2:19 Bocaccio, Giovanni. 1353. decameron 2:53 Chaucer, Geoffrey. 14th cent. the pardoner's tale 3:27 Poe, Edgar Allen. masque of the red death 4:28 london, jack. 1912. the scarlet plague 5:00 king, stephen. the stand 5:17 cook, robin. outbreak 5:34 kaufman, amie; kristof, Jay. illuminae 6:11 camus, albert. 1947. the plague 6:28 matheson, richard. 1954. i am legend 6:55 mandel, emily st john. 2014. station eleven 7:56 brooks, max. world war z 8:36 .walking dead 9:06 .pride and prejudice and zombies 9:09 marion, isaac. warm bodies 9:25 corey, james s. a. expanse series 9:41 card, orson scott. Ender series 10:35 scalzi, john. lock in series

This stresses me out that there's wild Lindsay Ellis content roaming around out there that I'm not seeing because it's on random channels that the algorithm deems out of my circle.

Because Lindsay was not in front of a green screen here, I half expected her to pull out a drink. lol.

“Boy, those books got squirrelly.” Understatement of the century.

In the future, zombie movies will be judged unrealistic if there isn't a large number of people who walk straight toward the shambling horde while insisting that the slackers get back to work so they can buy a latte.

I love how Lindsay has her book, Axiom's End, on the shelf beside her.

Lindsey Ellis and Dr. Emily Zarka in the same video is the best thing that's ever happened on this channel, also really fascinating video! This subject has been on my mind and I'm glad someone else has done the research.

Hey that book on the shelf "Axioms End" that sounds interesting, wonder who that could be by...

"...aaaand zombies, let's tag in Dr. Z!" That was pretty great. I really love the different voice each of the writer/presenters brings to the channel, but it'd also be awesome to see that happen occasionally in the future where the topic crosses into one another's areas of expertise.

wrote it up for myself figured i'd share: mentioned books -- illness as metaphor - susan sontag (scholarly book) the decameron - giovanni boccaccio the pardoner’s tale - the canterbury tales - geoffrey chaucer the masque of the red death - edgar allan poe the scarlet plague - jack london the stand - stephen king outbreak - robin cook the hot zone - richard preston (nonfiction) illuminae - amie kaufman and jay kristoff the plague - albert camus i am legend - richard matheson station eleven - emily st. john mandel world war z - max brooks the zombie survival guide - max brooks the walking dead pride and prejudice and zombies warm bodies - isaac marion the expanse series - james s.a. corey ender series - orson scott card lock in (series) - john scalzi

I cringed so hard when you dabbed. Well done. :>

7:57 I was today old when I learned that Max Brooks is Mel Brooks' son. Did anyone else see the glorious video of him social distancing with his dad on Twitter?

Thank you for using stills of Vincent Price in "The Last Man on Earth" to illustrate the bit on "I Am Legend". Of the three movie adaptations so far, that one adheres closest to the actual book. Plus, it's got Vincent Price!

One of my favorite 'plague' books is 'No Blade of Grass' by John Christopher. It explores a plague, not visited upon people, but on our food supply - specifically wheat, rice and other grains.

As we say in Spanish, "la realidad supera a la ficción." [Reality surpasses fiction.]

I see that Hard Copy of "Axiom's End" up there on the shelf. Congratulations!

This was so good! Also, I know I wasn’t the only one eyeing all of the books on the bookshelves.

It took reading the comments to realize this is Monstrum and not Lindsay’s normal channel. 😂

First off, I've met Max Brooks. Really sweet and hilarious guy. Second, great exploration. May have given me an idea for a story of my own. I think I'll go share this now.

"Boy those books got squirrely..."I'm glad to find out that I'm not the only Science Fiction fan who feels exactly that same way about that series.

"Boy those books got squirrelly." I like your phrasing. I'm going to start using that to describe all the other series I've read that start out interesting and then.. get... squirrelly.

The hard cover book The Stand could be used for home defense. You hit somebody in the head with that they're going to go down and stay down.

I see that AniMorphs book on your shelf Lindsay ;P

I am shocked that José Saramago's "Blindness" was not cited here.

"...what a time to be alive". sarcasm meter breaking records with that line XD

When one your subsciptions crosses over into the other.

Now, two months after, some of these themes seem even more relevant than ever

"By the time the rest of the world figured out what was going on, it would be too late" 😢

Seeing Axiom's End on your bookshelf was not the book teaser I was expecting.

