SEVENEVES

What do you do when the world ends?

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson

Wow. That is the first word that comes to mind when I think of this book. The scope of this story is tremendous. It must have taken years to work through all the details. The result is spectacular. The only disappointing thing about Seveneves is that I didn’t understand the title until I was two-thirds of the way through the book (I won’t spoil it for you).

I originally thought the title had to do with the destruction of the moon and how it broke into seven large pieces. That turned out not to be the case. The people of Earth soon realized the end of the moon would eventually lead to the end of mankind as the moon rocks broke up and fell to the Earth, super-heating the atmosphere and rendering the surface uninhabitable for several thousand years. How do you overcome odds of that magnitude? With science!

And there is an unbelievable amount of scientific theory in there, most of which deals with the difficulties of sustaining life out in space. There is plenty of content to nerd out to if you are a fan of hard science fiction. You might want to brace yourself before you begin, though. Seveneves may take a while to finish. I hope you enjoy the ride!