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Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End . . . | 
 enlarge | Author: Ph.d., Philip Plait
Publisher: Viking Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $16.25
You Save: $9.70 (37%)
New (32) Used (7) from $14.78
Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 10915
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.3
ISBN: 0670019976
Dewey Decimal Number: 520
EAN: 9780670019977
ASIN: 0670019976
Publication Date: October 16, 2008
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Product Description
A lively astronomy primer that uses cataclysmic scenarios to explain the universe s most fascinating events.
According to astronomer Philip Plait, the universe is an apocalypse waiting to happen But how much do we really need to fear from things like black holes, gamma-ray bursts, and supernovae? And if we should be scared, is there anything we can do to save ourselves? With humor and wit, Plait details the myriad doomsday events that the cosmos could send our way to destroy our planet and life as we know it. This authoritative yet accessible study is the ultimate astronomy lesson.
Combining fascinating and often alarming scenarios that seem plucked from science fiction with the latest research and opinions, Plait illustrates why outer space is not as remote as most people think. Each chapter explores a different phenomenon, explaining it in easy-to-understand terms, and considering how life on earth and the planet itself would be affected should the event come to pass. Rather than sensationalizing the information, Plait analyzes the probability of these catastrophes occurring in our lifetimes and what we can do to stop them. With its entertaining tone and enlightening explanation of unfathomable concepts, Death from the Skies! will appeal to science buffs and beginners alike.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...
 Crash, Boom and Pop Astronomy October 18, 2008
Harold A. Geller (Fairfax, VA)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
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.
Mortality: It's Inevitable October 21, 2008
Thomas Young (Chico, CA)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
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.
 Poorly written but informative October 30, 2008
J. Jenkins (Toronto, Canada)
5 out of 21 found this review helpful
Unlike the other reviewers I was a little distracted by the silly writing style, described by others as 'whimsy' or 'breezy', I find it more sleazy journalistic or science-fiction. In fact for the author to quote star trek a few times is Ok, but to quote star wars? In comparison to very similar by subject books, 5 Ages of the Universe by Adams, and Martin Rees' book Our Final Hour, or John Leslie's End of the world, I think it compares quite unfavourably. In terms of scientific content alone, the last part of this book is actually taken from the 5 ages book, which the author freely admits, while a lot of the disaster scenarios he discusses are quite ridiculous, such as a black hole colliding with the earth-- surely this is so improbable as to be purely sci-fi, in the entire lifetime of the earth, hence not even worth discussing! The chapter-long discussion about solar flares is particularly disappointing in the tameness of the subject matter.
Particularly irritating for me is the overabundance of overoptimism regarding humanity-- i.e. there is no possibility of manmade disaster entertained whatsoever. He repeatedly states his belief that an intelligent species will not self-destruct although all evidence to date is to the contrary. To casually state that humanity will go on to colonize mars, other planets, galaxies, etc., with hundred percent certainty is not just silly, it's irresponsible in that people are invited to avoid thinking about the very real problems present today on the earth. Like most people (I think) I have zero conviction we will colonize any other planet than this one, and in fact this colonization has a fifty-fifty chance in failure.
So in summary I would strongly recommend people read the other three aforementioned books in preference to this one. Martin Rees' book in particular, was very measured and enlightening.
Death From the Skies makes you quite Wise October 26, 2008
Scythian Barbarian (Honolulu, HI)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
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.
 Death is really cool! Too bad? We won't see it. October 18, 2008
Stephen C. Burrows (Gaithersburg, MD)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Surprised to see Death arrive at the door a little early. Love the vignettes at the start of each chapter, then the explanation of what happened. Phil Plait explains the complex science in terms that everyone can understand, however, those with a little more scientific/mathematical knowledge still do not get bored. This was an enjoyable read.
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