In our first episode, you guys heard me quote from the book "Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End..." by Dr. Philip Plait. Now, two months later, I've finally had enough time to finish the book and tell you guys about it. This book is amazing. It takes astronomy, a field that can be laced with complicated science and mathematics and makes it easy for the everyday person to understand.
Basically, the book lays out all the different sort of astronomical events you hear about on the news that threaten our planet, such as asteriods, solar flares, black holes, etc. Each chapter tackles one of these events and tries to give the reader a basic understanding of how each of these events occur and how they can affect our planet. In addition, Dr. Plait tells what the chances are of these events happening close enough to hurt/affect us, and offers some solutions as to what Humanity can do to save itself should something occur.
I highly recommend people read this book, if for no other reason than so that the next time you hear the media or someone talk about how we're all "doomed" from *insert random space paranoia here*, you can smack them around with some scientific truth for once. Not only that, but you'll be surprised at how fun Dr. Plait presents the (complex) material in order to make it appealing to anyone, regardless of background. In my opinion though, the more actual science we can introduce to people and the less gossip we spread, the less people will panic and worry about stuff and start becoming part of the solution instead of part of the problem.
- Chris
