Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Book Bites: The Ends of the World

The Ends of the World: Supervolcanoes, Lethal Oceans, and the Search for Past ApocalypsesThe Ends of the World: Supervolcanoes, Lethal Oceans, and the Search for Past Apocalypses by Peter Brannen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It takes skill to write a hopeful, entertaining book chronicling Earth’s extinction events. Even with a glut of specific geological jargon--Devonian, Orodivician, Cambrian--not to mention various fossils, the language never feels heavy. Brannen manages to convey the thesis of each extinction level event in simple yet engaging terms, putting each in perspective to our current warming planet. While one would expect talk of warming planets and extinction to be a massive downer, The Ends of the World keeps to the science and steers clear of doomsaying and despair. It’s a fascinating book, a kind of user guide to planet Earth, that leaves its reader, funny enough, on a hopeful note.

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