The Day It Finally Happens - Ketika Hari Itu Tiba: Alien Jurassic Park, Manusia Abadi, dan Fenomena Lain

by Mike Pearl

Jika Anda hidup di Bumi, mungkin Anda takut akan masa depan. Terorisme, hubungan internasional yang kompleks, pemanasan global, virus mematikan, dan hal-hal lain yang membuat kita akan sulit untuk tidak takut. Menonton berita akan membuat Anda berpikir: apakah pergi keluar benar-benar aman?

Dalam buku "The Day it Finally Happens", Mike Pearl memaparkan banyak skenario tentang kejadian yang sering kita pertanyakan akan terjadi atau tidak, yang mungkin sudah kita spekulasikan sebelumnya, memberikan nilai kemungkinannya, dan membawa kita untuk menelusuri itu semua. Ia menjelajahi apa saja yang mungkin terjadi dalam begitu banyak skenario - kegagalan antibiotik, ketika kehidupan di laut hilang, ketika sistem monarki di Inggris dihapuskan, dan bahkan kedatangan alien - dan laporan dari masa depan yang menggambarkan bagaimana kehidupan akan terlihat, terasa, dan tercium ketika itu terjadi.

Lucu, mencerahkan, sekaligus menakutkan, buku ini membuat sains menjadi lebih mudah diakses, menjadi terapi eksistensial yang unik, menawarkan jawaban praktis dari berbagai pertanyaan saat kita cemas.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Essays, Audiobook, History, Humor, Sociology

328 pages, Paperback

First published September 17, 2019

About the author

First time author. My book is called The Day It Finally Happens. Please read it.

Reviews

[Tanabrus · Rating 3 out of 5]

L'autore pensa spesso a cosa possa andare male, alla fine del mondo, dell'umanità e cose del genere.

Ogni capitolo è un differente scenario "apocalittico" più o meno (si va dal supervulcano, il batterio immune agli antibiotici o la guerra nuclera fino alla fine della macellazione di carne, alla fine della monarchia inglese o al doping sdoganato alle olimpiadi).

Ecco, già la varietà di temi trattati ci fa oscillare tra il "sacro" e il "profano".

Alcune cose sono interessanti, altre inquietanti, altre ancora evitabili.
Poi chiaramente anche nelle tematiche interessanti l'autore offre una visione d'insieme, un accenno di cosa potrebbe accadere e cosa dice la scienza (o altro) al riguardo, al momento.
Dice cosa teme, cosa potrebbe accadere,quali sono o pericoli dello scenario magari non immediatamente percepibili, e quali "vie di fuga" ci sarebbero per uscirne bene.
Carino per scenari cui non si era mai o quasi mai pensato, deboluccio su cose di cui magari si sa qualcosa.

Interessante il paragrafo di apertura di ogni capitolo, una sorta di narrazione di come potrebbe essere la cronaca della "fine", una sorta di antipasto di quel che potrebbe essere un racconto a tema.

[Lori L (She Treads Softly) · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Day It Finally Happens: Alien Contact, Dinosaur Parks, Immortal Humans-and Other Possible Phenomena by Mike Pearl is a very highly recommended entertaining, yet serious look at nineteen different events that may spark some fear or trepidation from people.

Pearl writes: "I’m not a statistician or a physicist. In fact, I’m terrible at math, but I do like to predict the future, and I’ve made a job of it. I just approach it a little differently because my main qualification is a paralyzing fear of things that are going to happen. My fear comes from an anxiety disorder - a very common mental illness. It’s a mixed blessing for someone who works as an explanatory journalist: it fills my head with ideas, but I hate the ideas."

