The Day of the Triffids Paperback – January 1, 2003

This is one of my favorite EOTWAWKI novels, along with 'The Kraken Wakes', 'Alas Babylon' and 'Earth Abides'. Unfortunately, the publisher has seen fit to edit out much of the color and detail that makes this such an entertaining read.In reading this, I'd come to a section where I was sure there was more, and when I compared the Kindle version to my 1983 Paperback UK Penguin edition, all too often I was correct.Quite frankly, it's like expecting Jolt Cola and getting Diet Pepsi , and I am sorely disappointed.That all said, this is still a good read, especially from a cultural anthropology viewpoint (the morals and mores of the late 1950s), but for $9.99 I expect to get the original and unexpurgated version as was originally written by John Wyndham.I love the Kindle, but you may wish to obtain the unabridged paperback version for the best experience (see attached photo for cover illustration of best [IMO] version).

I recall seeing the B&W film version as a kid on the channel 9 '4:30 Movie' as a pre-teen, living in NJ. All I remember is a bunch of tall plants pushing menacingly up against a fence, and the select few human survivors fighting them with steely-eyed, lantern-jawed precision - and flame throwers. Other than that, nothing sticks. So I decided to 'gamble the stamp' and throw caution to the wind, and purchased this pre-movie novel.And I was quite pleased that I did.Rather than an all-out, blow-by-blow apocalyptic 'thriller' - where everything gets 'blowed up real good', this is more a well-paced tale of a series of events that result in the systematic death of - I suppose - 99% of humanity. The book moves apace more through the existential and practical obstacles that must be carefully considered and rather quickly planned out and (hopefully) overcome. At times deeply introspective, at times a sociological study on what the masses would (or may) result to in such a calamitous, cataclysmic event - the various stumbling-blocks and untested troubles and the various character's willful innovations and make-do spur-of-the-moment striving and grasping for methods to survive are presented in realistic, hard-scrabble desperate fights against foes thus far unseen and unknown to mankind throughout history.... I can recommend this book - especially on Kindle (Great Price!).Now to hunt down the movie version and see how it measures up some 55 years after being made.

Let me start by saying: I’ve heard of books being “dated” (which this is), but I had never heard of one being “too british”… But this book’s “britishness” almost made it unreadable for me. I actually had to call in John Gielgud for a narration assist on occasion. And this is the AMERICANIZED VERSION (yes, there are two versions), so you can just imagine. As for the story, it’s a bit “Last Man on Earth” meets “28 Days Later”. And it’s a pretty interesting and ok story, especially good for its time. It has quite a bit of symbolism and allusion - with the usual wisdom and warnings from its particular dystopian misadventure. Namely, don’t let the seeds of infiltration and corruption grow unchecked, lest you lose everything and become blind monsters yourself. (And PS: Stop messing with Mother Nature. Your lab is in her hab.)

This science fiction classic has aged remarkably well. It is not quite so groundbreaking or sweeping as George Stewart's "Earth Abides" but like that bellwether and progenitor of post-apocalyptic fiction, Wyndham's slimmer novel has a deep thoughtfulness and an observant eye for human behavior. Likewise, its deconstruction of modern civilization is less bombastic and more realistic than 21st century entertainment likes to project. In "The Day of the Triffids," an astronomical event strikes most of the earth blind (humans and other animals alike). At first (and as a first time reading this novel having never watched any of its myriad live action iterations) I found myself a bit confused, thinking that the eponymous triffids must have something directly to do with the astronomical event. But it soon became clear that the triffids predated the events outlined in the book, with them being something of a curiosity and mystery -- three-pronged carnivorous plants with the ability to move. As we come upon our narrator, Bill, we find that these plants have spread across the earth but that they are generally herded and controlled by humans, who currently see them as mildly hazardous (but only if ignored). But once humanity is struck blind, the triffids seem to have their day (per the title, which might better be Era of the Triffids or Rise of the Triffids), humans cannot see them coming, cannot continue to cultivate and hobble them, and coupled with the general breakdown of society, the coming years see infestations grow. Despite this, the main thrust of the book is really Bill's experiences post world blindness as one of the handful who luckily retained his sight by failing to watch the astronomical event. His background as a biologist working with triffids means he has some inkling of their capacities, but most of the book is more about his view of societal dissolution and the small bands of humans building new lives. Through him we see a number of groups with disparate approaches, giving Wyndham the opportunity to comment on what underpins civilization and the vagaries of human nature. All in all, it is a successful book, with the good, bad, and ugly of humanity on full display. The triffids, while a major force in the new world, perhaps do not deserve the headline treatment of the title. Still, a good read for SF lovers who enjoy visiting the foundations of the genre.

