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angus_mckeogh's review
3.0
Conceptually this book sounded extremely interesting. In practice it was a bit disappointing but still engaging enough to be good. However, and in retrospect probably it makes sense, but it wasn’t all that informative. More “what if’s” rather than educational snippets. More opinion than I anticipated. So not a bad read but not amazing.
holly_keimig's review
4.0
This is one of those books that caught my eye at work and at the library and I knew I'd enjoy reading it. I like thought experiments like these and really enjoyed Randall Munroe's "What If" book so I felt fairly confident this would be enjoyable as well. Reading the introduction further confirmed it when Pearl writes "I’m not a statistician or a physicist. In fact, I’m terrible at math, but I do like to predict the future, and I’ve made a job of it. I just approach it a little differently because my main qualification is a paralyzing fear of things that are going to happen. My fear comes from an anxiety disorder - a very common mental illness. It’s a mixed blessing for someone who works as an explanatory journalist: it fills my head with ideas, but I hate the ideas." Since this has been a year full of anxiety and dread, it was almost strangely comforting to read about even crazier things that weren't happening (yet at least!). Pearl writes about the Day the Internet Goes Down, The Day the Next Supervolcano Erupts, The Day the Last Slave Goes Free, and the Day The Last Cemetery Runs of of Space, among other topics. Some were a bit tedious, but most were incredibly interesting to think about. Everything was well-researched, thought-out, and short enough to be bite-sized but still meaty enough to make you want more. I highly recommend this to other anxious readers who want to feel marginally better about most of the topics and a bit more scared about things they weren't even aware of before.
p.235-Day of the Dead-cultural issues and space issues are causing problems.
p.235-Day of the Dead-cultural issues and space issues are causing problems.
megmermaid's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
2.5
The book wasn’t quite what I expected it would be. I thought it would be more of a technical breakdown of what the world would look like on, say, the day antibiotics don’t work anymore or the day we get confirmation of the existence of intelligent extraterrestrials. I imagined the author describing the acts of governments, the United Nations, medical establishments, etc., and how it would feel to be a person experiencing those fateful days to come. Mr. Pearl does a bit of this with his “introduction” to each chapter, which is usually one hypothetical news report, twitter feed, or first person account.
Instead, his work is more rooted in the facts we have today and how likely these proposed scenarios are. This isn’t a bad way of going about the book, and it remains quite interesting and entertaining. It has the effect of feelings more grounded in reality. It certainly is thought-provoking and witty
Instead, his work is more rooted in the facts we have today and how likely these proposed scenarios are. This isn’t a bad way of going about the book, and it remains quite interesting and entertaining. It has the effect of feelings more grounded in reality. It certainly is thought-provoking and witty
veecaswell's review
5.0
Review: The Day It Finally Happens by Mike Pearl.
For fans of such bestsellers as What If?,The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook and The Uninhabitable Earth, as well as Steven Pinker and Malcolm Gladwell, this is a book about future events that we don’t really understand and getting to know them in close detail.
What I love about this book is that yes you get the what if’s and all the research, but at the beginning of every chapter are these scenarios in place, and they make for some funny but brilliant reading. The chapter about doping at the Olympics for example begins with a Keirin race commentary that will make you laugh and you will never forget - I read it a couple of times just to make me laugh- the way Pearl writes is just fun and it makes this book so easy to read.
Pearl uses science and his wit to bring us a book that is packed with fascinating imformation, talking to experts and academics for every chapter - and the graphs in particular near the beginning of the book around human population are unforgettable. Another interesting chapter around when Saudi Arabia will dig up it’s last barrel of oil, also has that wit, but also that depth and detail that a scientist brings to a book.
An excellent book that highlights how the might world look in the future or an alternative universe, this book is a hooking and brilliant read that keeps you curious. I would even recommend Pearl take some of these short scenarios and create a book from one, I would read it if this is anything to go by.
(I received an ARC from Netgalley for honest review).
For fans of such bestsellers as What If?,The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook and The Uninhabitable Earth, as well as Steven Pinker and Malcolm Gladwell, this is a book about future events that we don’t really understand and getting to know them in close detail.
What I love about this book is that yes you get the what if’s and all the research, but at the beginning of every chapter are these scenarios in place, and they make for some funny but brilliant reading. The chapter about doping at the Olympics for example begins with a Keirin race commentary that will make you laugh and you will never forget - I read it a couple of times just to make me laugh- the way Pearl writes is just fun and it makes this book so easy to read.
Pearl uses science and his wit to bring us a book that is packed with fascinating imformation, talking to experts and academics for every chapter - and the graphs in particular near the beginning of the book around human population are unforgettable. Another interesting chapter around when Saudi Arabia will dig up it’s last barrel of oil, also has that wit, but also that depth and detail that a scientist brings to a book.
An excellent book that highlights how the might world look in the future or an alternative universe, this book is a hooking and brilliant read that keeps you curious. I would even recommend Pearl take some of these short scenarios and create a book from one, I would read it if this is anything to go by.
(I received an ARC from Netgalley for honest review).
pio_near's review
3.0
TBF, some absolutely amazing articles. Also, som real stinkers... overall, you won't die if you read this!
bogfinchgirl's review
2.0
Similar to some other reviews I read, this book is a bunch of short musings on random things the author found interesting. I read the first few chapters in order like a book, then I was bored. I jumped around reading ones that interested me. Some I would start and find boring, so I stopped and moved on to the next one that sounded promising. I guess I was thinking this would be comparable to Mary Roach’s books. It was not.
kayeness's review
3.0
I enjoyed the writing, but I didn't finish it. I had the opposite response to the author's intention of lessening anxiety. It made me a lot more anxious! I enjoyed the stuff I read though.