Rick B. (bup) -
Fun way to get some astronomy across. We could die by comet, asteroid, black hole, gamma ray burst, supernova...and learning just how all life on earth would die together is pretty interesting.
I remember when the author used to post on the Straight Dope Message Board, and he would sometimes speculate on wonderful scenarios: what if the sun were a black hole (surprise - our orbit would not change!). What if the sun just went "out" - what order would things freeze and fail on earth? His surmisal is when nitrogen snowed out of the atmosphere, that would be ballgame.
Anyway, if idly wondering about extinction events holds appeal for you, this is a great book.
I remember when the author used to post on the Straight Dope Message Board, and he would sometimes speculate on wonderful scenarios: what if the sun were a black hole (surprise - our orbit would not change!). What if the sun just went "out" - what order would things freeze and fail on earth? His surmisal is when nitrogen snowed out of the atmosphere, that would be ballgame.
Anyway, if idly wondering about extinction events holds appeal for you, this is a great book.
