynskey
Reading list and notes
If, like me, you enjoy anything end-of-the-world, Everything Must Go is a delight.
The book does not have a bibliography, but with AI I was able to capture a great reading list.
Novels
Alam, Rumaan. Leave the World Behind. 2020.
✔️ Aldiss, Brian. Greybeard. 1964.
Aristide, Oana. Under the Blue. 2022.
Asimov, Isaac, Patricia S. Warrick, and Martin H. Greenberg, eds. Machines That Think: The Best Science Fiction Stories about Robots and Computers. 1984.
Atwood, Margaret. MaddAddam trilogy. 2003–13.
Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. 2003.
Atwood, Margaret. The Year of the Flood. 2009.
Ballard, J. G. The Atrocity Exhibition. 1970.
Ballard, J. G. The Crystal World. 1966.
Ballard, J. G. The Drought. 1965.
✔️Ballard, J. G. The Drowned World. 1962.
Ballard, J. G. Hello America. 1981.
Ballard, J. G. High-Rise. 1975.
✔️Ballard, J. G. The Wind from Nowhere. 1961.
Balmer, Edwin, and Philip Wylie. When Worlds Collide. 1933.
Bellow, Saul. Herzog. 1964.
✔️Beresford, J. D. Goslings. 1913.
✔️Boulle, Pierre. La Planète des singes (Planet of the Apes). 1963.
Brackett, Leigh. The Long Tomorrow. 1955.
Bradbury, Ray. The Martian Chronicles. 1951.
✔️Brin, David. The Postman. 1985.
Britton, Lionel. Brain. 1930.
Brunner, John. Stand on Zanzibar. 1968.
Bulwer-Lytton, Edward. The Last Days of Pompeii. 1834.
Burdick, Eugene and Harvey Wheeler. Fail-Safe. 1962.
Butler, Octavia. Parable of the Sower. 1993.
Butler, Samuel. Erewhon. 1872.
Čapek, Karel. Krakatit. 1922.
Čapek, Karel. Továrna na absolutno (The Absolute at Large). 1922.
Čapek, Karel. Válka s Mloky (War with the Newts). 1936.
✔️Christopher, John. A Wrinkle in the Skin. 1965.
Christopher, John. The Death of Grass. 1956.
Christopher, John. Empty World. 1977.
Christopher, John. The World in Winter. 1962.
Clancy, Tom. Executive Orders. 1996.
Clarke, Arthur C. Childhood’s End. 1953.
Clarke, Arthur C. The Hammer of God. 1993.
✔️Clarke, Arthur C. Rendezvous with Rama. 1973.
Clarkson, Helen. The Last Day. 1959.
Collier, John. Tom’s a-Cold. 1933.
Conington, J. J. Nordenholt’s Million. 1922.
Crichton, Michael. The Andromeda Strain. 1969.
Crichton, Michael. State of Fear. 2004.
Cromie, Robert. The Crack of Doom. 1895.
Cronin, Justin. The Passage. 2010.
Crossen, Kendell Foster. Year of Consent. 1954.
Dahl, Roald. Sometime Never. 1948.
Defoe, Daniel. A Journal of the Plague Year. 1722.
DeLillo, Don. Mao II. 1991.
Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (filmed as Blade Runner). 1968.
Donnelly, Ignatius L. (as Edmund Boisgilbert). Caesar’s Column: A Story of the Twentieth Century. 1890.
Duncan, Ronald. The Last Adam. 1952.
Dunsany, Lord. The Last Revolution. 1951.
Ehrlich, Max. The Big Eye. 1949.
Emmott, Stephen. 10 Billion. 2013.
Engel, Leonard and Emanuel S. Piller. World Aflame: The Russian–American War of 1950. 1947.
Farjeon, J. Jefferson. Death of a World. 1948.
Federbush, Arnold. Ice!. 1979.
Forster, E. M. The Machine Stops. 1909.
Frakes, Randall. Terminator 2: Judgment Day. 1991.
✔️Frank, Pat. Alas, Babylon. 1959.
Frank, Pat. Mr. Adam. 1946.
