Why read Death from the Skies!?

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

Book description

With wit, humor, and an infectious love of astronomy that could win over even the science-phobic, this fun and fascinating book reminds us that outer space is anything but remote. The scientist behind the popular website badastronomy.com, Philip Plait presents some of the most fearsome end-of-the-world calamities (for instance, incoming…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Death from the Skies! as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Martin Elvis

Author

From the first sentence–“The Universe is trying to kill you”–this book grabbed my attention.

I thought astronomy was a peaceful, detached pursuit. Awe-inspiring but remote from my everyday life. Umm, no. Phil Plait amazed me with all the ways the universe is hostile to life (that is, to me).

From Martin's list on The best books on space mining.

Tom Evans

Author

This is not a fiction book per se but each chapter sets out a possible future, in a story-like form, of how life as we know it might be terminated on Earth. We know for a fact that mass extinctions have happened before but this time, we may well have the smarts to do something about it. This book inspires us to look up not down and marvel at the cosmos that made us but that also might unmake us. It is a clarion call for us to become planetary caretakers, rather than planetary abusers.

From Tom's list on The best books on the future of the human race.