Omega : the Last Days of the World

Unusual novel/science essay/scripture from 19th-century French science popularizer Camille Flammarion. In the first half of the book, 25th century Earth anxiously awaits a collision with an immense comet. Will it end the world? At a scientific meeting in Paris, arguments (based on the latest 19th cent. science) are given pro and con for whether the end is at hand. One calculation, that of the size of Earth's atmosphere, 36,000 km, sticks with me. How do you get that number? Balance the outward centrifugal force of Earth's rotation with the downward weight of the air. This half I give 3 stars. The second half is a history of Earth and the Universe from after the comet to the real end of everything. It is a vast story of everything show more winding down, the Earth freezing, the last humans, the Sun a cold cinder, the triumph of entropy. This half gets 4 stars. show less

1.a PARTE - NO SEC XXV - As Teorias

A ameaça Celeste - p.9;
O cometa - p.22;
A Sessão do Instituto - p.34;
Como acabará o mundo - p.57;
O Concílio do Vaticano - p.93;
A crença no fim do mundo - p.104;
O choque - p.129

2.a PARTE - Dentro de dez milhões de anos

As etapas futuras - p.149;
As metamorfoses - p.169;
O apogeu - p.179;
Vanitas Vanitatum - p.196;
Omégar - p.203;
Eva - p.212;
O último dia - p.219

Epílogo - Dissertação Filosófica - p.232