A Guide to the End of the World by Bill McGuire, Oxford University Press, £11.99, ISBN 0192802976
NOT so long ago, scientists were purveyors of a bright, shining vision of the future, populated by cheery folk who travelled to work on jet-packs, took holidays on the Moon and lived till they were 150.
Not any more. Now when scientists pop up in the media, all too often it’s to tell us that our future is anything but bright and shining. Global warming, meteor impacts, mega-tsunamis, mud slides—the roll-call of apocalypses they wheel out seems limitless—along with the shelf space devoted…