This is very well written examination of events that includes research, entertaining speculation, statistics, practical discussions, and a measure of personal anxiety. The scenarios he presents open with the title of the event to be discussed and/or feared then there is a breakdown covering: Likely in this century?; Plausibility Rating? (rating is a number out of a possible 5); Scary? (an assessment of how scary the situation is); and finally the question is posed, Worth changing habits? Pearl goes on to present the facts and information along with his thoughts about each situation, but does so in a funny, personable, and logical manner. It all combines to make The Day It Finally Happens a very interesting and entertaining look at events that can and do cause anxiety in many people. After the epilogue Pearl includes notes from each chapter.

The widely varied, yet potentially frightening events contemplated include: The Day the UK Finally Abolishes Its Monarchy; The Day a Tech Billionaire Takes Over the World; The Day Doping Is Allowed at the Olympics; The Day Humans Become Immortal; The Day Anyone Can Imitate Anyone Else Perfectly; The Day the Last Human-Driven Car Rolls Off the Lot; The Day Saudi Arabia Pumps Its Last Barrel of Oil; The Day a Real Jurassic Park Opens; The Day Antibiotics Don’t Work Anymore; The Day the Last Fish in the Ocean Dies; The Day the US Completely Bans Guns; The Day Nuclear Bombs Kill Us All; The Day a Baby Is Born on the Moon; The Day the Entire Internet Goes Down; The Day the Last Slaughterhouse Closes; The Day Humans Get a Confirmed Signal from Intelligent Extraterrestrials; The Day the Next Supervolcano Erupts; The Day the Last Slave Goes Free; The Day the Last Cemetery Runs Out of Space.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Scribner.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2019/0...

[Angus McKeogh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conceptually this book sounded extremely interesting. In practice it was a bit disappointing but still engaging enough to be good. However, and in retrospect probably it makes sense, but it wasn’t all that informative. More “what if’s” rather than educational snippets. More opinion than I anticipated. So not a bad read but not amazing.

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting and scientific look at some what if? questions and how the author makes these possible scenarios accessible for the everyday reader.

So the chapters - all less than 20 pages in length - all start with The Day -
*The UK Finally Abolishes Its Monarchy - England will have to find some new lures for tourists although the monarchy will not completely go away since the English can't determine what the other countries of the Commonwealth may or may not decide
*A Tech Billionaire Takes Over the World - sometimes you have to wonder if we're watching happen right now
*Doping is Allowed at the Olympics - would you - as an athlete - feel 'better' that you won only due to chemical intervention or that you achieved the accolades on your own?
*That Humans Become Immortal - not really for eternity but definitely for a long time and that means that land runs out quickly and finding new sources of portable water and food for all those people.
*That Anyone Can Imitate Anyone Else Perfectly - being able to include famous movie actors years after their deaths in new and interesting films but it also opens up scammers imitating loved ones in order to get money.
*The Last Human-Driven Car Rolls Off the Lot
*When Saudi Arabia Pumps Its Last Barrel of Oil - hopefully they'll have found a new economic base
*A Real Jurassic Park Opens - not likely since DNA degrades over thousands of years so maybe a Pliocene Park. . .
*Antibiotics Don't Work Anymore - society is already being warned about this one.
*The Last Fish in the Ocean Dies - first we have to wonder what going to replace the massive amount of food taken out of the ocean and then, if we're not going to be concerned about impacting the food stock, what will be preventing commercial concerns from devastating the oceans into a polluted mess. . . .
*The U.S. Completely Bans Guns - bans, not confiscates, which is two very different things that Pearl does go into
*Nuclear Bombs Kill Us All - yes, the nations have thousands of nuclear bombs but why would they set them all off at once, even as a retaliatory strike. The worst part is having food while the dust and ash slowly letches from the atmosphere.
*A Baby is Born on the Moon - although it would likely be a REALLY expensive delivery, there is the possible impact on the fetus growth as well as the developmental growth after birth. Weightlessness impacts bone density as well as muscles. That child may never be able to return to Earth. . . and then there is their citizenship of where??
*The Entire Internet Goes Down - rather difficult due to redundancy in the system
*The Last Slaughterhouse Closes - agriculture is going to be impacted not only for those who have been raising various animals for food but those who grow plant crops for animal feed as well as the manure that fertilizes. The leather and wool and down and . . . . And the synthetic meat-like substances
*When Humans Get a Confirmed Signal from Intelligent Extraterrestrials - remember distance is in years from the closest neighboring system. Then there is the possibility that we've already missed it since our technology may not have understood the signal. . . .
*The Next Supervolcano Erupts - and he uses Yellowstone so the continental United States would be impacted with various amounts of glass-like ash
*The Last Slave Goes Free - before anyone denies it, slavery is still happening only it's being called human trafficking, coercion or work to repay family debts.
*The Last Cemetery Runs Out of Space - many of the larger cities are already having to deal with this on a local level
*Epilogue - when everything ends - the sun consumes the Earth or when the Big Bang reverses into the Big Crunch

