What does Post-Apocalyptic mean to you? And, as such...popular recommendations of those you have read?

Tks!

For me PA mean future world after the apocalypse or wars...

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Maze Runner by James Dashner
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Gone by Michael Grant
World War Z by Max Brooks
The Host by Stephenie Meyer
The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
Bar Code by Suzanne Weyn
Mockingbird by Walter Tevis
Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

The world after a life altering event of some kind.

My favorite book is

One Second After
by William R. Forstchen

The world after, not during, an apocalypse - the aftermath, rather than trying to survive the event itself (Mad Max not Dawn of the Dead). Society has fallen, now what happens next?

So I'd suggest the following, which raise interesting questions about what happens when it is all gone:

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr
The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The very first post-apocalyptic novel is on here - After London from 1885:
viewtopic.php?t=351794

[firewing]

Anything that continues after the world has a major meltdown of society as we know it.

2 old favorites: The Stand by Stephen King, Swan Song by Robert McCammon.

I am presently reading a trilogy which looks like it's going to be good: Without Warning is the first title, by John Birmingham. Here is a link to check out the books: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/john-birmingham/

I define an apocalypse as a phenomenon that completely disrupts the society of the time. For me, it's a very tangible thing, like a series of natural disasters, or yes, zombies. But it leaves society and mankind in general struggling to survive.
Actually, now that I think about it, what's most significant about an apocalypse is that it brings mankind down. That is, it brings us all down to subsistence and survival, living of the land, hunting etc. Well, not totally, but a post-apocalyptic world should and would certainly have such elements.

My favourite post-apocalyptic world book is Inhuman by Kat Falls.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13517617-inhuman?from_search=true
In a world ravaged by mutation, a teenage girl must travel into the forbidden Savage Zone to recover lost artifacts or her father’s life is forfeit.

America has been ravaged by a war that has left the eastern half of the country riddled with mutation. Many of the people there exhibit varying degrees of animal traits. Even the plantlife has gone feral.

Crossing from west to east is supposed to be forbidden, but sometimes it’s necessary. Some enter the Savage Zone to provide humanitarian relief. Sixteen-year-old Lane’s father goes there to retrieve lost artifacts—he is a Fetch. It’s a dangerous life, but rewarding—until he’s caught.

Desperate to save her father, Lane agrees to complete his latest job. That means leaving behind her life of comfort and risking life and limb—and her very DNA—in the Savage Zone. But she’s not alone. In order to complete her objective, Lane strikes a deal with handsome, roguish Rafe. In exchange for his help as a guide, Lane is supposed to sneak him back west. But though Rafe doesn’t exhibit any signs of “manimal” mutation, he’s hardly civilized . . . and he may not be trustworthy.

This is Post Apocalyptic :

• Farnham's Freehold by Robert A. Heinlein.
  It has aged less well than his other works but is still a must read if you like PA. If you've ever played the Fallout games (1-2, not sure about the recent ones), multiple references to it are spread through them.
  
• Dies the Fire by S. M. Stirling.
  First novel in the Ember series. The loss of modern technology was intriguing and original at the time.
  
• The War Against the Chtorr by David Gerrold.
  This series has been in hiatus for more than 20 years but it is still worth a read. It combines the PA and alien invasion genre with a unique take on it : the survivors have to fight invasive species from new micro-organisms to gigantic worms. Basically they fight against the "terraforming" of earth, and from the start it seems a lost cause.
  
• Wool by Hugh Howey.
  My most recent recommendation. Addictive tale of a closed community in a PA setting. Good characters and great prose.

[tb_instl]

I loved Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
and Slow Burn Series (6 books to date) by Bobby Adair
Slow Burn is really Really good.

[effstop]

I am now expanding p-a to include societal breakdowns not necessarily due to nuclear weapons - and then you get introduced to China Mieville

The MaddAddam trilogy by Margaret ATwood, particularly Oryx & Crake is excellent.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Legend, Prodigy, Champion by Marie Lu.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Legend, Prodigy, Champion by Marie Lu.

[LongandShort]

I loved reading the series The McClane Apocalypse by Kate Morris. Happy reading

Swan song by: Robert McGammon was fantastic, my all time favorite is , "Of ape and essence" by Alduos Huxley. I`ve always been a huge fan dystopian societies. Like 1984 George Orwell, seemingly followed along the same lines as post apocolyptic society

The Postman by David Brin. Not the awful film version.
The Last Gasp by Trevor Hoyle, not strictly post apocalypse but the lead up to the end of the world.
THe Road by Cormac McCarthy.