The Coffee Table Book of Doom

Despite a snooty aversion on my behalf to things like the horrible histories series, I got quite caught up in this book. It’s a quick read with some fascinating titbits of information. The reader is taken on a vivifyingly depressing tour of our possible demises; asteroid impact, a gamma wave pulse, space-earthquakes (still only theoretical), space-bacteria/viruses, the reversal of the earth’s poles, a false vacuum event (where nothingness simply destroys us), a large solar storm, destruction of the ecosystem (encapsulating depleting fish-stocks, coral reefs, trees and bees), and the gradual erosion of genders (there’s more oestrogen in the world now). Essentially, if we make it through next year we should count ourselves lucky. It’s a bit depressing at points, but the illustrations by the Guardian’s Steven Appleby (Quentin Blake style) give plenty of levity. They typically digress from the text, acting as an addition rather than a complement. But they do give you a few titters.

In summary: titbits of info, a few titters. The book’s title threw me slightly, but having googled coffee-table book, I can see that this would indeed fulfil the function very well – diverting a bored guest, providing conversation-initiators, etc. Now I just need a coffee-table.

Available at amazon and some bookstores.

Steven Appleby and Art Lester, The Coffee Table Book of Doom (London: Square Peg, 2010), £14.99

Published 3rd November