It was fascinating and Pearl has a wry and sometime sarcastic commentary threaded through the science.

2022-270

[David Quijano · Rating 2 out of 5]

I assumed The Day It Finally Happens would be a fun, but informative book about various end-of-world scenarios. Unfortunately, none of those things was particularly true. Some of this is definitely my fault. This is not a book about apocalyptic events, just various issues that the author finds interesting. Some of those are events are apocalyptic, but some are incredibly boring with almost zero real-world implications, like the chapter titled: "The Day the UK Finally Abolishes Its Monarchy." Even the chapters that cover interesting subjects are not particularly imaginative or informative to a well-read person.

I can't only be negative about this book. I did appreciate the author's objectivity. He avoided needless political statements and when political analysis was necessary, his takes seemed fair. This was a pleasant surprise since he is a writer for Vice, and I generally have a negative view of them as a news source. The lack of sensationalism was also a big positive to me (that is probably part of the reason why it was a bit underwhelming/boring at times).

My favorite parts of the book was the chapter titled: "The Day the Last Cemetery Runs Out of Space" and the epilogue. For whatever reason, I found both much more interesting and informative than the rest of the book. I really appreciated the fact that he questions the heat death of the universe. I need that kind of positivity in my life. Overall, though, I think you are probably better off reading the Wiki pages or other online articles of these various scenarios.

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of what-if scenarios ranging from the nuclear apocalypse to the day we run out of fish. As someone who isn't that interested in reading science this book has been quite refreshing as it covers speculative-science with a down-to-eath narration. Better than that though is that these topics don't delve into common opinion but often draw upon expert opinion; for example, when discussing a nuclear apocalypse there is no "end of the world, end of all humanity" pessimism, and while there is a chance that it may play out that way the author demonstrates how unlikely that would be. The less ordinary topics, like the abolition of the monarchy in the UK or the next supervolcano aren't just interesting but they also offer imagination-fuel for people curious about the future.

As a popular book on the what-ifs that people often think about don't expect everything to be discussed (each topic in here would require hundreds, if not thousands, of pages to fully analyse) but think of it as a good introduction which can allow for further reading on each of the topics. However, it is unfortunate that the author didn't provide at least a brief bibliography at the end of the book.

[Grumpus · Rating 4 out of 5]

The grumpus23 (23-word commentary)
A series of topics covered in a what-if format. Anybody who's wondered what happens the day the interet goes down, will enjoy it.

[Mira123 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wahrscheinlich habt ihr irgendwie schon mitbekommen, dass mich die Zukunft fasziniert. Sowohl meine persönliche Zukunft, als auch die Zukunft der gesamten Menschheit und des Planeten. Ich liebe es, mir Szenarien auszumalen und mir zu überlegen, wie die Welt wohl in fünf, zehn, oder hundert Jahren aussehen wird. Wird die Welt besser sein, vielleicht sogar eine Utopie? Oder werden wir in einer Dystopie landen, so wie sie in Büchern und Filmen beliebt sind? Ich persönlich will lieber an eine schöne Zukunft glauben - immerhin hat sich in den letzten Jahren statistisch gesehen sehr, sehr viel zum besseren entwickelt. Also wird das (hoffentlich) so weiter gehen. Allerdings weiß auch ich, dass ich mit diesem Glauben wohl eher zu einer Minderheit gehöre. Und auch ich habe schon genug Bücher gelesen, um zu wissen, welche Horrorszenarien so auf uns zukommen könnten. Wie wäre es zum Beispiel mit einem Atomkrieg? Oder Unsterblichkeit? Nun, der Autor dieses Buches hat sich mit allen möglichen Szenarien auseinandergesetzt, die in der Zukunft vielleicht eintreten könnten.

