Death from the Skies!

July 14, 2008
Plait, an astronomer and author of the popular Web site badastronomy.com, presents “in loving detail” the many, many ways the human race could die, from temperature extremes and poisonous atmosphere to asteroid impacts and supernovae explosions. Such a state of destruction existed some 65 million years ago, when a giant meteoroid struck Earth, sending up so much flaming debris that “the whole planet caught fire” and the dinosaurs were wiped out. Solar flare activity could bring on another Ice Age. Worse yet would be a gamma ray burster, a collapsed star whose radiation would be comparable to detonating “a one-megaton nuclear bomb over every square mile of the planet.” Plait discusses insatiable black holes, the death of the Sun and cannibal galaxies—including our own. Balancing his doomsday scenarios with enthusiastic and clear explanations of the science behind each, Plait offers a surprisingly educational and enjoyable astronomical horror show, including a table listing the extremely low odds of each event occurring. He gives readers a good scare, and then puts it in context. Illus.

Starred review from August 15, 2008
Plait ("Bad Astronomy") runs the popular blog BadAstronomy.com and is a former astronomy professor. Here, he describes the myriad ways that astronomical events could end life on Earth. These include comet and asteroid impacts, massive solar flares, supernova explosions, gamma-ray bursts, black holes, diseases of extraterrestrial origin, the eventual death of the sun, and the wobbly orbit of the sun around our galaxy that could expose us to cosmic rays. Plait does not sensationalize our planet's demise and admits that only the death of the sunand eventually the universeis certain. His keen ability to select the best analogies makes difficult cosmological concepts clear, and his witty prose makes for a good read. Plait even outlines a scheme to save Earth when the sun eventually becomes a red giantby using gravity assists to move the planet farther out in the solar system. Untold eons from now, the universe will be empty and dark and even matter will decay, leaving nothing. Highly recommended for all popular science collections in public and academic libraries.Jeffrey Beall, Univ. of Colorado Denver Lib.

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2008
Fans of disaster-from-space movies such as Deep Impact or Armageddon, or of science-fiction novels like Lucifers Hammer, will definitely want to check out this lively yet also rather scary book by a noted astronomer and creator of the clever Web site badastronomy.com. The book is basically a catalogue of astronomical catastrophes that could wipe out life on earth: asteroids, comets, supernovae, black holes, aliens, even our friendly sun. According to Plait, it is virtually inevitable that something will happen, perhaps not in the not-so-distant future, to kill us alldont forget, its already happened once, 65 million years ago (remember the dinosaurs?), and there have been several recent near misses. The thing to do is stop worrying about inevitabilities and start planning for them: find ways, for example, to turn asteroids off course before they hit us. The book is extremely informative: Plait explains not only what can destroy the planet but also how it would happen. Its a crash course in astronomy as well as a cautionary tale about the (possibly brief) future of our world.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)