The Death of the Earth

1958 edition (publ. Denoel)
Author	J.-H. Rosny aîné
Original title	La Mort de la Terre
Translators	George E. Slusser (1978, 2012), Brian Stableford (2010)
Country	Belgium
Language	French
Genre	Science fiction, Adventure novel
Publisher	Arno Press (US), Black Coat Press (US), Wesleyan University Press (US)
Publication date	1910
Published in English	1978, 2010, 2012
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
ISBN	978-0-405-11020-7 (1978), ISBN 978-1-935558-35-4 (2010) & ISBN 978-0-8195-6945-5 (2012)
OCLC	774276672

The Death of the Earth (French: La Mort de la Terre) is a 1910 Belgian novel by J.-H. Rosny aîné.

Plot summary

In the far future, the Earth has become an immense, dry desert. Small communities of future humans, partially adapted to the harsher climate, survive united by the "Great Planetary" communications web. The means for human survival are rapidly diminishing beyond repair, with the remaining supplies of water failing or becoming increasingly hard to find. Along with this, a barely comprehensible form of life – "ferromagnetals" ("les ferromagnétaux") – have begun to develop and spread within and throughout the Earth itself.

The narrative focuses mainly on group of humans led by Targ, who at the beginning of the story is the "watchman" ("veilleur") of the Great Planetary.