Die Szenarien, die in diesem Buch behandelt werden, decken ein sehr weites Spektrum ab. "Was passiert, wenn Großbrittanien die Monarchie abschafft?" oder "Was passiert, wenn das Internet nicht mehr funktioniert?" oder "Was passiert, wenn ein Atomkrieg ausbricht?" oder "Was passiert, wenn alle Friedhöfe voll sind?". Manche dieser Szenarien scheinen jetzt nicht so tragisch (Stichwort: Monarchie), andere scheinen zwar problematisch, aber werden sicher nicht das Ende der Welt sein (Stichwort: volle Friedhöfe) und dann gibts welche, die mir wirklich Angst machen und an die ich auf gar keinen Fall denken möchte (Stichwort: Atomkrieg).

Die Kapitel sind immer gleich aufgebaut: Zuerst befasst sich der Autor kreativ mit dem Thema, zum Beispiel, indem er einen Dialog darüber schreibt oder eine Kurzgeschichte. Danach befasst sich der Autor aus wissenschaftlicher Sicht mit dem Thema. Was würde also wirklich passieren, wenn beispielsweise ein Atomkrieg ausbrechen würde. Wäre das dann das Ende der Menschheit? Alles, was der Autor beschreibt, belegt er auch schön brav mit Quellen und so weiter. Am Ende des Buches hätte ich mir auch noch ein Quellenverzeichnis gewünscht, nicht nur eine ungeordnete Liste.
Wie korrekt die Informationen wirklich sind, die der Autor hier präsentiert, kann ich nicht beurteilen. Dafür kenne ich mich einfach zu wenig gut aus. Allerdings hörte sich nicht immer alles so plausibel an. Zum Beispiel das Kapitel darüber, was wohl passieren würde, wenn die USA Waffen verbieten oder den Waffenbesitz einschränken würde. Hier schien mir die Prognose des Autoren doch zu düster. Ich meine, die USA wäre echt nicht das erste Land, das den Waffenbesitz einschränkt. Ob das wirklich dramatische Folgen haben würde, außer, dass wahrscheinlich die Waffengewalt sehr stark zurückgehen würde, wenn nicht mehr jeder Trottel eine Waffe kaufen könnte? Ich weiß es nicht. Ich kann es mir nicht vorstellen, wirklich nicht. Aber ich bin da wohl auch die falsche Person, um Auskünfte zu geben, immerhin bin ich Pazifistin und kann mir beim besten Willen nicht vorstellen, jemals eine Waffe zu besitzen. (Außer in einer Zombieapokalypse oder so. Aber selbst dann würde mir eine Waffe wohl nichts bringen, da ich keine Übung darin hätte, Dinge zu treffen und so die Zombies verfehlen würde. Da wäre wohl ein Schwert besser.)

Der Schreibstil war in Ordnung. Meine Augen begannen jetzt nicht zu bluten, aber es wäre eine Lüge, zu erzählen, dass ich den Schreibstil außerordentlich gut fand. Stellenweise war das Buch sogar eher langweilig zu lesen und sehr trocken. Das fand ich schade, immerhin wären die Themen echt spannend. Und ich glaube, dass man das besser hätte verpacken können.

Mein Fazit? War schon in Ordnung, aber da wäre noch Luft nach oben.

[MURAT BAYRAKTAR · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5 yıldız..