George, Peter (as Peter Bryant). Red Alert. 1958.
Godfrey, Hollis. The Man Who Ended War. 1908.
Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. 1954.
Grainville, Jean-Baptiste Cousin de. Le Dernier Homme (The Last Man). 1805.
Greengrass, Jessie. The High House. 2021.
Green, A. Lincoln. The End of an Epoch. 1901.
Griffith, George. The Lord of Labour. 1906.
Griffith, George. Olga Romanoff. 1894.
Griffith, George. The World Peril of 1910. 1907.
Hamilton, Cicely. Theodore Savage. 1922.
Harrison, Harry. Make Room! Make Room!. 1966.
Heti, Sheila. Pure Colour. 2022.
Herzog, Arthur. Heat. 1977.
Huxley, Aldous. Ape and Essence. 1948.
James, P. D. The Children of Men. 1992.
Jefferies, Richard. After London; or, Wild England. 1885.
Johnson, Denis. Fiskadoro. 1985.
Jones, D. F. Colossus. 1966.
Jones, D. F. Implosion. 1967.
Joyce, James. Ulysses. 1922.
Kavan, Anna. Ice. 1968.
Kilian, Crawford. Icequake. 1979.
✔️King, Stephen. The Stand. 1978.
Kleeman, Alexandra. Something New Under the Sun. 2021.
Koontz, Dean R. The Eyes of Darkness. 1981.
LaHaye, Tim and Jerry B. Jenkins. Left Behind series. 1995–2007.
Lawrence, D. H. Lady Chatterley’s Lover. 1928.
Lawrence, D. H. Women in Love. 1920.
Le Guin, Ursula. The Lathe of Heaven. 1971.
Lessing, Doris. The Four-Gated City. 1969.
Lessing, Doris. Memoirs of a Survivor. 1974.
Lockwood, Patricia. No One Is Talking About This. 2021.
London, Jack. The Scarlet Plague. 1915.
MacLean, Alastair. The Satan Bug. 1962.
Maine, Charles Eric. The Tide Went Out. 1958.
Malamud, Bernard. God's Grace. 1982.
Mandel, Emily St. John. Station Eleven. 2014.
✔️Matheson, Richard. I Am Legend. 1954.
McCarthy, Cormac. The Road. 2007.
Miller Jr., Walter M. A Canticle for Leibowitz. 1959.
Mitchell, David. Cloud Atlas. 2004.
Morris, William. News from Nowhere. 1890.
Moxley, F. Wright. Red Snow. 1930.
Nebel, Fletcher and Charles W. Bailey II. Seven Days in May. 1962.
Nicolson, Harold. Public Faces. 1932.
Noyes, Alfred. The Last Man. 1940.
Noyes, Pierrepoint B. The Pallid Giant. 1927.
Offill, Jenny. Weather. 2020.
Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. 1949.
Ouellette, Pierre. The Third Pandemic. 1996.
Oyler, Lauren. Fake Accounts. 2021.
Percy, Walker. Love in the Ruins. 1971.
Pierce, William Luther (as Andrew MacDonald). The Turner Diaries. 1978.
✔️Poe, Edgar Allen. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. 1838.
Preston, Richard. The Hot Zone. 1994.
Priestley, J. B. The Doomsday Men. 1938.
Prior, Ann. The Sky Cage. 1967.
Reck-Malleczewen, Friedrich. Bockelson: History of a Mass Delusion. 1937.
Robinson, Kim Stanley. Science in the Capital trilogy. 2004–7.
Robinson, Kim Stanley. The Ministry for the Future. 2020.
Rooney, Sally. Beautiful World, Where Are You. 2021.
Roshwald, Mordecai. Level 7. 1959.
Seuss, Dr. The Butter Battle Book. 1984.
Seuss, Dr. The Lorax. 1972.
Shanks, Edward. The People of the Ruins. 1920.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 1818.
Shelley, Mary. The Last Man. 1826.
Shiel, M. P. The Purple Cloud. 1901.
Shiel, M. P. The Yellow Danger. 1898.
