End Times

A Brief Guide to the End of the World

By: Bryan Walsh

Narrated by: Bryan Walsh, Corey Carthew

Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

In this history of extinction and existential risk, a Newsweek and Bloomberg popular science and investigative journalist examines our most dangerous mistakes - and explores how we can protect and future-proof our civilization.

End Times is a compelling work of skilled reportage that peels back the layers of complexity around the unthinkable - and inevitable - end of humankind. From asteroids and artificial intelligence to volcanic supereruption to nuclear war, veteran science reporter and TIME editor Bryan Walsh provides a stunning panoramic view of the most catastrophic threats to the human race.

In End Times, Walsh examines threats that emerge from nature and those of our own making: asteroids, supervolcanoes, nuclear war, climate change, disease pandemics, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and extraterrestrial intelligence. Walsh details the true probability of these world-ending catastrophes, the impact on our lives were they to happen, and the best strategies for saving ourselves, all pulled from his rigorous and deeply thoughtful reporting and research.Walsh goes into the room with the men and women whose job it is to imagine the unimaginable. He includes interviews with those on the front lines of prevention, actively working to head off existential threats in biotechnology labs and government hubs. Guided by Walsh's evocative, page-turning prose, we follow scientific stars like the asteroid hunters at NASA and the disease detectives on the trail of the next killer virus.

Walsh explores the danger of apocalypse in all forms. In the end, it will be the depth of our knowledge, the height of our imagination, and our sheer will to survive that will decide the future.

©2019 Bryan Walsh (P)2019 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"It's not easy thinking about all the ways the world can end, let alone writing a whole book about them. But Bryan Walsh has managed the feat and then some, delivering a book that's as analytically astute as it is terrifically written. It takes a special kind of writer to pull this off, and in Bryan Walsh we found him."(Ian Bremmer, New York Times best-selling author of Us Versus Them: The Failure of Globalism)

"In End Times, Bryan Walsh has put together the loudest, scariest wake-up call possible. And yet it's not a book without hope: Walsh lays out a challenging series of believable scenarios that can allow human beings to thrive along with our fellow earth-dwellers, in a way that requires only qualities we already have: compassion, intelligence, focus, and determination." (Mark Bittman, New York Times columnist and best-selling author)

"It takes a bold reporter and subtle thinker to survey the mortal threats we face and find a way towards hope; yet that is what Bryan Walsh has done in this terrifying, fascinating exploration of existential risk. Cascading catastrophes of the manmade kind are so frightful to consider that we naturally look the other way; but Walsh invites us to reckon with the world we've made, a crucial step towards taking responsibility for saving us from ourselves. The asteroids, the supervolcanoes, the plagues are not of our making; but the nukes, the climate disruption, the weaponized pathogens and challenges of AI are. With a storyteller's art and a scientists tools, Walsh helps us think the unthinkable, takes us to the observatories and laboratories where the future is made. Travel with him to doomsday and back, and nothing looks the same." (Nancy Gibbs, coauthor of New York Times best seller The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity)

great but odd accents by narrators

thought provoking, well researched and written. but narrator had odd practice of imitating tone and accent of every quoted individual. I found it super distracting. his especially pronounced Australian, German and English accents sounded cartoonist and stereotyped

Fascinating and frank look at existential threats to our species

Highly engaging, yet sober and well-researched treatment of a critically important subject (it’s about our ongoing existence, folks). The end of the world is a topic that usually gets sensationalized and fear-mongered. A strength of this work is that it manages to survey the key threats to our species, while simultaneously introducing us to the psychology and economic calculus that shapes how we think and choose to act in the face of known threats. This audiobook is effectively and enjoyably narrated by the author.

not what I expected

I fell asleep to it. boring and nothing new. not worth for free. dont waste your time.

keep bias to yourself

each chapter ends with its Trump's fault. Writer tell your story, don't care about your politics.

Fake news

This was an interesting listen until the leftist propaganda regurgitation commenced about half way through... move along, nothing to see here but a waste of education and my time.

Important topic ruined by needless political blather

Such an important topic. In my opinion THE most important topic. Often maligned, the topic of the methods of humanity’s demise are so important to take seriously and prepare for at both the governmental as well as the individual level. When I first heard Walsh interviewed on radio about his upcoming book I pre-ordered it immediately - finally, a respected journalist shining light on what is often a mocked topic. Then I started listening. The guy rails on and on and on about Trump. Not necessary. Not useful. I find it ironic that a guy who understands that most of these threats are on a timescale of hundreds if not tens of thousands of years. Yet, he spends so much time blathering on about a guy who, like him or not, will be in office 4, MAYBE 8 years. Typical elitist journalist. Takes such an important topic and ruins it with his incessant political commentary. Unreal. Sad. I came into this book wanting to give it 6 stars out of 5 but end the thing struggling to give it just 2.

Oh, one more thing. I like how the author makes the casual, yet serious, suggestion that gene editing in 'morality' - of course, I am sure, defined by his 'class' - could avert human bad tendencies. Seriously. I wonder what the author's commentary on this thought would be if it were President Trump's idea? It's got to be the worst idea I have ever heard in my life. Who gets to choose what is moral and not? The New York Times staff, friends and family?

Enjoyable content, but littered with personal bias

Book is decent, but the author presents opinion as fact and is emotionally and politically incontinent, which is a persistent problem throughout. I enjoyed several chapters, but had to skip parts. Unfortunately, it really dragged the book into the meh category.