This is your universe, and it’s ending one second at a time. Some day, likely after our Sun has gone supernova and life as we know it has ceased to be, the universe will come to an end. I had heard of the hypothesis of the heat death of the universe before, and like all semi-informed people I thought I would become an expert by reading the first section of the Wikipedia entry on it. Turns out, the universe might be more complex than three paragraphs worth of summary. I tucked the idea into the back of my mind, basically accepting that our universe is fated to end at some point, and let it sit back there as a constant reminder of mortality and the unstoppable march of time.
Every once in a while it drives me to read an article or listen to an episode of podcast (shout-out to Ologies by Alie Ward) about cosmology, astrophysics, dark matter, or black holes. This lead me to an episode on the universe with guest Katie Mack. I heard a really enthusiastic scientist, who did a fantastic job of talking about her field in a way a dummy like me could understand. When I heard her get a recommendation on a later episode for her book about the end of the universe, I knew I had to check it out.
I try to read some non-fiction science book once a year, and it is always a bit hit or miss whether it becomes an engaging read or homework. I am happy to say that The End of Everything is the former. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of sentences and paragraphs that I had to re-read two or three times in order to process half of what it meant, but it never felt like a struggle to get through. Mack does a great job of injecting a sense of humor, existential curiosity, and an infectious love of explaining the universe in every page. After a quick refresh of how the universe began, she runs through five leading theories on how it may end. Heat death, the big crunch, vacuum decay; all your favorites are there. For the nature of the topic, it is a pretty fun read. If you can resist the thoughts of existential dread, I recommend it.