Our Final Hour

by Martin J. Rees

Book Overview

A scientist known for unraveling the complexities of the universe over millions of years, Sir Martin Rees now warns that humankind is potentially the maker of its own demise--and that of the cosmos. Though the twenty-first century could be the critical era in which life on Earth spreads beyond our solar system, it is just as likely that we have endangered the future of the entire universe. With clarity and precision, Rees maps out the ways technology...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465068626
• ISBN13: 9780465068623
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

our final hour

Should be read by everyone on the planet and translated for this purpose. The more we know, the better we can live our lives from moment to moment and be thankful for what and were we have. I will read this book again as soon as I can

Fascinating look at threats to our future....

I'm frankly interested in natural disasters such as tornados, floods, and hurricanes. I find it fascinating how the human spirit can remain strong despite an environment which might at any time become deadly. "Our Final Hour" contains a scientists warnings about spectacular disasters we as human beings might one day have to face, and what if anything can be done to prevent/overcome these unforseen disasters. From flooding, to terrorist threat, this book plays out many scenarios with stunning and interesting outcomes. This book is not light reading and might take a while to plow through, but I enjoyed every minute. Its interesting stuff, and while I'm not particularly worried about these sort of cataclysmic events included in this book, its nice to be prepared- and it makes good fodder for science fiction writing. 5 stars.

A critical next fraction of a second

If we compress our solar system's entire lifecycle in a single year, the 20th century would present only a third of a second. In Martin Rees' more or less pessimistic outlook the next fraction of a second is crucial for the future of mankind.With worst case scenarios he warns for threats without enemies (cosmological catastrophes) as well as for man-made threats (environmental degradation, nuclear weapons, bio-terror, robotics or nanotechnology).He concedes that the technological future in our century is brilliant, where some mind-boggling artefacts like implants of computers in the human brain or the achievement of immortality should not be plainly dismissed. But there are darker sides at our scientific progress, making Huxley's 'Brave New World' a distinct possibility via designer drugs and genetic interventions.This book deals also with demography, cosmological travel and space emigration, the future growth of the human (or new) twig(s) and (for the author a key challenge) the search for alien life.Martin Rees did a tour-de-force by selecting and combining concisely vastly different fields in a small and easy understandable book. With excellent notes, this work, like all his other books, is a must read for all those interested in the fate of mankind.Carl Djerassi's autobiography 'The Pill, Pygmy Chimps and Degas' gives a lively picture of the political infightings in the organization of the here mentioned Pugwash conferences.

A frightening scenario, backed by facts

Martin Rees asserts in Our Final Hour that the odds are no better than half that the human race will survive to the end of this century. Martin Reesis a scholarly scientist, not a fanatic: his past writings have focused on analysis of the universe, and Our Final Hour persuasively imparts the alarming idea that in only another ten or twenty years, the rapidly evolving and expanding high technology used by terrorist groups could migrate to a few technically proficient fanatics as the result of rapid democratization of scientific information through the Internet. A frightening scenario, backed by facts, is Our Final Hour is timely and very strongly recommended reading.

Most important book ever written!

This book shows the dangers of advanced technologies and the strong probability that such technologies will cause the extinction of mankind later this century.I believe the author's hope that mankind may engage in worldwide cooperation to prevent such dangers is too optimistic since such dangers would not be evident to the average person until AFTER the advanced technologies were unleashed on mankind and mankind only had hours or days before the end.I think the Lifeboat Foundation's idea of making sure all of mankind is not in one location (the Earth) before these dangers are unleashed has the greatest chance of avoiding our extinction.