The Drowned World, by J.G. Ballard

I wouldn't say that J.G. Ballard was prescient when he wrote this immersive, atmospheric and psychologically interesting story. True, the planet had flooded due to a 90 foot rise in sea levels and, true, the cause was heating. But the rise in temperature was due to increased solar activity and not due to a compositional imbalance of atmospheric carbon. Nevertheless, what is interesting is the resemblance to one of the great tales written in the past 150 years - Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad (I think I wrote a little about this a few years ago). OK,  Ballard doesn't command the language like Conrad (who does?) but Ballard's tale takes the conceit of man returning to an "earlier" nature and wraps it in a fantastic world of iguanas, submerged cities, jungles and survival. Kerans is a doctor/scientist on a military expedition sent from the Arctic, the last place one may live comfortably on Earth, to document/chart/analyze the climate and the changing world. The bad guy, Strangman, is an albino privateer whackadoo piloting a hydroplane trailed by a paparazzi of crocodiles. Mirroring the Conrad story, Strangman represents the intrusive outside world much as Marlowe, the company man, meets Kurtz. However, the physical presence and mental imbalance of Conrad's Kurtz is wrapped up in Strangman, the intruder, what with his physical bearing, grandiosity, otherworldliness, charisma and seeming insanity. Strangman wants to recreate the lost world or, at least, acquire as much of its treasure as possible. His depot ship carries looted treasure from museums; he drains the lagoon and sets his minions loose on the exposed city streets of London, lost 90 years ago to the rising tides. Kerans, on the other hand, is the cerebral, introspect, who is being sucked back in time, manipulated psychologically much as Conrad's Kurtz, down an evolutionary slide, to a triassic world long before humans where the sun beats rhythmically in his head and the heat and water explode in lush cascades of tropical flora, insects and lizards. I love walking in the woods, running in the snow and, generally, being outside. In many ways this story resonates with me.