Looking for a sci-fi book from the 60s or early 70s

May 5, 2021 2:49 PM

A co-worker is trying to figure out the name of a science fiction book they read in the early 70s in paperback. In it, due to a nuclear war, people moved underground. Then, after time past, they came back to the surface, but had to start mining old landfills for resources like copper. Any ideas what the book might be?
posted by drezdn to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

Could it be the City Underground by Suzanne Martel?
posted by DTMFA at 3:15 PM on May 5, 2021 [1 favorite]

It might be Riddley Walker. The synopsis talks about salvaging metals.
posted by Oyéah at 6:48 PM on May 5, 2021 [1 favorite]

Wikipedia has a list of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, which might be helpful. If you sort the table by Format, the novels start about halfway down the page, listed in order of publication date. I've clicked through to the pages for most of the "War" novels from the 1960s and '70s, and nothing's leapt out as likely, but that's not to say it's not there.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 6:04 AM on May 6, 2021 [1 favorite]

It's one story from a collection published in the '70's, but this makes me think of I See a Man Sitting on a Chair, and the Chair Is Biting His Leg though they're not precisely mining landfills for copper. The various covers can be seen on its ISFDB entry.
posted by Zed at 9:50 AM on May 11, 2021