2012: Extinction or Utopia: Doomsday Prophecies Explored

by J. Allan Danelek

Is 2012 the end of the world as we know it? From 2012 to global warming to worldwide pandemics, doomsday scenarios play an increasingly large role in our lives. Do any of these apocalyptic scenarios pose a real, urgent risk? Why does our modern culture continue to embrace these bleak beliefs, and how are they affecting our world? Separating hype from truth, J. Allan Danelek scrutinizes the ancient Mayan calendar's end date of 2012 and takes a hard look at whether it spells the end of the world―or a new beginning. Danelek also delves into other doomsday beliefs past and present, from biblical end-times prophecies to biological warfare, and discusses the predictions of world-famous prophets such as Nostradamus and Edgar Cayce. With piercing logic, Danelek objectively explores the apocalyptic threats that have captured our imagination . . . and reveals startling insights about what kind of future―dire or dazzling―awaits humanity.   

216 pages, Paperback

First published November 8, 2009

About the author

A native of Minnesota but a resident of Colorado since 1969, my life has been a journey that has taken me down many different paths—some good and some not so good—but all of them useful in my journey. After a stint in the Navy (as a navigator and, briefly, an air traffic controller) I attended the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, specializing in illustration and graphic design. Since then, I have worked for a wide array of employers, from the public school system to the aerospace industry. I even worked for a couple of years laying out an international magazine for a local televangelist (who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty). After doing a gig as a part-time driving instructor (lotsa fun and a very educational experience) I'm back in the graphics industry once again while I wait for my "ship to come in"—whenever that might be. In the meantime, I continue to keep my hand in free-lance graphics, teach classes as various Front Range community colleges and other venues, and work on my tennis game—unfortunately with little success. I currently live in Lakewood, Colorado (a suburb of Denver) with my wife, Carol.
Besides writing, my hobbies include—but are not necessarily limited to—tennis, biking, and chess. I am also into political history (I can name all 44 presidents along with the years they were president and what party they were, none of which has proven useful to date), world and military history, religion and spirituality, science fiction (huge Star Trek fan even though I don’t own any uniforms), numismatics (coin collecting) paleontology, astronomy, and such Fortean subjects as Bigfoot, UFO's and things that go bump in the night. I enjoy writing both fiction and non-fiction, much of it with decidedly spiritual, religious, cryptozoological, historical and/or paranormal overtones, and consider writing to be my life's passion.

I'm ashamed to admit I didn't pursue my writing career with the prerequisite determination until fairly recently (I like to think of it as a progressive learning thing) with my first published feature article appearing in the March, 2002 issue of Fate magazine. Striking up a good relationship with Fate's parent publisher, Galde Press, I decided to submit an entire manuscript for consideration and in September of 2003, I was blessed with my first book, Reconsidering Atlantis: A New Look at a Prehistoric Civilization (now out of print). While the book proved to be a financial failure (Galde being a small subsidy press that lacked promotional and distribution capabilities) the experience gave me the confidence to pursue other larger publishers with some other ideas I had been working on. Eventually Llewellyn International out of St. Paul, Minnesota—a publisher known for its astrological and paranormal-themed products—picked up The Mystery of Reincarnation and my career as a “real-life” author began to gain traction. Over the next four years I added six more titles to my repertoire and have branched out to include books on aviation history and even co-authored a book about alien abductions!
Throughout it all I never gave up my first-love, which is novel writing. With a half-dozen unpublished—and largely unseen—manuscripts languishing on my computer hard-drive, I finally approached the owner of Adventures Unlimited Press out of Kempton, Illinois, David Hatcher Childress (yes, that David Hatcher Childress) who had been kind enough to pick up my book on aviation history, to see how he felt about putting out some fiction. David proved to be receptive to the idea and even gave me the opportunity to not only submit a science horror trilogy, but even allowed me to do the layout and cover designs as well, which is a rare thing for publishers to do nowadays. (In fact, I can't think of any full service publishers who do that! As such, my metaphorical hat goes off to David for letting me take the book from concept to final product and, especially, for the faith he has shown in permitting me th

Reviews

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I read through a pile of accumulated books I found this one which I bought because I thought it would be funny. In reality, despite the cheesy cover, it's a really good book filled with details about the history of prophecy from the Bible, Nostradamus and Edgar Cayce. The author also discusses potential doomsday scenarios in a very balanced and informative way. I learned about Mayans and some science factoids and a lot about the Bible which I find all very interesting.

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

I saw this book on the "New Non-Fiction" shelf at my local library and thought I'd check it out, especially with the all the chatter about how the world is going to end in 2012 that I knew very little about.

It was a good choice. J. Allan Denelek's "2012: Extinction or Utopia" is an easily accessible and quick reading book (less than 2000 pages) that clearly and concisely explains what prophesy is, gives examples of 'prophets' (Nostradamus and Edgar Cayce), talks about the psychology behind believing in prophesies, especially ones that sound so incredibly outlandish, explains the hysteria with 2012 and the Mayan Calendar, as well as Bible prophesies, and doomsday prophesies from the Bible, human culture, nature, and extraterrestrials. He is a friendly and easy to understand narrator as he takes care to keep you informed on where he is going with the narrative and to thoroughly explain how he came to his conclusions so that way, even if you don't agree with him, you understand how he got to believe what he believes. He also details his experience with believing in religious end times prophesies and how he came to rethink his beliefs. For these things, I am a grateful reader.

My biggest turn off was the chapter about extraterrestrials. His future scenerios of aliens looking to save us from ourselves or aliens looking to take us over just seemed too simple and Hollywoodesque for my tastes. But it did give me a lot to think about that I hadn't previously thought of before, so even though it was a strike for the book, it is also a plus because it is getting me to think in a different way.

I'd recommend it to anyone looking to learn more even though they don't believe in any of the hype, which seems to be Danelek's angle.

[Michael Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Danelek shows you how much hysteria is out there in the world...he advises to use discernment when you hear or read about topics about the end of the world.