I know this is a very small nitpicky thing, but as a history student I can't let this pass. When Lindsay talked about the black death at 2:09, a map of 9th century Europe is shown. This is just not correct: 9th century Europe was a very different place from 14th century Europe and it is important to show the right map to give the correct context of the period in which that particularly devasting plague swept through Europe

Glad to see “I am Legend” - recommend “The Strain” and “Oryx and Crake” too.

I'm still not convinced that Not Dave Grohl is actually not Dave Grohl.

I've been thinking a lot about Station Eleven while just sat about doing nothing, it for me really captures the human stories that just end when such a large scale event happens.

"Infinite Jest" is next to "The Chronicles of Narnia" on Lindsay's left (viewers' right). I don't know how I feel about those two books being in such close proximity.

I was surprised to not see a mention of Connie Willis's "The Doomsday Book". The book follows a 23rd-century historian who goes back in time to research medieval Britain in the time before the Black Plague, but ends up being trapped in a village with no way to return back home when the Black Plague surprisingly arrives earlier than anticipated. In the meanwhile, a new influenza epidemic has stuck the Oxford of the "present day" 23rd-century, and the historical society our protaganist is from has to deal with the fallout of infections, quarantines, deaths, and the need to retain supplies and limited operations. I've been thinking a lot about that book during the current pandemic, and about how incredibly similar the effects of the outbreaks (moreso the 23rd century one than the Black Death one) in "The Doomsday Book" reflect the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic today. It really does a great job of showing the importance of strong management systems and the dangers of not knowing (or not being able to convince others) how diseases like this spread.

Can’t get enough of every kind of content that comes out of this channel, we’ll done and thank you so much

I'm sorry but did I just see the word "lit"? Wait, did she just dab?

Connie Willis' Doomsday Book has been on my mind a *lot* lately. It was a fave of mine even before this pandemic, and now it feels like I'm living through it.

This was wonderful! When I read a Guardian article about pandemic literature, I shared and mentioned how World War Z needed to be on the list. I am so glad you did this. I was also gratified to see the Walking Dead comics (not the TV show, though it isn't bad) make the list, as well. Graphic Novels have developed a wonderful literary sensibility, and the fact that they explore these issues, while appealing to younger audiences, means that more young people can grow up thinking about important societal issues, especially as those issues get cut out of the classroom, increasingly, in favor of standardized tests' bite-sized facts. The one reality we see with this pandemic is that too many people lack the ability to process information critically, instead accepting or rejecting it based upon their pre-existing political biases. I am not sure which work of fiction covers that, besides Brooks to a degree, but maybe there is room for yet another look at pandemics as a lens to understand yet another problematic social dynamic. Also, with regards to Brooks and "art imitating life." I am pretty sure he was well aware, besides the totalitarian aspect, that Chinese markets and farming practices are largely responsible for viruses transmitting to humans, as our annual flu season shows, so China was a no-brainer choice as a viral origin point.

“Did you ever think that the real monster might be man!” Geez, I am getting some super unwanted Ferngully flashbacks.

I found myself half-paying attention and half-examining Lindsay's bookshelf.

Even though not discussed, I do appreciate Feed being prominently displayed on the shelf. Though a more straightforward exploration of the pandemic genre, it captured a great deal of day-to-day behavior and politics in a post-outbreak world rather well.

"we have always survived, learned, and adapted" well. except for, yknow, the ones who die or are irreparably changed by it. i get the sentiment, but the point of a pandemic is that there are many who very much do not do that thing that is meant to give us hope.

Dr Z has a good voice for talking about things that should cause nightmares in a way that makes me want to listen as I drift off to sleep. Very soothing.

More Lindsay content! It’s exactly what we need to get us through all this!

I love seeing how art and life mirror each other.

My great-grandparents lived through the 1918 -1919 pandemic. I never met them but I sometimes wonder how they dealt with it. My great-grandfather served with the 372nd Infantry Regiment, 93rd Infantry Division US Army.

Here in November 2020 to say the best thing in my day was pausing to read your book titles and making the sentence "Shift the Wool Dust off Axiom's End".

I must have missed the memo that "It's Lit" had moved to a different channel.