Gazeteci olan Mike Pearl'ün köşe yazılarından oluşan, bazı gerçekçi ve fantastik senaryoların da güya çözümleri ile derlendiği kitap. Kitabın arka yazısı okunduğunda; somut çözüm önerileri sunması ve bunu 'eğlenceli' bir üslupla anlatmasından bahsediyor ancak hayatımda okuduğum en sıkıcı dile sahip kitaptı. Bunun tek sebebi yazarın sıkıcı üslubu ve dili değil, çevirininde aynı şekilde dilinin sıkıcı olmasıydı. Bir kaç sayfa da hatta çevirmeye bile gerek duymamış ingilizce olarak bırakmış.. Tek bir somut çözüm önerisi sunmaması ile de yazarın ne yazdığından haberinin olmaması tuhaftı gerçekten. İnanılmaz ilgi çekici, merak uyandırıcı ve zekice seçilmiş konu başlıklarını hiç bir yere varmayan fikir alışverişleri, çözümsüz önerileri ve yarım bırakmışlığı ile hiç etmiş yazar. Okurken inanılmaz sıkıldım. Belki bir kaç yerde ilgimi çekti, dikkate değer buldum bir kaç bölümünü ancak genel olarak vasatın altında kalan bir kitap. Böylesi ilgi çekici konuları hemde gazeteci olarak bu kadar sıkıcı anlatması, hiç bir yere varamaması ve kendisini ifade edememesi gerçekten 'müthiş' bir başarı!

Sadece konu başlıkları için okunabilir belki ama ben önermiyorum...

[Gemma · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the one hand I actually did learn something not just about what may happen but things that are.

On the other hand it was way to scientific and rational ;) I don't want to hear I'll be long dead before we meet the aliens! But that's a personal thing I suppose and the books a good read if you're interested in this kind of thing. The author talks about his anxiety leading him to research these situations I don't think anything in here will upset people.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review: The Day It Finally Happens by Mike Pearl. 

For fans of such bestsellers as What If?,The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook and The Uninhabitable Earth, as well as Steven Pinker and Malcolm Gladwell, this is a book about future events that we don’t really understand and getting to know them in close detail.

What I love about this book is that yes you get the what if’s and all the research, but at the beginning of every chapter are these scenarios in place, and they make for some funny but brilliant reading. The chapter about doping at the Olympics for example begins with a Keirin race commentary that will make you laugh and you will never forget - I read it a couple of times just to make me laugh- the way Pearl writes is just fun and it makes this book so easy to read. 

Pearl uses science and his wit to bring us a book that is packed with fascinating imformation, talking to experts and academics for every chapter - and the graphs in particular near the beginning of the book around human population are unforgettable. Another interesting chapter around when Saudi Arabia will dig up it’s last barrel of oil, also has that wit, but also that depth and detail that a scientist brings to a book. 

An excellent book that highlights how the might world look in the future or an alternative universe, this book is a hooking and brilliant read that keeps you curious. I would even recommend Pearl take some of these short scenarios and create a book from one, I would read it if this is anything to go by. 


(I received an ARC from Netgalley for honest review). 

[Giselle]

DNF'd 8%. This just isn't my cup of tea

[Lissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book, and more of a 3.5 star read to me (but, against the laws of math, I usually round down on my ratings). I think the first few chapters are shaky and don't feel like they fit in with the rest of the theme of this book. Many chapters were about potentially world altering events, and honestly, losing the British monarchy and/or allowing doping in the Olympics do nothing except elicit a yawn from me. I even admit that I skimmed the one about the British monarchy, and I got two pages into the Olympic doping chapter before I gave a hard nope and almost gave up on the book. But of course, disaster nerd that I am, I had to get to some of the more interesting chapters (such as supervolcano eruptions, antibiotics not working anymore, etc).

Altogether, it was a fun (and also sometimes scary) book to read, especially if you enjoy speculating about what would happen if [insert event here] occurred.

