For almost 3,000 years apocalypse prophecies have convinced people all
over the world that the future is about to give them the world they want
instead of the world they've got. All the end time prophecies splashed
across the media in every age have had something else in common: every
one of them has been wrong. Apocalypse Not is a lively and engaging
survey of predictions about the end of the world, along with the failed
dreams and nightmares that have clustered around them. Among the stories
highlighted in Apocalypse Not are: the birth of the apocalypse meme
out of archaic star myths in the ancient Middle East; the failed end
time prophecies of Nostradamus, Mother Shipton, and other famous
prophets; the long and murky road from the Great Pyramid to today's
Rapture beliefs; and the real origins of the belief in apocalypse in
2012 (hint: it's not originally Mayan at all).