Book Review: Will The World End In 2012?

Doomsday. Armageddon. 2012. Fear. Chaos. I currently have R.E.M.'s "It's The End of the World As We Know It" running through my head.

Because...we are careening with breakneck speed towards the end of the world. No one may be able to guarantee when the earth will see her final days, but there is one thing that we can all agree on: we are closer now to the end than we've ever been.

The 2012 doomsday scenario is the most recent end-of-the-world phenomena to catch some semi-serious traction in our culture. I recently read the book "Will The World End In 2012?" by Raymond C. Hundley, subtitled "A Christian Guide To The Question Everyone's Asking." In this book, Hundley answers questions about the ten most popular predictions about how the world may end in 2012. The claims come from a much more diverse group of perspectives than I had previously thought, everything from the pseudo-religious (Nostradomus predictions, Mayan calendar) to the pseudo-scientific (Earth's alignment with the galactic plane) to very legitimate science (super volcanoes, NASA solar scientists predicting major solar activity in 2012). The chapter on the CERN experiments with sub-atomic particles was particularly eye-opening to me.

Overall, this book was mildly interesting at best. While the writer did a fairly good job of organizing the book into a memorable "top ten list" format, the material itself was as dry as a British soap opera. The fictionalized introductions to each chapter didn't help, either; they felt forced, out of place, and juvenile. While I appreciated the author's attempt to appeal to a secular audience, I think this book may be best suited to Christian high school students who want to have a more intelligent response to their overly dramatic peers. You know, the ones panicking about the world ending before they graduate...

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars. Thomas Nelson gave me a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.