Countdown!: Or, How Nigh is the End?

Patrick Moore is Britain's most respected and best-loved astronomer. In Countdown! he looks at the multifarious theories of how and when the world will end, most of which involve extra-terrestrial forces, from St Augustine to the Millennium Bug via Nostradamus. With a healthy dose of irreverent humour he investigates and dismisses the weird and wonderful predictions of sometimes imminent cataclysm, before turning to the science of what might really happen (a long, long time in the future, thankfully). Written with his trademark combination of wit and accessible science, this is a must-read book for anyone with an interest in popular science in general, and how the world will end in particular.