How It Ends: From You to the Universe
A scientific view of the apocalypse unfolds in this tour of terminations. An astronomer by trade, the author eventually addresses how the universe will chill down, but first he explains how you will chill down. Completing his discussion of death with a biological description of the inevitable, Impey tarries with commiserative commentary about its awful finality and with the ideas of technofuturists (or fantasists) for delaying or stopping the aging process. Also in peril of extinction is the entire human species, and Impey ambles through the ways that could happen (the march of natural selection; a close-by supernova explosion) before he proceeds to demolish hope in the endurance of terra firma. Because the sun’s bloat into a red giant star guarantees the earth’s demise, can’t humanity move its home to clement cosmic climes or take up residence on another planet? Theoretically possible, Impey replies, but ultimately futile in an eternally expanding universe in which every particle is fated to decay. Delivering bad news with a bemused touch, Impey entertains as he informs about the facts of life and death. --Gilbert Taylor