Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

In regards to post #58717, does anyone else think the reader might be looking for Ray Bradbury's 1950 novel The Martian Chronicles? I must admit that I am not much of a sci-fi fan so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the only book in that genre I have read which talks about "waves" of civilization. It seems to fit the questioner's timeline, but the title doesn't even sound like the word diabetes. Meh, just throwing the idea out there.

I just heard back from whatsthatbook. Here is what they said:

"I have had two ideas about this.

1. It could be Earth Abides by
George R. Stewart. The match isn't exact but the title is close enough
that this could have been the book your father saw.

2. It could be
something related to the Dune sequence and the character Paul Atreides."

I think I found it! (But you'll have to wait for the comment to post. And thanks for the clue that "abides" could be in the title.)