HOW IT ENDS

Reviewed 1/26/2011

How It Ends, by Chris Impey

Access to this book courtesy of the

HOW IT ENDS From You To the Universe Chris Impey New York: W. W. Norton and Company, March 2010				Rating: 4.0 High
ISBN-13 978-0-393-06985-3
ISBN-10 0393-06985-0	352pp.	HC/BWI	$26.95

Despite its title, this book seems to be more about beginnings than endings. It covers the origin of humanity, the origin of Earth, the origin of the Solar System, and possible scenarios for the origin of life. Endings are also discussed, but in a somewhat cursory manner, especially in the early chapters. Also the discussion of endings is speculation; a better title for the book would have been "How It Could End." This is not really objectionable: much more material is available about beginnings; and they are a far more cheerful category of subject.

I do fault the book for misinformation on a number of topics, especially in the early chapters, but continuing right on through to the end. These are listed on the Errata page. I put them down to haste or distraction due to the press of other duties rather than lack of knowledge on Dr. Impey's part; he is a professor of astronomy1 after all, and the University of Arizona is one of the top-rank schools in that discipline. This book presents a wealth of information and is a good read, but its lapses were annoying enough that I marked it down two notches.

Some examples:

He writes that cholera and smallpox are unheard of in the industrialized world. This blanket statement is certainly true of smallpox; it was eradicated in 1979, not just from the industrialized world but from the whole world. As for cholera, it's fairly easy to handle but I expect cases occur in the U.S. due to greater international travel. The latest was a Florida woman who picked it up November 2010 in Haiti where there is a recent outbreak.
He says that cancer cells survive by shutting down their mitochondria. Hello?
He writes that theory says water came to early Earth via asteroids and meteors. Not via comets?
Discussing the Chicxulub impact that killed the dinosaurs, he ascribes their death to the wrong effects of the impact.
He states that a hundred tons of "interstellar debris" fall on Earth every day. No doubt the amount is right, but the origin is our own solar system.
In discussing Ward's and Brownlee's criteria for the development of complex life, he says the presence of a large moon is required to stabilize its primary's orbit. No, it's to stabilize the planet's obliquity.

This book imparts a large quantity of information about subjects varying from human diseases to the apparent absence of ET to the possibility of multiple universes to the speculation that dark energy will live up to its name by causing the death of our universe a few trillion years from now. Impey enlivens this information by citing authors such as Diane Ackerman and Olaf Stapelton, and by including plenty of pop-culture references. He also has a gift for the "homey analogies" he says astronomers love, and he can come up with an artful turn of phrase now and again. The text is enhanced by a wealth of photographs and figures. The Endnotes come close to being chapters in themselves. There is a Glossary, a Reading List with 55 entries, and a very good index. In short, this is a very enjoyable read, and it's well-organized enough that I rate it a keeper.

1 Says the book jacket, "Chris Impey is a University Distinguished Professor in the Astronomy Department at the University of Arizona in Tucson. His research focuses on observational cosmology, gravitational lensing, and the evolution and structure of galaxies."

Errata for How it Ends