The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking)

Chapter 1: Introduction to the Cosmos

By Katie Mack, Assistant Professor, North Carolina State University

The question of how the world will end has been the subject of speculation and debate throughout history. One thing seems to be pretty clear: there will be, at some point, an end of everything.

Exactly how the universe ends, "what happens at the end of the story," is the focus of Cosmologist and NC State Professor Katie Mack's new book, The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking). 

In this except (Chapter 1: Introduction to the Cosmos) Mack intrdocuces us to “eschatology," the study of the end of everything. Though theological and philosophical texts are replete with how the end of the world will come to pass, Mack instead focuses on questions and answers that can be answered with scientific observation, mathematics, and physical evidence.

Mack argues that advances in science, have given us a vision of the far future of the cosmos and the tools to make leaps in our understanding that, until now, were previously impossible. After a look at the universe from the beginning until now, Mack explores its destruction. In subsequent chapters Mack offers five possibilities, chosen based on their prominence in ongoing discussions among professional cosmologists, weighing the best evidence for or against each of them..

Excerpted from End of Everything by Katie Mack. Copyright © 2021. Published by Scribner Book Company. Reprinted by permission.

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