I had a college class that was Feminism and Sci-fi and Station Eleven was one of our class reads. We started reading it....immediately after the lockdowns in March 2020. I have never related more to a novel

I got so excited when Lindsay mentioned Illumiane, that trilogy is one of the best scifi series I've ever read!

I see that Axiom's End copy on the shelf, Lindsey! Love it.

I haven't even watched the video yet, but the X-Wing novel on your shelf makes me happy. I'll click the like button just for that.

I’m surprised you didn’t bring up The Girl With All the Gifts

I've been working on a novel for years that begins at the end of pandemic. I was just getting really into it and writing a ton when an actual pandemic broke out. FML

I've missed you. :) to end this year in a lighter note, I have my lit students analyze film -- using your Guardians vid essay as a mentor piece. I don't expect them to edit a video (at best, a googleslide presentation after their analytical comp). thank you for being awesome. you're my "make literature lit" role model #getlit

My favourite non-plague plague novel is On The Beach where the radiation is coming and there is no way to stop it and everyone has to accept an inevitable death in their own way. Not cheerful but weirdly uplifting as everyone tries to find the best way for themselves to survive as people in a society until they chose their own end

This is the second pandemic I've survived, the first one was a lot worse as far as the actual illness. The Hong Kong flu was terrible and having had it, kind of makes this one seem inconsequential to me. Back in 1969, there was no lock down. No "social distancing", no "sheltering in place". And most importantly, NO social media. I believe it's that last one that is making this situation much worse than it really is.

Lindsay has "Feed" on her shelf, which is a really good hard science zombie story (its treated as an infectious disease requiring quarantine measures, etc) which hs been on my mind a lot recently

I had to keep rewinding because I kept looking at book titles.

Damn I thought this was Lindsay's channel for a second

Over a month old and the algorithm finally shows me this. Aside from that, in a twelve minute video covering pandemic and zombie lit, I was a little disappointed that the Newsflesh series by Mira Grant wasn't mentioned... especially since Feed is sitting on the shelf just over Lindsay's shoulder the whole time.

Another piece of pandemic literature not mentioned here is one of the world's first post-apocalyptic science fiction novels (or possibly the very first), "The Last Man" by Mary Shelley, the mother of science fiction. I haven't finished reading it, but it definitely shows that themes of plague and post-apocalyptic fiction have always gone hand in hand.

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker is a good book about an infection, although it’s not a pandemic because it’s restrained to one small town it’s a very good read! It doesn’t follow any one character but shows how scary it can be from the view a different people across various ages and stages of life.

I'm...distracted trying to figure out what Lindsay's possible decision-making process was that lead to her books being organized in that particular order...

I adore listening to Lindsay Ellis in these videos. It is an absolute delight to experience Lindsay’s intellectual humour and sarcasm.

Lindsay Ellis just dabbed.... Instant like.

I work in a bookstore that specializes in science fiction and fantasy books and looking at Lindsey's shelf and trying to understand the organisation is stressing me out. Scalzi between Buter and Corey and Kim Stanley Robinson in two different places... I need a tea and a lie down.

Me at 5:32: Is that Dave Grohl? PBS: "(NOT DAVE GROHL)"

surprised that Blindness by José Saramago wasn't mentioned! also super thematically relevant to this conversation about pandemic and societal breakdown

seeing that copy of Axiom's end in the background...... I want

Back in 2018, I wrote a Zombie Apocalypse story. The protagonists booked it out of the city - raiding a Bunnings or two on the way out - set up their own community within a hastily-built fortress, and waited for the Zombies to finish decomposing, while testing EVERYONE. The antagonists were Mad Max/Walking Dead wannabes who didn't believe in precautions. Sixteen months later, I am perversely amused at how on the money I was.

2:40 I appreciate the use of Debussy Nocturnes!

...I wasn’t expecting Lindsey, honestly idk what I was expecting bc I’ve never seen this channel before but that was a pleasant surprise.

A sadly under-recognized writer who explored a lot of these issues is John Christopher. He's best known for his YA novels, like the Tripod trilogy, but he wrote a few adult novels that are pretty chilling. The Death of Grass explored political responses and individual adaptability; Empty World is a YA novel that parallels Covid-19, but more extreme; The Possessors had elements of isolation, complacency, and denial, as well as the mutability of the threat. Even the Tripod series was about the same themes as many of the works discussed in this episode. I would love to see a video that discussed how these themes played out in earlier books and stories - John Christopher, Zenna Henderson, etc. Did I forget to say this was excellent? I really enjoy these videos. This one was great, even if I wish it had included John Christopher's works...

