A Brief History of the End of the F*cking World

Brief Histories Series

De: Tom Phillips

Narrado por: Tom Phillips

'Superb ... entertaining ... Phillips traverses this sprawling terrain with energy and charm' Telegraph

'Exceptionally funny from cover to cover, it is not only an entertaining read but also deeply researched and thoughtful' Irish Independent

'Fans of Phillips's earlier books Humans and Truth will be pleased that the ex-BuzzFeed editor is on form, not letting the grimness of his subject spoil his gagsmithery' Guardian

'A great read ... [Phillips] fills his timeline of unfilled apocalypses with wry humour' New Scientist


Do you feel like we're living in the end times? Does it seem like everything is on fire, and one disaster follows another?

Here's a small comfort: you're not the first to feel that way. If there's one thing that people throughout history have agreed on, it's that history wasn't going to be around for much longer.

This book is about the apocalypse, and how humans have always believed it to be very f*cking nigh. Across thousands of years, we'll meet weird cults, failed prophets and mass panics, holy warriors leading revolts in anticipation of the last days, and suburbanites waiting for aliens to rescue them from a doomed Earth. We'll journey back to the 'worst period to be alive', as the world reeled from a simultaneous pandemic and climate crisis. And we'll look to the future to ask the unnerving question: how might it all end?

But it's also a book about how we live in a world where catastrophe is always looming - whether it's a madman with a nuclear button or the slow burn of environmental collapse. Because when we talk about the end of the world, what we really mean is the end of our world. Our obsession with doomsday is really about change: our fear of it, and our desire for it, and how - ultimately - we can find hope in it.

©2025 Tom Phillips (P)2025 Headline Publishing Group Limited

Thoroughly fun look as the end of the world

I have always enjoyed the author’s thoroughly humorous and entertaining takes on various subject matte. Having an interesting cults and doomsday scenarios, I found this book very good indeed!

Incredibly Thorough and Captivating

One of the most thought provoking and creative books I have ever read/listened to in my life.

Great book

Educational, enlightening, and entertaining. Definitely looking forward to more. Tom Phillips is a good author and narrator. Well worth one credit

well researched information

very good but Tom's narrative style is a bit depressing. it's not a funny book as advertised. it's serious and thought provoking.

Never buy a book with "F*ck" in the title.

I could not get into this book. The various "end of the world" believers / con-artists and their stores were mildly interesting. But the flow of the book was just monotonous. Then he went all in on the "real threat" to the end of the world... A time when the most horrible creatures on the planet pumped deadly toxin into the air.... Yep CO2 and Man-Made global warming.

Should have known. I've never bought a book with "F*ck" in the title that wasn't crap. Returned.