Apocalypse 2012, Lawrence E. Joseph
Apocalypse 2012, Lawrence E. Joseph
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Apocalypse 2012
A Scientific Investigation into Civilization's End

Author: Lawrence E. Joseph

Narrator: Feodor Chin

Unabridged: 9 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/23/2007


Synopsis

Don’t look up

It won’t help. You can’t get out of the way, you can’t dig a hole deep enough to hide. The end is coming, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

So why read this book?
Because you can’t look away when not just the religious fanatics are saying we’re all going to be destroyed but the scientists are in on the act too. Here’s what they’re saying:

We’re a million years over due for a mass extinction.

The sun at radiation minimum is acting much worse than at solar maximum, and one misdirected spewing of plasma could fry us in an instant.

The magnetic field—which shields us from harmful radiation—is developing a mysterious crack.

Our solar system is entering an energetically hostile part of the galaxy.

The Yellowstone supervolcano is getting ready to blow, and if it does, we can look forward to nuclear winter and 90 percent annihilation.

The Maya, the world’s greatest timekeepers ever, say it’s all going to stop on December 21, 2012.

So, see? There’s nothing you can do, but you might as well sit back and enjoy the show.

You’ll get a good chuckle.
That’s why you should read this book.

Dear Reader,

If there were a chance that opening this book could set off a chain of events that would lead to Apocalypse, to the end of Life as we know it, would you be tempted? Finger poised uncertainly above the flashing red button? How about if the Apocalypse promised to result in a new age of enlightenment, a Heaven on Earth like never before?

Personally, I’ll take the security of my cozy life over a chance at nirvana. But status quo may no longer be an option, for any of us. This book will convince you that there is a nonnegligible chance that the year 2012 will be more tumultuous, catastrophic, and, quite possibly, revelatory, than any other year in human history.

Parts of this book are best read with a bowl of popcorn: looking into the jaws of a great white shark in search of the meaning of death; touring a picturesque Guatemalan town with Mayan shaman just weeks before it is utterly destroyed. Other sections go better with a tranquilizer, such as the impending eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano, or the mass extinction headed our way—on the scale of the great collision that destroyed the dinosaurs and 70 percent of all other species, our best scientists contend that it’s now overdue. Nail-biters should beware the fact that the next peak in the sunspot cycle, due in 2012, is widely expected to set records for the number and intensity of solar storms pummeling the Earth with radiation and igniting natural calamities such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and Katrina-sized hurricanes. And that our entire solar system appears to be moving into a dangerous interstellar energy cloud.

Is it a coincidence that the burgeoning war between Christianity and Islam seems hell-bent for Armageddon? Or that numerous other religions, philosophies, and cultural traditions are signaling that the end is near, with 2012 emerging as the consensus target date? A new era is about to be born, with all the pain and blood and joy and release that birth naturally entails.

Facing oblivion, or at least mega-metamorphosis, is something that few of us are emotionally prepared to do. Thus my excuse for the gallows humor that pervades this story. In a memorable Mary Tyler Moore episode, Mary cracks up laughing at the funeral of Chuckles the Clown who, dressed as a peanut while marching in a parade, was shucked to death by an elephant. If Mary can giggle in the face of death, so can we.

With kind regards,
Lawrence E. Joseph

About The Author

Lawrence E. Joseph is chairman of the board of New Mexico–based Aerospace Consulting Corporation. He is the author of several books and has written for a a number of major newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, Salon.com, Family Circle, Audubon, and Discover.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Wirotomo on December 15, 2012

saya beli buku ini saat diskon di bazaar buku Gramedia di Plaza Semanggi di bulan November. hanya Rp 15.000,- belakangan saya baru sadar, mengapa Gramedia harus secepatnya melakukan mega-diskon atas buku ini. Ini buku tentang kemungkinan2 kiamat pada akhir tahun 2012. Jika kiamatnya ternyata tidak te......more

Goodreads review by Linda on February 16, 2009

This book was hard to give stars to there were points of the book (the first chapter and the last 2 Chapters) I would have given it a 1. As it was I didn't finish the last chapter. I got sick of it. The in between. The scientific areas of the book. Those areas were wonderful and would have given it......more

Goodreads review by Alex on September 11, 2014

A very interesting and enlightening book regarding the potential of mankind’s end due to numerous factors that are imminently threatening. While I’m not sold on the idea of the specific date of the Mayan calendar being prophetic, the numerous issues he brings up bare considerable thought and helped......more

Goodreads review by Patrick on January 13, 2009

Lets talk synergy. I accidently happen to be reading this book in conjunction with “Decipher” which also mixes up Mayan myth and 2012. Oh, but there’s more. It is Armageddon Week on the History Chanel! What more could a closet survivalist ask for? Maybe “The Day After” on Blu-ray? I’m reading this bo......more


Quotes

“Fascinating . . . incredible research and an equally incredible sense of humor.”—Tim LaHaye

“Joseph is a lively tour guide, introducing readers to Mayan shamans and Russian scientists with equal aplomb.”— Publishers Weekly

Apocalypse 2012 manages to be both lighthearted in tone and more than a little disturbing in content.” – Maclean’s