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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: $15.90
You Save: $10.05 (39%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 4859
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
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
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: NEW/NEW; Direct from the publisher, this book is clean & bright, with no creases, no tears, & no markings. Dustjacket perfect. Never been opened! In stock, ready to ship now!
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Product Description
A lively astronomy primer that uses cataclysmic scenarios to explain the universes 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 fascinatingand often alarmingscenarios 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 12 more reviews...
 Death from the skies December 4, 2008
Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End . . .
 Learning about our hostile universe (with a lot of laughs along the way)... November 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Media seems to love stories that involve some astronomical event that threatens wide-spread devastation. The problem is, they never really explain the very small odds of the event actually coming to pass. Philip Plait takes these gloom and doom headlines and humorously (and scientifically) places them in the right context in his book Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End... If you're interested in phenomena like death by gamma-ray bursts or black holes, you'll really enjoy this book (and learn quite a bit in the process).
Contents:
Target Earth: Asteroid and Comet Impacts
Sunburn
The Stellar Fury of Supernovae
Cosmic Blowtorches: Gamma-Ray Bursts
The Bottomless Pits of Black Holes
Alien Attack!
The Death of the Sun
Bright Lights, Big Galaxy
The End of Everything
What, Me Worry?
Acknowledgments
Appendix
index
Plait starts off with things that could conceivably happen. The most likely is the impact of an asteroid on Earth. It's happened before, and it'll happen again. But rather than just bemoan the inevitability of this event, he examines common (and not so common) ways that we might be able to prevent the impact, given enough forewarning. The Hollywood-inspired "blow it up with an atomic bomb" not only turns out to be risky, but there's a very good chance that it would have absolutely no effect whatsoever. On the other hand, it could be very feasible to use a orbiting satellite of a sufficient mass to affect the gravity pull of the asteroid and alter the course just enough that it bypasses earth. He escalates the doomsday scenarios up to the ultimate death of the entire universe. Granted, we're dealing with a lot of conjecture and numbers so large as to boggle the mind, but he does a good job in explaining the strange science that comes into play when quantum physics enters the picture. Of course, by this time, your measly 70 year lifespan wouldn't even register as a nanosecond on the timeline of the universe.
Had this been just raw, hard-core science writing, I don't think it would have much appeal except to other astrophysicists. But Plait injects humor and images to allow those of us without his technical background to at least begin to grasp the possibilities and realities of red supergiants and black holes. Don't let the B-movie sci-fi title fool you into thinking this is something less than it is... a solid scientific (and fun) look at the hostile universe in which we live.
 Death from the Skies, Indeed! November 26, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I purchased this book for my Kindle and was enjoying every page of it until I got to the chapter on aliens--at which point it caused my Kindle to crash. Not only that book was unreadable, my entire library became unavailable until I pushed the reset button. Amazon reimbursed me, but removed the e-book version from their catalog.
A great educational read November 23, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
A fantastic description of the terrors lurking in the Universe. Dr. Plaitt presents them in an entertaining and informative fashion.
As Gripping as it is Informative November 17, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I can't praise this book enough! This gifted author, a renowned astronomer, discusses the various ways in which our world could end due to catastrophes of a cosmological/astrophysical nature. In order to do this, he must explain the scientific principles involved and relate them to the ways in which we could meet our end - in morbid detail. For all of these events, probabilities are given regarding their possibly occurring during our own lifetimes, as well as whether any are actually preventable. The prose is simply outstanding; it leaves the reader breathless! The author's passion and excitement for his subject matter are quite contagious. Not only is the writing style clear and authoritative, but it's also immensely accessible. Using wit, humor, excellent analogies and everyday language, the author weaves each potential disaster tale in such a way that both general readers and scientists alike can relish them. Reading this book is the most pleasant way that I can think of for learning of human-race-annihilating disasters. This book can be enjoyed by anyone!
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