[Brock Birkner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was nice and Mike Pearl writes (and in my case narrates as I listened to the Audiobook) in such a homey and comforting way. It just wasnt what I expected. This book was more "the events that could lead to the day it finally happens" and not nearly enough of the "this is what the world would look like if this happens" in my opinion.

Each chapter has a well written fictional blurb on what life would be like in these various scenarios but most of the chapters were talking about present day things that could eventually lead to the fictional events.

Still a great read! Just not what I was expecting.

[Miguel Alberto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of great data and insights on topics that could affect humanity. Fun read, eye opening and cleverly written.

[Dajana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually liked the way the book was written, from the scenarios to the researchers etc. It really had me thinking on some aspects like the oceans and vegetation. Mike’s occasional random sarcasm was fun too. Would recommend as a read to get people thinking.

[Seth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Page 82 moas existed in New Zealand not Australia. Beyond idiotic error. Who edits this stuff? Other Millennials?

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly I was reassured by the nightmare scenarios Pearl researched for his book — that they might not be as bad or as extensive as I once thought. It was a bit empowering, actually. The book is totally grounded in reality & plausibility. It’s not a frivolous book. I’m so glad I bought it & didn’t wait for the paperback or library copy. It’s a book I’ll be referring back to.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author, Mike Pearl, is a journalist who’s articles I’ve long enjoyed in Vice and Vice Motherboard. His articles often focus on speculative - what would happen if? - scenarios, and range from the plausible to the less so. regardless, they are always an entertaining and thoughtful read and. So I was intrigued when I learnt that he had written a book based on the same premise, and keen to give it a read.

Each chapter in The Day It Finally Happens focuses on a speculative possibility. These range across a broad sweep of speculation and topics include The Day the UK Finally Abolishes its Monarchy, the first chapter and a personal favourite of mine as I’m anti-monarchy, The Day Antibiotics Don’t Work Anymore and The Day Nuclear Bombs Kill Us All.

Some scenarios are difficult to imagine: The Day The Entire Internet Goes Down, for example. This is an unlikely scenario as is The Day A real Jurrasic Park is Opened. Some, like The Day the US Completely Bans Guns are unrealistic for other reasons (does anyone ever believe America will come to its senses?). But others, such as The Day Humans Become Immortal are easier to visualise with the news constantly reporting advances in scientists quest to combat ageing.

There’s something here for everyone and this book is well worth a read, but the real strength is the author’s ability to get readers thinking about things differently. As a journalist who worked for nearly twenty years in television, I’m well versed with many of the arguments, but each chapter gave me at least one angle I hadn’t considered.

This is a great book, thoughtful and concise, and I would highly recommend it.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mike Pearl, Vice magazine columnist and author of The Day It Finally Happens: Alien Contact, Dinosaur Parks, Immortal Humans--and Other Possible Phenomena, is nervous. In fact, he suffers from "a paralyzing fear of things that are going to happen." The result is this carefully researched catalogue of hypothetical events ranging from the mildly disconcerting to downright terrifying. In chapters such as "The Day Humans Become Immortal" and "The Day the Entire Internet Goes Down," Pearl offers a compelling look at what may be in store for humanity.

Each chapter opens with a fictional narrative that imagines the "day it finally happens." In "The Day the UK Finally Abolishes Its Monarchy," readers learn how such a change could occur and what lasting impact it would have on Great Britain and Europe. According to the four-part metric that Pearl creates (Likely in this century? Plausibility Rating? Scary? Worth Changing Habits?), this one barely moves the needle. On the other hand, "The Day Nuclear Bombs Kill Us All," not surprisingly, ranks highest. He recalls the 2018 false ballistic missile threat in Hawaii, which leads to an explanation of what a real nuclear warhead would do. Readers may find their own anxiety increasing just reading about it.

"It's probably good that thinking about all this... makes us vow to never let it happen if we possibly can," Pearl says. Fascinating, disturbing and provocative, there's something here for everyone, since "if you're not both excited by and terrified of the future, you don't have a pulse."