✔️Shute, Nevil. On the Beach. 1957.
Silverberg, Robert. "When We Went to See the End of the World." 1972.
Sinclair, Upton. The Millennium. 1924.
Smith, Dodie. The Starlight Barking. 1967.
Spohr, Carl W. The Final War. 1932.
Stapledon, Olaf. Last and First Men. 1930.
✔️Stewart, George R. Earth Abides. 1949.
Stoker, Bram. Dracula. 1897.
Stone, George. Blizzard. 1977.
Sutphen, Van Tassel. The Doomsman. 1906.
Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels. 1726.
Train, Arthur C. and Robert W. Wood. The Man Who Rocked the Earth. 1915.
✔️Vidal, Gore. Kalki. 1978.
Vonnegut, Kurt. Breakfast of Champions. 1973.
Vonnegut, Kurt. Cat’s Cradle. 1963.
Vonnegut, Kurt. Fahrenheit 451. 1953.
Vonnegut, Kurt. Galápagos. 1985.
✔️Vonnegut, Kurt. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. 1965.
Vonnegut, Kurt. Player Piano. 1952.
✔️Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five. 1969.
Vonnegut, Kurt. Timequake. 1997.
Wells, H. G. A Modern Utopia. 1905.
Wells, H. G. Apropos of Dolores. 1938.
Wells, H. G. The Island of Dr. Moreau. 1896. (filmed as Island of Lost Souls)
✔️Wells, H. G. The Time Machine. 1895.
✔️Wells, H. G. The War in the Air. 1908.
Wells, H. G. The War of the Worlds. 1898.
Wells, H. G. The World Set Free. 1914.
Whitehead, Colson. Zone One. 2011.
✔️Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. 1891.
Wilhelm, Kate. Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang. 1976.
Wilson, John. The City of the Plague. 1816.
Wolfe, Bernard. Limbo. 1952.
Wright, S. Fowler. Deluge. 1928.
Wylie, Philip. After Worlds Collide. 1934.
Wylie, Philip. Gladiator. 1930.
Wylie, Philip. The End of the Dream. 1972.
Wylie, Philip. Tomorrow!. 1954.
Wylie, Philip. Triumph. 1963.
Wyndham, John. The Chrysalids. 1955.
✔️Wyndham, John. The Day of the Triffids. 1951.
✔️Wyndham, John. The Kraken Wakes. 1953.
Wyndham, John. The Midwich Cuckoos. 1957.
Short Stories
Anderson, Poul, and F. N. Waldrop. "Tomorrow's Children." 1947.
Asimov, Isaac. "Runaround." 1942.
Austin, S., Jr. "The Comet." 1839.
Ballard, J. G. "Billennium." 1960.
Ballard, J. G. "The Dead Astronaut." 1968.
Ballard, J. G. "The Secret Autobiography of J.G.B." 2009.
✔️Ballard, J. G. "The Terminal Beach." 1964.
Benét, Stephen Vincent. "By the Waters of Babylon." 1937.
Benét, Stephen Vincent. "Nightmare Number Three." 1935.
Bester, Alfred. "Adam and No Eve." 1941.
✔️Bierce, Ambrose. "Moxon's Master." 1899.
Binder, Eando. "I, Robot." 1939.
✔️Bradbury, Ray. "The Million-Year Picnic." 1946.
Bradbury, Ray. "The Silent Towns." 1949.
✔️Bradbury, Ray. "There Will Come Soft Rains." 1950.
Brown, Fredric. "Answer." 1954.
Butler, Samuel (as Cellarius). "Darwin Among the Machines." 1863.
Cartmill, Cleve. "Deadline." 1944.
Clarke, Arthur C. "Dial F for Frankenstein." 1965.
Clarke, Arthur C. "The Nine Billion Names of God." 1953.
del Rey, Lester. "Helen O'Loy." 1938.
Dick, Philip K. "Autofac." 1955.
Dick, Philip K. "The Defenders." 1953.
Dick, Philip K. "To Serve the Master." 1956.
Ellison, Harlan. A Boy and His Dog. 1969.
