Earth-Shattering: Violent Supernovas, Galactic Explosions, Biological Mayhem, Nuclear Meltdowns, and Other Hazards to Life in Our Universe is blithely engaging, a glittery planetarium that is, for the most part, a stage for astonishing and unnerving spectacles ... I greatly admire [Berman's] ability to lucidly explain astrophysics to the nonscientist ... Inevitably, [Berman's] accounts of egregious Earth-centric afflictions, while never pedantic, are just a little stolid.
A far-ranging and enthusiastic tour of cataclysms, local and remote ... Berman covers an exhaustive list of exotic and fascinating events, closing with a few disasters that weren’t, like the infamous “Y2K” problem, and the apocalypse supposedly predicted by the ancient Mayan calendar. This lively menagerie of astrophysical oddities will entertain any reader who’s ever wondered what the biggest, most dangerous 'bangs' in the universe might be.
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