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    Apocalypse 2012: An optimist investigates the end of civilization
    Unavailable
    Apocalypse 2012: An optimist investigates the end of civilization
    Unavailable
    Apocalypse 2012: An optimist investigates the end of civilization
    Ebook376 pages5 hours

    Apocalypse 2012: An optimist investigates the end of civilization

    By Lawrence E. Joseph

    3/5

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    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this ebook

    Is the world really coming to an end in 2012? The answer frighteningly is ‘maybe’, according to the Bible, the I Ching, the Mayans, meteorologists and vulcanologists. Apocalypse 2012 is cheerful sceptic Laurence E Joseph’s investigation into the 2012 Doomsday phenomenon.

    Journalist and science writer Laurence E Joseph is our incisive and witty guide unravelling the religious, astrological and mystical prophecies behind the potentially earth-shattering events of 2012. And at the core of this book is Joseph's investigation into the growing number of scientific researchers trying to figure out why conditions around our planet are becoming so bizarre.

    His adventures include:

    • Hooking up with the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement whose cheerful motto 'Live Long and Die Out' is now available as a tattoo.
    • Meeting the scientists who are trying to figure out why the present state of the sun is so worrisome – is it just going through a phase or is something major going on?
    • Visiting Yellowstone National Park to see whether the seething supervolcano could soon stop civilisation dead in its tracks.
    • Exploring the possibility of a terrorist attack that could plunge the whole Northern Hemisphere into the equivalent of a nuclear winter.

    So, if 2012 really is going to be a year of unprecedented catastrophe, what can we do to increase our odds of surviving it? Should we head for the Kentucky hills or hightail it to Western Africa, where the Australian Doomsday 2012 enthusiast is staking his claim, or perhaps we'd be better blasting off for solar systems unknown?

    With its mixture of hard science, investigative reportage and cast of colourful characters, Apocaplyse 2012 is Fast Food Nation for the terminally paranoid.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins UK
    Release dateJun 28, 2012
    ISBN9780007369843
    Unavailable
    Apocalypse 2012: An optimist investigates the end of civilization
    Author

    Lawrence E. Joseph

    LAWRENCE E. JOSEPH is a futurist and the author of several books, including Apocalypse 2012. For decades, Joseph has written on science, nature, politics, and business for publications including the New York Times, Discover, and Salon. He currently blogs for The Huffington Post. In demand as a speaker, Joseph has given more than five hundred film, television, radio, and print interviews on the subject of solar EMP and other Sun–Earth phenomena.

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    Reviews for Apocalypse 2012