✔️Ellison, Harlan. "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream." 1967.
Griffith, George. "A Corner in Lightning." 1898.
Heinlein, Robert. "Solution Unsatisfactory." 1941.
✔️Hoffmann, E. T. A. "The Sandman." 1816.
Hood, Thomas. "The Last Man." 1826.
✔️Jacobs, W. W. "The Monkey's Paw." 1902.
Jefferies, Richard. "The Great Snow." 1875.
Jones, Raymond F. "Pete Can Fix It." 1947.
Kavan, Anna. "High in the Mountains." 1970.
Kelleam, Joseph E. "Rust." 1939.
Lem, Stanisław. "How the World Was Saved." 1974.
London, Jack. "The Unparalleled Invasion." 1910.
Matheson, Richard. "The Last Day." 1953.
✔️Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion" ("The Destruction of the World"). 1839.
✔️Poe, Edgar Allen. "King Pest." 1835.
✔️Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Masque of the Red Death." 1842.
Silverberg, Robert. "When We Went to See the End of the World." 1972.
Sturgeon, Theodore. "Thunder and Roses." 1947.
Swift, Jonathan. "A True and Faithful Narrative..." 1732.
Venable, Lynn. "Time Enough at Last." 1953.
Vonnegut, Kurt. "EPICAC." 1950.
Vonnegut, Kurt. "Report on the Barnhouse Effect." 1950.
✔️Wells, H. G. "The Star." 1897.
Wells, H. G. "The Stolen Bacillus." 1894.
Wylie, Philip. "Blunder: A Story of the End of the World." 1946.
Wylie, Philip. "The Paradise Crater." 1945.
Wyndham, John (as John Beynon). "Judson's Annihilator." 1939.
Poems
Benét, Stephen Vincent. "Nightmare Number Three." 1935.
Browning, Robert. "The Last Ride Together." 1855.
Byron, Lord. "Darkness." 1816.
Byron, Lord. "Don Juan." 1823.
Campbell, Thomas. "The Last Man." 1823.
Donne, John. "What If this Present Were the World's Last Night?" c. 1609.
✔️Eliot, T. S. "The Hollow Men." 1925.
✔️Eliot, T. S. The Waste Land. 1922.
✔️Frost, Robert. "Fire and Ice." 1920.
Hood, Thomas. "The Last Man." 1826.
Howe, Julia Ward. "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." 1862.
Jeffers, Robinson. "Roan Stallion." 1925.
✔️Lowell, Robert. "Fall 1961." 1964.
MacLeish, Archibald. "The End of the World." 1926.
Noyes, Alfred. The Last Man. 1940.
Shakespeare, William. Julius Caesar. 1599.
Shakespeare, William. King Lear. c. 1606.
Shelley, Percy Bysshe. "Mont Blanc." 1816.
✔️Shelley, Percy Bysshe. "Ozymandias." 1818.
Shelley, Percy Bysshe. "Peter Bell the Third." 1819.
Teasdale, Sara. "There Will Come Soft Rains." 1918.
Turner, Frederick. The New World: An Epic Poem. 1985.
Wigglesworth, Michael. The Day of Doom. 1662.
Williams, William Carlos. "Asphodel, That Greeny Flower." 1955.
Wilson, John. The City of the Plague. 1816.
✔️Yeats, W. B. "The Second Coming." 1920.
Plays
Beckett, Samuel. Endgame. 1957.
Beckett, Samuel. Play. 1963.
Britton, Lionel. Brain. 1930.
Čapek, Karel. Bílá nemoc (The White Disease/Power and Glory). 1937.
Čapek, Karel. R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots). 1920.
Kraus, Karl. The Last Days of Mankind. 1918.
Madách, Imre. The Tragedy of Man. 1861.
Nichols, Robert and Maurice Brown. Wings Over Europe. 1928.
Ridenour, Louis N. Pilot Lights of the Apocalypse. 1946.
Soyfer, Jura. Der Weltuntergang (The End of the World). 1936.
Wilder, Thornton. Our Town. 1938.
Jay
10 June 2025