Notes from an Apocalypse

"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 *"