-reviewed for Shelf Awareness 9-24-19

[Nick · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF (HA! I could barely stomach the introduction and first chapter)

At the very least, at the most minimal level this book had to be funny. The author had to have a sense of humor, be self-aware, and be humorous. He was not. I can't stress to you enough how UNFUNNY this guy is. He is, in fact, a tremendous bore. That's right, a book about B.S. predictions for the future is written with a straight face.

Completely removed from the writing, I was appalled at the citations in the back. In the first chapter he had eleven citations. Two of them were about the Avengers movie, and only one was from a source that was even recognizable (it was Forbes magazine, and it was about the Avengers movie). Instead of doing any REAL research, this guy Googled op-eds, blogs, and other random online articles to find stuff to fit his narrative.

What's his narrative? Leftist fear-mongering. He had already taken his shots at the environment, capitalism, republics, and "virtue-signaling." All in the . . . ten pages I read.

This is crap. If you're worried about the U.K. Monarchy falling apart then you clearly lead too easy a life.

[Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite what may be bleak subject matter, The Day It Finally Happens is a lot of fun. There are quibbles one can make with various arguments, but keeping in mind that many of the scenarios could easily fill their own tomes, it's well done and I felt like Pearl approached everything in good faith.

Some of the most entertaining or thought-provoking episodes are often the ones that aren't totally apocalyptic, such as a 100% roided Olympics, dissolution of UK monarchy, or banning guns in America.

Pearl's narration was better than I expected–I heard him on War College and didn't think he would fit the bill of a classical audiobook narrator–and his inflections and wry readings kept things lively.

[Eren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Akıcı olmasa da genel kültür açısından iyi bilgilere ve farklı bakış açılarına sahip olabiliyorsunuz.

[Ian Norri · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.7-3.8

[Holly Keimig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books that caught my eye at work and at the library and I knew I'd enjoy reading it. I like thought experiments like these and really enjoyed Randall Munroe's "What If" book so I felt fairly confident this would be enjoyable as well. Reading the introduction further confirmed it when Pearl writes "I’m not a statistician or a physicist. In fact, I’m terrible at math, but I do like to predict the future, and I’ve made a job of it. I just approach it a little differently because my main qualification is a paralyzing fear of things that are going to happen. My fear comes from an anxiety disorder - a very common mental illness. It’s a mixed blessing for someone who works as an explanatory journalist: it fills my head with ideas, but I hate the ideas." Since this has been a year full of anxiety and dread, it was almost strangely comforting to read about even crazier things that weren't happening (yet at least!). Pearl writes about the Day the Internet Goes Down, The Day the Next Supervolcano Erupts, The Day the Last Slave Goes Free, and the Day The Last Cemetery Runs of of Space, among other topics. Some were a bit tedious, but most were incredibly interesting to think about. Everything was well-researched, thought-out, and short enough to be bite-sized but still meaty enough to make you want more. I highly recommend this to other anxious readers who want to feel marginally better about most of the topics and a bit more scared about things they weren't even aware of before.

p.235-Day of the Dead-cultural issues and space issues are causing problems.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nonfiction book about various things previously considered impossible that the author addresses as plausible. He covers a wide range of topics, from the day that aliens make contact with the world, to the day that the last slave is freed, the last slaughterhouse closes, and when that Yellowstone Supervolcano blows. Each topic gets its own little 5-15 page chapter in which he writes about the plausibility of the topic, what is known about it (or not known as the case may be) and whether or not to start digging your survival shelter.

I learned some things here and there and thought this was a mostly interesting book. I saw it in a bookstore and knew I had to read it. I personally thought that the chapter about the day that the internet goes down was the most scary to contemplate. I had no idea the depth of the internet's function in society in 2020. Some of the topics were a little weird admittedly, like the day a baby is born on the moon being little more than a meditation on healthcare costs in the United States. The author does have his research to back up what he writes about, for the most part (maybe not so much for the healthcare on the moon because obviously that doesn't exist yet). This book only took me a couple of days to read and was both enjoyable and educational.

