Mx3 Review: The Coffee Table Book of Doom by Steven Appleby & Art Lester

Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Plume; Original edition (September 25, 2012)
ISBN-10: 0452298660
Source: Publisher

Perhaps by the time you read this book some of the Doom scenarios included will no longer be global threats. Maybe the human race will have acted together to contain greenhouse gas production and tree felling. Or they will have developed a laser shield to deflect incoming asteroids.

Perhaps not.

And so begins The Coffee Table Book of Doom. Nothing like starting off on a light foot, eh? In the following 224 pages, authors Steven Appleby and Art Lester guide readers through the various ways the world may end, from robotic revolts, space earthquakes, and more. Told using dark humor and elaborately illustrated pages, each chapter focuses on the different ways our race may come to an end, from Climate Change Doom to Religious Doom and Cosmic Doom.

While the information is relayed in a tongue-in-cheek sort of humor, the authors do provide a great deal of information and background on each of the potential Doomsday scenarios, including explanations and evidence as to why these events are possible.

The incredibly detailed illustrations add a bit of levity to the overall feel of the book. Pictured here is an example of an illustration, detailing what sort of material items we would be without should fossil fuels be depleted:

As indicated, there is a great deal of humor interspersed throughout the book, so the overall feel isn’t as dark as one would think. That said, the content provided does make the reader think about their impact, their carbon footprint, on the world some of us take for granted. While I don’t recommend reading this book cover to cover in one sitting, it is a truly informative novel that I would recommend flipping through. Highly recommended to fans of dark humor, doomsday scenarios, those obsessed with the potential impending apocalypse…but perhaps not those terribly frightening survivalists who, in my opinion, are a doomsday scenario in and of themselves.