How It Ends From You to the Universe

by Impey, Chris

• ISBN13: 9780393069853
• ISBN10: 0393069850
• Edition: 00
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-04-19
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Summary

Although we may try to keep it tucked at the back of our minds, most of us are aware of our own mortality. But few among us know what science, with the help of insights yielded from groundbreaking new research, has to say about death on a larger scale. Enter astronomer Chris Impey, who chronicles the death of the whole shebang: individual, species, biosphere, earth, sun, Milky Way, and, finally, the entire universe. With a healthy dose of humor, How It Ends illuminates everything from the technologies of human life extension and the evolutionary arms race between microbes and men to the inescapable dimming of the sun and the ultimate 'œbig rip,' giving us a rare glimpse into a universe without us.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. 11
Endings Are Personal	p. 17
That's All Folks	p. 18
Everything Has Its Time	p. 25
End of the Line	p. 33
All Good Things Must Pass	p. 41
The Reaper's Scythe	p. 42
Beating the Odds	p. 50
Dust to Dust	p. 56
The Future of Humanity	p. 65
The Fate of Species	p. 67
Our Own Worst Enemy	p. 79
Beyond Natural Selection	p. 90
Endpoints of Evolution	p. 91
Beyond Biology	p. 102
The Web of Life	p. 110
The Restless Earth	p. 112
Gaia	p. 124
Threats to the Biosphere	p. 134
A Hard Rain	p. 136
Saving the Planet	p. 142
Life Is Viral	p. 149
Living In a Solar System	p. 157
Pale Blue Dots	p. 158
Life Beyond Earth	p. 166
Threats from Beyond	p. 172
The Sun's Demise	p. 181
Living with a Star	p. 183
Moving Off-Earth	p. 192
Our Galactic Habitat	p. 203
Once and Future Stars	p. 205
Mergers and Acquisitions	p. 218
Aging of the Milky Way	p. 227
Fade to Black	p. 229
Childhood's End	p. 238
How The Universe Ends	p. 248
Something from Nothing	p. 249
How It All Ends	p. 261
Beyond Endings	p. 271
Living in the Multiverse	p. 273
From Endings to Meaning	p. 280
Glossary	p. 291
Notes	p. 301
Reading List	p. 325
Credits	p. 329
Index	p. 331
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