I first read `The Day of the Triffids` more than 40 years ago, and loved it. Since then I have read it roughly once a year, and find it as newly interesting, exciting and terrifying as I did the first time. Since it was published, in December 1951, there have been numerous books, stories and films which have taken the basic premise of small groups of survivors in a doomsday scenario, and recounted their struggles for survival, but so very few have reached the masterliness of John Wyndham. His style of matter-of-fact understatement is very beguiling, as he details the story of a young man awakening in a strangely silent city-centre hospital, his eyes bandaged after a near fatal triffid sting. Today is the day the bandages come off, but where are the doctors and nurses who should be doing this? After a futile journey across a room he has never seen before, which results in strange shouts and shrieks, Bill Masen, our hero, tentatively removes the dressings on his eyes, and looks out upon a nightmare world in which it seems every other person has gone blind, and the once amazingly useful, but now quite deadly triffids are on the hunt for food....The writing style is not as modern as, say Lee Child, or, Kim Stanley Robinson, but it flows, smoothly mundane, from one horror to another, giving the reader the sense of shock that the protagonist feels as he fumbles his way around a world totally and terrifyingly unrecognisable from the day before. I thoroughly recommend this novel, and indeed, all the works of John Wyndham. Enjoy.

When Bill Masen wakes up in hospital, he’s surprised that none of the nurses have been along to get him up and ready for the day. It’s to be a big day – the bandages that have covered his damaged eyes for a week are due to be removed and Bill will find out if he can see. He missed the big meteor shower last night – amazing green streaks shooting across the sky in a wonderful light-show – but most everybody else in the world had watched them. Bill is about to discover he’s one of the lucky few...Gosh, I had forgotten just how brilliant this book is! I’m sure everyone has an idea of the basic story even if they’ve never read it or seen a film adaptation, because it’s one of those books that has become a cultural reference point for so much later literature and film. When Bill removes his bandages, he discovers that the vast majority of people have been blinded by the lights in the sky. Only a small number of people like himself who, for various reasons, didn’t see them have retained their sight. It’s a tale of survival in a world turned suddenly dystopian. And with the breakdown of society, the strange walking plants known as triffids have been set free to prey on a suddenly vulnerable humanity.First published in 1951 and set in a future not far distant from that date, it’s one of the finest examples of the science fiction books that grew out of Cold War paranoia. The world’s first nuclear bombs had been dropped just six years earlier, and the arms race between the US and the USSR was well underway, with each building up stocks of weapons which it was believed could destroy the world. Nuclear bombs were only part of that; Wyndham looks at another aspect, perhaps even more frightening – biological warfare, as scientists turned their brains and technology towards discovering new and horrific ways of destroying their nations’ enemies. Man hadn’t yet made it into space, but that achievement was on the near horizon, again as part of the race for superpower status between the two dominant military mights. And, in a seemingly more peaceful and benevolent manner, man was mucking about with nature in ways that were unprecedented – developing new plants, fertilisers and pesticides without much consideration of possible unintended consequences. All concerns that still exist, though we’ve perhaps become too blasé about them now, but that were fresh and terrifying as Wyndham was writing.The joy of this book is that the science horrors are more than balanced by an exceptionally strong human story, with excellent characterisation. On leaving the hospital where he woke up, Bill soon meets a young woman, Josella, also sighted. The book tells their story, and through them of the various ways in which humanity attempts to survive. Wyndham looks at questions of morality and society – should the sighted people try to save the blind, hopeless though that task will be given the huge disparity in numbers? Or should they try to save themselves and create a new world for their children? Should they form small communities or gather together