Good Historical account of the beliefs/superstitions of a number of cultures. But come on, No one can predict the future... ( )

You know, if you're going to read about all the depressing ways the world might end in 2012, you might as well get a chuckle out of it. (Because apparently we won't be laughing for long!)

I don't know if I buy into all the 2012 hype, although it's interesting to read about. The writing was clever and funny. The author had lots of solid (?) examples. I couldn't put the book down (partly because I was petrified.) ( )

CRAP. Sorry for the pedestrian review. But this book is NOT scientific. Horrible read. Don't bother. ( )

Couldn't finish; utter crap. I was hoping for an intelligent, skeptically-minded exploration of the 2012 meme, but the intelligence was a thin veneer of credulous New Age-ism. I briefly hoped that it would be fun -- like a treatment for an apocalyptic action movie or an alternative history romp. But I couldn't get past the bullshit. ( )

I'm still not ready to buy into the idea that the world is going to end/be reborn on 12/21/12 but the book is certainly interesting and it does provide food for thought.

A few of the disasters he talks about don't have any particular tie to 2012. Yellowstone might erupt at any time, there's no reason to think it's especially likely in 2012 unless you believe that sunspots will cause it. (Also, the docudrama he mentions about Yellowstone erupting is very well done). Interestingly, that docudrama also deals with the fact that saying "we're overdue for x" where x equals a massive earthquake, die off, plague, volcanic eruption, isn't entirely meaningless, but it's still mostly a scare tactic, and one that the author of this book employs more than once.

Still, it sounds like 2011-2012 is going to be a very interesting time in terms of solar activity and activity in space.

The author also addresses the fact that it may become a self-fulfilling prophecy. There are certainly some fundamentalists (of all 3 major western religions) who think God just isn't moving fast enough on that whole Armageddon thing so they need to speed it along.

It's a very interesting book. I'm willing to concede that we may well have a more difficult year in terms of natural disasters and sunspots interfering with satellites, but I'm still pretty sure the vast majority of the human race will be around come 2013. ( )