[Muge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yazar, aynı zamanda gazeteci Mike Pearl, yaşadığı kaygı bozukluğu ile başa çıkmak için bir yöntem geliştirmiş ve gazetede 'ne kadar korkmalıyım?' isimli bir köşede yazmaya başlamış. Yazılarında korkularını bir mantık zeminine oturtmaya çalışırken, ortaya bu kitap fikri çıkmış. Kitap gelecek korkuları ile yüzleşip onlarla başa çıkmak değil de, mantık çerçevesinde düşünüldüğünde belki de o kadar korkulacak bir durum olmadığını anlatıyor okura.
Mesela; insanlar ölümsüz olur ise ne olur, Suudi Arabistan'a petrol biterse bizi neler bekliyor olur, ayda bebek doğarsa sonuçları ne olur, nükleer silahlar bir gün herkesi öldürürse neler yaşanır, bir gün internet kapanırsa ne yaparız... Bu başlıklar ve daha birçoğu mantık çerçevesinde verilerle karşımıza çıkıyor bu kitapta. Beni en çok etkileyen 'insanların birbirini mükemmel bir şekilde taklit edebildikleri gün' oldu. Zaten birkaç program ile şu anda deneme aşamasında olan bu süreç, verilen örnek ile beni oldukça ürküttü ne yalan söyleyeyim. Kurgu dışı, değişik, başlıkları kaygı verici de olsa, anlatımı keyifli bir kitap okumak isteyenlere tavsiyemdir

[Keith Buzby · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book wasn’t quite what I expected it would be. I thought it would be more of a technical breakdown of what the world would look like on, say, the day antibiotics don’t work anymore or the day we get confirmation of the existence of intelligent extraterrestrials. I imagined the author describing the acts of governments, the United Nations, medical establishments, etc., and how it would feel to be a person experiencing those fateful days to come. Mr. Pearl does a bit of this with his “introduction” to each chapter, which is usually one hypothetical news report, twitter feed, or first person account.

Instead, his work is more rooted in the facts we have today and how likely these proposed scenarios are. This isn’t a bad way of going about the book, and it remains quite interesting and entertaining. It has the effect of feelings more grounded in reality. It certainly is thought-provoking and witty.

[Amit Verma · Rating 4 out of 5]

.It is a very good read for science candy seekers who get dopamine rush on getting practical peek into everyday science and how world around us works. Along with that it tries to guess in an enjoyable way how science and world will work in future.

Book covers very interesting topics like;
Driverless cars, ecological disasters, antibiotic, plague, skaughter houses, cemetery, nuke war and lots of facts and science about World.
Reading is highly enjoyable and fruitful. I learnt many useful things.
There is lots of India in the book, like Pushkar, surat plague, Indian roads, mob lynchings and much more.

One thing I wish I could change, will be pull out first three chapters and put them at end. They almost made me to quit book prematurely.
Except these three all chapters are sizzling snacks.
I recommend book to everyone, especially who wish to read about reality of our world.
Thanks edelweiss and publisher for review copy.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of essays investigating the most likely consequences if various awful events happen: the abolition of the British monarchy, legalizing doping in sports, Saudi Arabia running out of oil, the opening of a real Jurassic Park, when antibiotics no longer work. Things like that. An interesting and varied range of troubling potentialities, each given a likelihood of happening this century, a guess to plausibility of event, relatively scariness of event happening and whether the possible occurrence is worth changing our habits for. A clever concept, with fairly persuasive research about the interesting range of consequences that might result.
Read as a bedtime read, for which it was ideal, with relatively short individual essays, and a bright lively style.
This is one of those books that are lots of fun to read, full of interesting angles, all of which dissipate quickly upon finishing the book. So, I will not remember much, except that it was a cool book to read.