It's the End of the World: But What Are We Really Afraid Of?

Description

Are we doomed? Is an Almighty Power or an earth-shattering meteor waiting for us just around the corner? Probably not. So why are we so obsessed with imagining our own demise? And what does that say about us as a species? In this thought-provoking book, acclaimed critic Adam Roberts explores our many different visions of the apocalypse - both likely and unlikely, mundane and bizarre - and what they say about how we see the world, how we respond to the changes and upheavals in our societies, and what it is we're really afraid of. An uncaring Universe? An uncontrollable environment? The human capacity for destruction? Or just our own, very personal, apocalypse: our mortality? From our ancient fears of angry gods calling time, to scientific speculations about the full extent of the climate crisis, via creeping disease, last men, arriving aliens, rising robots, falling bombs and insect Armageddon, buckle in for the end of the world. Where an ending may really be a new beginning...

Professor Adam Roberts is a writer, critic and Professor of Nineteenth-Century Literature at Royal Holloway University. Among his many academic works are studies of Browning and Coleridge. He is also the author of more than twenty science fiction novels, including Jack Glass, which won the BSFA Award for Best Novel. He is the author of the Palgrave History of Science Fiction and reviews regularly for the Guardian. He lives to the West of London with his wife and two children.

"Roberts gives us many sharp insights into religion, history, philosophy, and popular culture - in particular, of course, our own patch of popular culture: science fiction. . . . These are large topics for a book of 193 pages, plus index. Within its confines Roberts has done far more than take the four horsemen out for a canter: he spurs them to a gallop and makes them break sweat. The show is well worth the price of admission, and sends us away deep in thought." --Shoreline of Infinity "Honed by writing his novels, which are quirky, full of ideas and intertexuality, Roberts's style in this short non-fiction book is equally fun, he indulges his sense of humour deliberately which makes him an engaging commentator." --Shiny New Books