Adam Oster, Novelist

A while back, one of my favorite authors released a book called The Little Book of the End of the World. It was part of a series of books put out by a publisher as part of their series of “Little Books” which were about all sorts of things, from The Little Book of Welsh Culture to The Little Book of Pintfulness (which appears to be about beer. Actually, in looking through this series, it appears that most of these were about locations in the British Isles, which might make it apparent why Ken Mooney’s book about the end of the world didn’t feel like it got nearly enough attention when it came up.

Lucky for us, he has the rights to his words back, and now they’re out in the much better title of Apocalypse… Whenever.

I loved this book when it first came out, and really want you to give it a chance.

In fact, here’s my review of the book from back when I first read it. Although, I’ve got the new version of it loaded up on my Kindle already for a fresh read on all the new stuff he’s added.

Original Review:

The end of the world is something humans have philosophized about since long before we even invented philosophy. That being said, this book which aims at looking at how humans have viewed the Endtimes has more than enough content available.

Luckily for us, Mooney is able to use his great skill to condense all of this overwhelming content down into book form. Starting from as early in man’s history as he is able to take us, Mooney leads us on a journey through the history of Apocalypse, teaching us about how each culture has put its own spin on a tale which quickly begins to become rather similar from group to group. Mooney does an amazing job of giving credit and respect to each of these cultures, while also showing that there might be cause for further review, due to these basic concepts that seem integral to each.

As the story continues, we begin to see how the more recent views of the End of the World are when things really seem to be a bit more awkward, prophetic visions of specific end dates which come and go without issue. Mass suicides that occur based on needing to die at the exact moment an alien spaceship flies overhead. These are modern concepts, which might seem tame to four horsemen riding across the sky…but even that image is considered to be metaphorical by most.

I’m impressed by how Mooney takes all these differing ideas and never really seems to make fun of any of them, although keeping a tongue placed within his cheek as he comments on each.

There’s a lot to be learned within this tome, and Mooney’s writing style makes the learning a fun experience as well. Definitely recommend to any who have interest in the subject.