Everything Must Go

Talk about doomscrolling! Dorian Lynskey's book catalogs the numerous ways that the world might end, as portrayed in fictional media from Lord Byron's 1811 poem “Darkness” and H.G. Wells' [b:The Time Machine 2493 The Time Machine H.G. Wells https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327942880l/2493.SY75.jpg 3234863] and Emily St. John Mandel's amazing [b:Station Eleven 20170404 Station Eleven Emily St. John Mandel https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1680459872l/20170404.SX50.jpg 28098716]. The book is thematic rather than historic, but Lynskey asserts that the predominant cause of the apocalypses reflects the general anxieties of the era. Robots were first popular between the world wars, when the threats of fascism and communism invoked the fear of all-powerful machines without hearts. In the wake of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and again in the 1980s at the height of the nuclear arms race, nuclear armageddon was ascendent. Once we understood how viruses are transmitted, mad scientists unleashing contagious diseases proliferated. Lynskey is an engaging writer, but he gets a little too much into the weeds on some topics. I didn't need a refresher on the Manhattan Project to appreciate nuclear war themed apocalypses, and knowing who first coined the term “survivalist” didn't deepen my appreciation for [b:The Road 6288 The Road Cormac McCarthy https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1600241424l/6288.SY75.jpg 3355573]. But the longer it took me to read, the more I was able to avoid doomscrolling the current US descent into chaos.