The Ends of the World: supervolcanoes, Lethal Oceans, and the Search for Past Apocalypses is an oddly comforting read — because it turns out that, no, humanity is not the first species to utterly and spectacularly ruin its shot on Earth. Peter Brannen guides us through the history of life's worst days, with supervolcanoes, asteroid collisions, and toxic oceans that seem downright pedestrian compared to the ways we’re now engineering our own extinction event.

Brannen explains that for most of these apocalyptic eras, it was just nature’s doing: supervolcanoes blew up, asteroids dropped out of nowhere, the climate turned into a perma-sauna, and oceans acidified into sulfur baths. But no worries! This time, we’re doing the heavy lifting ourselves, with CO₂ levels racing to match some of the worst volcanic activity the planet’s ever seen. If anything, Brannen’s book is a reminder that Earth’s past mass extinctions took millions of years to unfold, yet here we are, industriously accelerating the process in the name of “progress.”

The book's real gift is showing us just how much of our own future is playing out in déjà vu. Poisonous oceans? Check. Climate-driven ecosystem collapse? Got it. Massive emissions? We’re on it! Coral reefs bleaching? Call me daddy!

So if you've ever wanted to read about all the times life on Earth hit the reset button — all while wondering if your elected officials might actually believe dinosaurs rode in the Ark — this book will take you on a tour of past calamities while subtly reminding you that our current crisis isn’t even original.

Recommended.