    3/5

    78 ratings12 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I'm still not ready to buy into the idea that the world is going to end/be reborn on 12/21/12 but the book is certainly interesting and it does provide food for thought. A few of the disasters he talks about don't have any particular tie to 2012. Yellowstone might erupt at any time, there's no reason to think it's especially likely in 2012 unless you believe that sunspots will cause it. (Also, the docudrama he mentions about Yellowstone erupting is very well done). Interestingly, that docudrama also deals with the fact that saying "we're overdue for x" where x equals a massive earthquake, die off, plague, volcanic eruption, isn't entirely meaningless, but it's still mostly a scare tactic, and one that the author of this book employs more than once.Still, it sounds like 2011-2012 is going to be a very interesting time in terms of solar activity and activity in space.The author also addresses the fact that it may become a self-fulfilling prophecy. There are certainly some fundamentalists (of all 3 major western religions) who think God just isn't moving fast enough on that whole Armageddon thing so they need to speed it along. It's a very interesting book. I'm willing to concede that we may well have a more difficult year in terms of natural disasters and sunspots interfering with satellites, but I'm still pretty sure the vast majority of the human race will be around come 2013.
    • 3/5
      Sam gave me this in 2010/2011 ... sometime well before 2012. But I wanted to watch the film 2012 before reading this book, since the book told me there was some sort of connection. So I finally got around to watching the film (ridiculous) and then started this book at the beginning of 2012, because I knew if I didn't finish it, then it all could be over before I read it. So I read it - and it was quite depressing. Interesting for sure, but it made me pretty sad about humanity. But a lot of intriguing stuff about how humans used to live compared to how we live now.
    • 3/5
      As someone who was a tad disappointed when the clock ticked over to 12/22/2012, this book was an interesting investigation into the various doomsday scenarios. It did have examples/interviews from the science world, and included religious points of view as well. All those coincidences intrigued me, and the book was fluidly written, with little bits of humor thrown in, so I found it a compelling read. This book wasn't looking to change anyone's mind, just to investigate the different end-time scenarios, and to note how they seems to converge on 2012. Now that the main "sell by" date has passed us by, I suppose this book can be an interesting example of how even plenty of circumstantial evidence doesn't a conviction make.
    • 3/5
      It's more "technical" than I expected. And, at the same time, quite spiritually written. (Author capitalizes "God"). Lots of specific details on the how and why and who believes the world will end in 2012.There is lots of evidence such as the increased solar activity, volcanic pressure, ozone depletion and etc... and evidence of how scientists believed this has all happened before and is due to happen again. Of course, we're talking about a time scale which has a window of about 40,000 - 100,000 years, depending on who you ask.So, to sum it up. The world could end at any moment, but it could also occur anytime between now and 100,000 years from now (or even longer, because even if the earth was in a 700,000 year cycle, who knows that it wasn't an incremental cycle so next time it might be a 900,000 year cycle.) And, of course, that assumes that scientists can *know* anything from evidence left 600,000 years ago.No doubt all this will happen. But the only thing we know for sure is that it didn't happen yesterday either. Any guess as to when it *will* happen, well, that's what it is, a guess. (More likely a superbug flu will kill us all first, but he doesn't mention that.)
    • 4/5
      You know, if you're going to read about all the depressing ways the world might end in 2012, you might as well get a chuckle out of it. (Because apparently we won't be laughing for long!) I don't know if I buy into all the 2012 hype, although it's interesting to read about. The writing was clever and funny. The author had lots of solid (?) examples. I couldn't put the book down (partly because I was petrified.)
    • 2/5
      CRAP. Sorry for the pedestrian review. But this book is NOT scientific. Horrible read. Don't bother.
    • 1/5
      Couldn't finish; utter crap. I was hoping for an intelligent, skeptically-minded exploration of the 2012 meme, but the intelligence was a thin veneer of credulous New Age-ism. I briefly hoped that it would be fun -- like a treatment for an apocalyptic action movie or an alternative history romp. But I couldn't get past the bullshit.
    • 2/5
      It is a fun read, in all, but I don't necessarily take it seriously. I was much more interested in it as an odd memoir of the author--a sort of fear and loathing before the big one drops. Joseph is an entertaining writer, to say the least. The joke of that he is a minor character in his own memoir, or, to be more blunt, in his own life, comes to fore by the end. The book is about him and his fears. The science, if one can really call it that, is a side note.
    • 3/5
      Yes, It's written in a very light way. No, The science isn't that in depth, but the author has still collated a sizable collection of predictions, concerning the convergence of belief that 2012 will be a significant year. Raising the question to just how would we cope, with any global disaster that might befall us, whether it comes in that year or any other time. Not being a person who is easily swayed by others opinions, overtly religious or scientific, nor a dooms day subscriber, I still have concerns regarding 2012 after reading what Lawrence Joseph has to say. I found this book interesting food for thought, making me stop and consider what exactly the concept of 2012, as it is presented here and many other places, means to my future. Time to take stock of our own lives, and the chains of cause and effect that are constantly triggered by our actions, not only in regard to our own existence but also to the planet as a whole.
    • 5/5
      This book was clearly written and quite enjoyable from my scientific exploration point of view. Reading this book will cause you to consider reading about the Mayans in greater detail.
    • 2/5
      Somehow I always get suckered into nonsense like this. Lawrence Joseph begins by declaring that he is not one of the nut-case disaster-monkeys that populate this genre. His opening chapters back this notion up. The information about Mayan systems of dating is quite interesting and his dscussion of links between global warming, increased solar activity and natural disasters is fascinating as well. By the end, however, he seems to have run out of serious material to discuss. Later chapters spend a lot of time seriously discussing "Planet X", the "Noosphere" (an atmospheric layer containing all thoughts ever), Bible/Koran/Talmud secret codes, and mind reading.It's fun to read and, in the beginning, it is somewhat interesting. By the end, I was so annoyed by the nonsense stuff that I had difficulty dealing with what were otherwise very thought provoking concepts.
    • 1/5
      I found this book in the science section of Barnes and Noble, probably because its title includes the word "scientific." After reading it, I felt cheated and realized It should have been in the "New Age" stack. It has entirely too much speculation from Mayan mystics, I Ching crap, and rot from the Bible and the Koran. The parts concerning speculative science are suprerficial and regurgitated. And not a thing about the halocene extinction and the Carolina Bays. The writing style is sophomoric and irritatingly breathless.