Death from the Skies!: The Science Behind the End of the World

Media seems to love stories that involve some astronomical event that threatens wide-spread devastation. The problem is, they never really explain the very small odds of the event actually coming to pass. Philip Plait takes these gloom and doom headlines and humorously (and scientifically) places them in the right context in his book Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End... If you're interested in phenomena like death by gamma-ray bursts or black holes, you'll really enjoy this book (and learn quite a bit in the process). Contents: Target Earth: Asteroid and Comet Impacts Sunburn The Stellar Fury of Supernovae Cosmic Blowtorches: Gamma-Ray Bursts The Bottomless Pits of Black Holes Alien Attack! The Death of the Sun Bright Lights, Big Galaxy The End of Everything What, Me Worry? Acknowledgments Appendix index Plait starts off with things that could conceivably happen. The most likely is the impact of an asteroid on Earth. It's happened before, and it'll happen again. But rather than just bemoan the inevitability of this event, he examines common (and not so common) ways that we might be able to prevent the impact, given enough forewarning. The Hollywood-inspired "blow it up with an atomic bomb" not only turns out to be risky, but there's a very good chance that it would have absolutely no effect whatsoever. On the other hand, it could be very feasible to use a orbiting satellite of a sufficient mass to affect the gravity pull of the asteroid and alter the course just enough that it bypasses earth. He escalates the doomsday scenarios up to the ultimate death of the entire universe. Granted, we're dealing with a lot of conjecture and numbers so large as to boggle the mind, but he does a good job in explaining the strange science that comes into play when quantum physics enters the picture. Of course, by this time, your measly 70 year lifespan wouldn't even register as a nanosecond on the timeline of the universe. Had this been just raw, hard-core science writing, I don't think it would have much appeal except to other astrophysicists. But Plait injects humor and images to allow those of us without his technical background to at least begin to grasp the possibilities and realities of red supergiants and black holes. Don't let the B-movie sci-fi title fool you into thinking this is something less than it is... a solid scientific (and fun) look at the hostile universe in which we live.

I can't praise this book enough! This gifted author, a renowned astronomer, discusses the various ways in which our world could end due to catastrophes of a cosmological/astrophysical nature. In order to do this, he must explain the scientific principles involved and relate them to the ways in which we could meet our end - in morbid detail. For all of these events, probabilities are given regarding their possibly occurring during our own lifetimes, as well as whether any are actually preventable. The prose is simply outstanding; it leaves the reader breathless! The author's passion and excitement for his subject matter are quite contagious. Not only is the writing style clear and authoritative, but it's also immensely accessible. Using wit, humor, excellent analogies and everyday language, the author weaves each potential disaster tale in such a way that both general readers and scientists alike can relish them. Reading this book is the most pleasant way that I can think of for learning of human-race-annihilating disasters. This book can be enjoyed by anyone!

The book is quite a roller coaster ride that takes you through all the many ways that the universe can kill us. Yet, the author, Dr. Philip Plait masterfully explains the many concepts with wit and humor rarely encountered in todays popular science books. Even those who have a decent background in astronomy can find facts and information that are absolutely novel to their thinking. Plait echoes the spirit of Sagan with an approach that allows any lay reader to understand the ridiculously difficult concepts that must be simplified but not dumbed down. Moreover, the science in the book represents our very latest understanding about the cosmos. One very important fact that must be mentioned from the book is that there are many ways for the universe to kill us, but the two that are most likely to disrupt our lives are fully preventable and mitigable. There is absolutely no excuse for our ignorance regarding the next near Earth asteroid, or major coronal mass ejection/giant solar flare from destroying all that we've worked so hard to accomplish. This is the ultimate and greatest message of the book.

Finished Phil Plait's Death from the Skies. It is customary to drop the negatives later, but first for the negatives, to be be overwhelmed later by the positives and there are many positives: How many? Gobs! Negative Number One: I showed the cover of the book to my wife and asked her what she thought. Her reaction was "...sleazy, something out of the 1950's. You would expect to see something like that in a grocery store and I would walk right by it." My feelings are, with that cover, instead of the sun, it should have shown a scantily-clad girl with her left hand held up in horror as she saw this giant asteroid coming to destroy the earth. My wife asked who the publisher was. When I told her Penguin (Viking) she was dumbfounded. You would expect a dreadful (ghastly?) cover like this from El Schloko Press. But from Viking? Is the editor still working in journalism? If so, why? Negative Number Two: Phil Plait, Ph.D. Ph.D. in what? An earned doctorate? Why the Ph.D. on the cover and directly under the title inside. Credential and C.V.'s are usually placed on the book jacket or on a separate page titled "About the Author". Then his experience and education could have been spelled out. Those of us who know his background don't need the resume, but if I were picking up the book, I would wonder about the expertise of this guy. Negative Number Three: Dr. Plait writes smoothly and cleverly with a great deal of whimsy. But sometimes his cuteness belies the importance of what he is saying. Sometimes his excessive use of humor wipes away the seriousness of what he is saying. Negative Number Four: How about a glossary and bibliography? It would enhance the quality of this book. All these negatives? They pale in comparison to the quality of the writing and the facts. I love to catch Ph.D.'s making errors in math and facts. No bonehead errors here. This book is dead on. Just the facts ma'am. He covers the material thoroughly, yet neither dumbs it down nor makes it a grueling slog through a gauntlet of arcane facts shoveled in to make his case. This guy knows how to write. Science writers, astronomers, physicists take note and read how it should be done. I am really not surprised at the quality of his prose as I am a big fan of his "bad astronomy" website. I would strongly recommend this book in spite of its garish cover. It is fun to read and with Dr. Plait (he has a Ph.D.!) I always learn something new. I thank him for that. I have simultaneously been reading and highly recommend a book by Fred Adams and Greg Laughlin, The Five Ages of the Universe. Plait references the authors of that tome in Chapter 9 of his book. He acknowledges their fine book as he brings to a close his look at the future of the universe. Buy this book and throw away the dust jacket as you leave the store.

The author reviews just about every disaster of global proportions that this old universe has in store for us. This includes everything from impacts with space rocks, solar magnetic storms, gamma-ray bursts, and the ultimate fate from the expansion of the universe itself. While these and others are serious scenarios, the author maintains a cosmic wit as is demonstrated even in his section subtitles. For example, there's "Sirius Danger?," "The Hole Truth," and "Sunrise Sunset" which is of course followed by "Swiftly Flow the Days Millennia Eons." By the way, if you wade through all of the cosmic disasters (speaking of which disaster itself is derived from the Greek for 'bad star') you'll find in the end that you have learned a bit about almost every topic that I teach in my introductory astronomy classes. Note that there are not any color photographs, but you can find lots of those online or in any standard astronomy text. I'm sure that by only including black and white images, it helped keep down the book cost, which makes this volume reachable to a wider audience. I highly recommend the book as an enjoyable weekend read which can lead you to think, learn, and perhaps realize that there can be lots gained from analyzing doom and gloom scenarios, especially if you apply scientific reasoning, which includes critical thinking.