Axiom's End on the middle shelf. I see you, Lindsay!

6:08 - “ _French philosopher Albert Camus also used the pandemic as a vehicle to explore the "we live in a society-_ ” Must...resist..."rising up"...

By the way, the Feed series(I see it on the shelf) is really intriguing on how life went on after zombies. Limited numbers in stores, disinfecting, and testing before entrances. When this all started, the book made me think could this be our future? This series is my favorite because it explains why it happened and how they recovered.

I like that they used Vincent's last man on Earth over the other adaptations of I am Legend

I'm currently reading abbadon's gate from the expanse series , i started reading it because of the show ,witch i started watching because i kept hearing Kyle Hill (who is not a super villain ) go on and on about it , and now i see the series in your bookshelf and i'm so jelly ( i'm reading the e books )i can't wait for bookshops to be a thing again

Yay! James S.A. Corey books on the shelf and protomolecule intro. Great video.

That was a twelve full minutes of all the governance incompetence that have been shown for the past SIX months and gosh the BURN is REAL..... Ow if only we learnt from history and stories..... OUCH that's a stressful yet straight to the point episode

Illuminae! Yaaaaaaas! Spectacular series. Takes a bit to get used to the format, but so so so worth it.

Thanks for the Warm Bodies shout-out! Wish it happened under better circumstances...

Thanks for the words of encouragement, Lindsay. Sometimes we just need to hear that we're going survive this. :)

One of my favorites is Frank Herbert's ‚The White Plague‘.

I see Wool, Shift, and Dust on the shelf! I have tried to get so many people to read those to no avail. I have been curious as to the pandemics effect on the arts, so it's great to find your channel.

Thank for the video Lindsay. You touched upon a point I wish was better explored: Real-World plagues operate in a logic of their own, genetically-speaking. For us humans, especially those in the front-line of the combat, this isn't a war in which we are fighting another human. I think this is one of the struggles governments need to deal with: how do you go to "war" against something that doesn't act or respond in a way we are used to perceiving (like humans)? I think this is the closest real-life exercise we will ever get in terms of preparing ourselves for a scenario when we could find ourselves "against" something non-human in which we will need to defend against. And we notice our actions do not produce the desired effect because this entity simply doesn't react or think as we are expecting, because we're used to apply said tactics when dealing against other humans. It's a topic I wish was given more thought because it could very well be a future problem that warrants discussion today.

Ah....atlast a new Lindsay video.....have been binging on old videos throughout this lockdown, any new one is soooooo appreciated. Lol kinda surprised "It's lit" managed to persuade you to make one and that too on the pandemic. I hope you're doing fine though cause let's be honest, very difficult to do good these days.

How did KZfaq just now recommend this channel to me, I watched all of Linsay Ellis's videos on her main channel all the time, and to think all of this extra content of hers is in another deep dive video essay based channel!

Kind of wish you had talked about Mary Shelley's The Last Man

True Snark can only be elevated to an art, by one well versed in literature.

Love the side came across this through the KZfaqs and I find it fascinating

Oh, and for Super-prophetic, try "A song for a new day" by Sarah Pinsker. A plague and terror attack combo makes people avoid getting in groups, to the degree it becomes law. Everybody is socially distant all the time. Even riding the bus (it is now divided into little cubicles that don't share air) or restaurants (all booths … that don't share air).

Hi Lindsay--always enjoy your work! However, a factual correction: The first recorded appearance of the Bubonic plague was NOT in the 14th century, but in 542 during the reign of Emperor Justinian. There is some discussion among historians as to whether this pandemic was the death knell for the Western Roman Empire.

Speaking of a pandemic movie with vampires, I also like Daybreakers (2010).

I spent most the video looking at the books on her shelf. Awesome to see the Darth Bane trilogy! 😊

Always love the amount of research you do for your videos. Great work

You know with all these literature on past plagues ,you would of thought mankind would of learn by now .Great video guys.

Those titles behind you! I have half of them in my library. The information about the second and third tier deaths is sadly true (just read about the large increase in non-COVID deaths attributed to people not going to hospital). And the Max Brooks quote at the end is horrifyingly accurate (I wanted to say prophetic but the fact that the military /prepared/ for this so many years ago adds the horror).