Editorial Review

“In the introduction to Is the End of the World Near?, author Ron Miller makes a salient point: He states, ‘Is the world going to come to an end? The simple answer is yes.’ Although the rest of the book is filled with everything from ‘crackpot predictions’ to ‘scientific scenarios,’ readers immediately know that someday, ‘more than one billion years from now, the Sun will become much brighter and hotter,’ thus destroying life (and everything else) on planet Earth. This is an interesting text that explores different possibilities as they pertain to life and existence. The second chapter is devoted to the year 2012, which will certainly spark interest among some readers—are we really doomed in 2012? There is also the underlying question—are we dooming ourselves with pollution, the disappearance of fossil fuels, global warming, etc.? Or is doom in our DNA—is the Earth meant to last forever? This book is an awkward size; it certainly will not fit in a back pocket but the glossy pages may entice readers. Interesting pictures pepper almost every page and the book contains a timeline, glossary, and index. For burgeoning scientists, this may be a winner, but most teens will pick it up only if they are already asking the question, where are we going?” —VOYA