Decline of the City & Depopulation

The decline of the City is one of the main themes in this novel. Many reasons contribute to this decline. Foremost is the threat of an atom bomb being dropped, which makes people move to the country so that less people will die if a nuclear war does happen. With the development of the family helicopter that is run by atomic power, people no longer have to live near their jobs. Atomic energy makes it reasonable to live where you want, as well as build a house that is self-sufficient.

Robots also do much of the work as far as service jobs, so man is becoming able to do as he pleases. Advanced communications also let humans contact anyone, anywhere without even going there. Considering this novel was written in the 1950s, it almost seems as if Simak anticipated what the computer was going...