to forge whole new societies? How should they go about preserving the knowledge of the past? What knowledge deserves to be preserved? What form of government should be recreated? Are marriage and monogamy appropriate in a severely depleted population or does childbirth take precedence over all else? What role does religion play in this new world? Now that the flesh-eating triffids vastly outnumber the sighted human population, will man remain in his position at the top of the food chain, or has his time passed?Josella has as strong a survival instinct as any of the men and an equal ability to adapt to new ways of living. She’s witty and amusing and occasionally a little wicked. She’s a true partner for Bill, rather than a pathetic encumbrance that he has to protect. She is, without exception, the best female character I can think of in science fiction of this era and indeed for decades to come. She feels utterly modern, as if she were written today. And Wyndham makes it clear this is no accident – he uses one of his characters to discuss the relative positions in society of men and women and how women’s perceived weakness has arisen out of convention – a convention that women have used to their advantage as much as men have to theirs. And he suggests strongly that if women want to be equal, they can be – they just have to decide that they will be and stop playing the feminine weakness card. A bit of tough love, perhaps, and the teensiest bit patronising, but... not bad at all for a man in the 1950s!For those of you who automatically dismiss science fiction as not your kind of thing, I promise you this book – any of Wyndham’s books, in fact – will make you change your mind. The writing and characterisation is first-class, and the science is in there because we live in a world where science is important, and where it can be a force for either great good or annihilation of the species. Questions we should all be aware of and thinking about, and all packaged up in a fantastic story – it’s as much literary fiction as any other book that seeks to examine the “human condition” and, frankly, better than most. Great book!

Anyone who's over a certain age will remember the BBC adaptation of this novel which utterly terrified me as a child. Despite watching that TV series all those years ago though, this is the first time I've made it through this book. I seem to remember trying to read it as a child, and failing (probably too old for me).This time, however, I did enjoy reading the book, despite the fact that some aspects of the novel are dated (the hero's attitude to women very much places this book firmly in the 1950s), this is still a scary book about the end of civilisation as we know it and plants rising up to get their own back on all those pesky humans.I personally think this is a book that is better read as an adult - there is a moment in the text when the hero says that his main feeling about the end of civilisation is "relief". This would not make sense to a child, but to an adult who has been caught in the daily grind for God knows how many decades, I can completely relate to this. I can't think of the number of jobs I've had over the years where I've wished the world would end rather than have to go and do another shift/cope with the stress of another deadline.That said, it is hard to take ambulatory plants seriously as a threat - did they have Round Up in the 1950s?Still, on the whole, I enjoyed the book, and it's worth a read.

I’ve bought four of these Penguin Classic cloth bound books, spending £50. Each one of them had a sticker on the rear that when removed (they came off quite easily) took the fabric flocking off the outside and an outline of where the sticker was. I can’t use sticky stuff remover or anything with bleach as it will affect the fabric and I don’t believe anything will remove the outline. If it wasn’t so close to Christmas I would return them and ask for a refund but there isn’t enough time. I wonder if this is why they are on Amazon in the first place. Really disappointed

Pondering on the 2020 pandemic lockdown and the eerie silence of London without its bustle and strife, I thought it might be worth re-visiting this classic work - and it was.I had forgotten the poignant descriptions of a world changed forever and a frayed society coming to terms with a terrifying new status quo.Day of the Triffids has lost none of its chill and many of the episodes you could see replicating in a post COVID world - although thankfully not to such the exaggerated state that they are here.Cracking stuff from a master.