Countdown To Apocalypse: A Scientific Exploration Of The End Of The World - Softcover

Halpern, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0738203580 ISBN 13: 9780738203584

Publisher: Perseus, 2000

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

Paul Halpern is a professor of physics at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, and the author of fifteen popular science books, most recently Einstein's Dice and Schrödinger's Cat. He lives near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Edition details

• Publisher: Perseus
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0738203580
• ISBN 13: 9780738203584
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 292