SCIENCES

Earth-Shattering: Violent Supernovas, Galactic Explosions, Biological Mayhem, Nuclear Meltdowns, and Other Hazards to Life in Our Universe

by Bob Berman
Little, Brown. Feb. 2019. 320p. illus. notes. index. ISBN 9780316511353. $28; ebk. ISBN 9780316511339. SCI
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Astronomical disasters—whether past, present, or predicted—fascinate us, even if such events don't noticeably impact our individual lives. Astronomer Berman (Zapped: From Infrared to X-Rays, the Curious History of Invisible Light) flits through a sampling of cosmic cataclysms, ranging from the Big Bang to massive solar flares, examining the mechanisms of these destructive phenomena. Midbook, he meanders off track, dispatching the combined horrors of the Black Plague, the early 20th-century influenza pandemic, and World War II into shallow pages. Fortunately, he refocuses on the physical sciences, discussing infamous nuclear accidents, upcoming celestial incidents likely to inspire conspiracy and doomsday theories, and the predictable dismal fate awaiting all life forms on our home planet.
VERDICT Beyond Berman's fan base, popular science readers who don't mind frequently interspersed unrelated commentary will appreciate the otherwise straightforward narrative of the physics underlying a variety of astronomical catastrophes. For more concentrated popular works on cosmology, see Brian Cox's Universal: A Guide to the Cosmos and Stuart Clark's The Unknown Universe: A New Exploration of Time, Space, and Cosmology.
Reviewed by Nancy R. Curtis, Univ. of Maine Lib., Orono , Jan 02, 2019
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