Death from the Skies!

With wit humor and an infectious love of astronomy that could win over even the science-phobic this fun and fascinating book reminds us that outer space is anything but remote. The scientist behind the popular website badastronomy.com Philip Plait presents some of the most fearsome end-of-the-world calamities (for instance incoming asteroids and planet-swallowing black holes) demystifies the scientific principles at work behind them and gives us the odds that any of them will step out of the realm of sci-fi to disrupt our quiet corner of the cosmos. The result is a book that is both terrifying and entertaining?a tour of the violent universe we live in written with an enthusiasm that every stargazer will appreciate.