The Prophet and the Astronomer: Apocalyptic Science and the End of the World

"An intellectual accomplishment that illuminates the magic and the wisdom of the heavens above."-Kirkus Reviews

"Tracing our contemplation of the cosmos from the big bang to the big crunch" (The New Yorker), Marcelo Gleiser explores the shared quest of ancient prophets and today's astronomers to explain the strange phenomena of our skies-from the apocalypse foretold in Revelations to modern science's ongoing identification of multiple cataclysmic threats, including the impact of comets and a...