Countdown To Apocalypse: A Scientific Exploration Of The End Of The World (repost)

Get ready now. Everything ends eventually, and life as we know it must sooner or later wind down. Physicist Paul Halpern pursues eschatology from the merely global to the truly universal in Countdown to Apocalypse: A Scientific Exploration of the End of the World.

In this surprisingly lively, engaging book, Halpern examines the history of the end of the world (including the first wave of millennialism in the 10th century), potential doomsdays from nuclear war to global warming, and finally the inevitable collapse or dispersal of the universe itself. His explanations of the relevant physics are sparkling. Intriguingly, he is equally conversant in the important psychological factors motivating our interest and occasional strange behavior regarding the end. Tales of Heaven's Gate and Jonestown believers, and others more fortunate but no less deluded, pepper the all-too-real depictions of asteroid collisions, ozone holes, and the death of our sun. While it would be easy to wallow in despair, Halpern's consistently charming prose and optimistic turns keep the reader going eagerly from one awful scenario to the next. Sure, the end is near, but with a bit of luck and foresight, we should still have millions of years left to worry about it. –Rob Lightner

A guide to the myriad possibilities for cosmic apocalypse.

Inspired by the end of the millennium, celebrated science writer Paul Halpern tackles the fate of human civilization and our planet in this meditation on the end of the world. Beginning with the religious origins of the idea of apocalypse, Halpern shows how science has borrowed the metaphor to describe potential worldwide catastrophes. He spins out various scenarios for destruction, from nuclear war and global warming to a great flood and a new Ice Age. He argues that while human history will someday come to a close-even if we survived for billions of years, we would eventually face the end of the universe itself-in the meantime we have gained extraordinary control over our fate as a species. Faced with the power to steer our planet toward paradise or transform it into hell, he says, we must take steps to avoid those catalysts of apocalypse that are within our control.