"Updated to include dramatic new evidence from NASA and the National Academy of Sciences pointing to a knockout of the electrical power grid by solar systems expected to climax in 2012-2013."Don't look upIt won't help. You can't get out of the way, you can't dig a hole deep enough to hide. The end is coming, and there's nothing you can do about it.So why read this book?Because you can't look away when not just the religious fanatics are saying we're all going to be destroyed but the scientists are in on the act too. Here's what they're saying:We're a million years over due for a mass extinction.The sun at radiation minimum is acting much worse than at solar maximum, and one misdirected spewing of plasma could fry us in an instant.The magnetic field--which shields us from harmful radiation--is developing a mysterious crack.Our solar system is entering an energetically hostile part of the galaxy.The Yellowstone supervolcano is getting ready to blow, and if it does, we can look forward to nuclear winter and 90 percent annihilation.The Maya, the world's greatest timekeepers ever, say it's all going to stop on December 21, 2012.So, see? There's nothing you can do, but you might as well sit back and enjoy the show. You'll get a good chuckle.That's why you should read this book.Dear Reader,If there were a chance that opening this book could set off a chain of events that would lead to Apocalypse, to the end of Life as we know it, would you be tempted? Finger poised uncertainly above the flashing red button? How about if the Apocalypse promised to result in a new age of enlightenment, a Heaven on Earth like never before? Personally, I'll take the security of my cozy life over a chance at nirvana. But status quo may no longer be an option, for any of us. This book will convince you that there is a nonnegligible chance that the year 2012 will be more tumultuous, catastrophic, and, quite possibly, revelatory, than any other year in human history. Parts of this book are best read with a bowl of popcorn: looking into the jaws of a great white shark in search of the meaning of death; touring a picturesque Guatemalan town with Mayan shaman just weeks before it is utterly destroyed. Other sections go better with a tranquilizer, such as the impending eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano, or the mass extinction headed our way--on the scale of the great collision that destroyed the dinosaurs and 70 percent of all other species, our best scientists contend that it's now overdue. Nail-biters should beware the fact that the next peak in the sunspot cycle, due in 2012, is widely expected to set records for the number and intensity of solar storms pummeling the Earth with radiation and igniting natural calamities such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and Katrina-sized hurricanes. And that our entire solar system appears to be moving into a dangerous interstellar energy cloud. Is it a coincidence that the burgeoning war between Christianity and Islam seems hell-bent for Armageddon? Or that numerous other religions, philosophies, and cultural traditions are signaling that the end is near, with 2012 emerging as the consensus target date? A new era is about to be born, with all the pain and blood and joy and release that birth naturally entails. Facing oblivion, or at least mega-metamorphosis, is something that few of us are emotionally prepared to do. Thus my excuse for the gallows humor that pervades this story. In a memorable Mary Tyler Moore episode, Mary cracks up laughing at the funeral of Chuckles the Clown who, dressed as a peanut while marching in a...
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I love a good conspiracy. I don't believe them all, so I probably couldn't be labeled a conspiracy nut, but if there is strong evidence favoring one, I'll let my logical mind pick it apart and try to find some truth. Enter the prophecies concerning December 21, 2012: a multi-faceted prediction in Mayan culture and repeated in several other cultures throughout the earth dating back many centuries that the earth would experience some great change on this date. With only four years remaining, I decided it was time to see what humanity might have coming.
There are many books on the subject, but I selected Joseph's because it seemed the least likely to jump into a metaphysical journey of repentance. It was subtitled as being “a scientific investigation,” after all. Unfortunately for Joseph, you cannot really present a “scientific” argument for prophecies concerning the future and this claim has upset many in the science community, but at least an attempt to use scientific data was made.
The blurb for Apocalypse 2012 will lead you to believe that Joseph effectively uses humor to counter his doomsday message. Don't be mistaken. There is absolutely nothing funny about this book. Most of the scenarios the author presents as likely fulfillment of the 2012 prediction parallel McCarthy's The Road—a million laughs a minute. Don't be dismayed, however, as many of these possible scenarios seem an attempt to stretch the truth and the book's length to a bestseller.
Unfortunately, not all seem outside of the realm of possibility. Especially in regards to astronomical causes, there are many eery “coincidental” phenomenon expected to happen late in 2012, some having been pinpointed to happen exactly on 12/21/12. Joseph does a descent job of illustrating these, but having focused so much on the unlikely events (e.g. a terrorist group setting a bomb under Yellowstone, for example) takes away from the good points he does have.
Apocalypse 2012 is a good primer for the prophecy of December twenty-first. He explains the prediction itself and many interpretations of it. He even talks to living descendants of the Mayans to find out their views on the subject. All in all, Joseph has written probably one of the most believable and mainstream books concerning 2012. Regrettably, if something does go down in 2012, this book is probably not convincing enough to make anyone run for the hills.
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