May 3, 2005 9:24 pm
Reviews
Here is an arrangement I can live with: a while ago I got a message from one Jason Boyett, who reads my website. Yes, I’m as shocked as you, but let’s move on. Mr. Boyett had written a book, and he wanted to get the word out about his book, so he was looking to give away free copies thereof in exchange for a review.
Yes, that’s right: I was going to get a free book in exchange for reading said book and saying nice things about it. But what if the book sucked? My journalistic integrity would be on the line, and then I would feel bad for taking the book and then having to say bad things about it. I pondered this quandry for a good fifteen seconds before I decided to screw my journalistic integrity and just take the book.
Fortunately, it doesn’t suck. Crisis averted.
The book is called Pocket Guide to the Apocalypse: The Official Field Manual for the End of the World, from Relevant Books. I’m not sure if the title is really that long, but those are the words on the cover, so let’s just go with it. Somewhat like The Worst-Case Scenario Handbook, this provides a pretty detailed overview of ways that the world could end, and what you can do about it.
We start out with the Apocalyptionary, which defines all sorts of useful terms that you will need to know to understand the rest of the book. You need to read this chapter in order to be able to understand the rest of the book, unless you’re the sort of person who already knows what parousia means. In which case you should just read the chapter for the snarky commentary.
Following that comes the best part of the book: a list of failed prophecies of the end. It turns out that people have been predicting the end–and being wrong about it–for over 2500 years. This part is definitely the funniest section in the book, although to be fair Boyett’s got some help here, as most of these whack jobs don’t need a lot of snark to look funny. I was surprised by some things, though. Who knew that the Jehovah’s Witnesses had wrongly predicted the end eight times? And did you know that Benny Hinn, Lester Sumrall, and Kenneth Hagin had all also predicted the rapture without any luck?
But of course, fringe Protestant groups aren’t the only ones getting everything wrong, as we also hear about an Orthodox chap named Smirnov who predicted Armageddon (or something) in 2002 via e-mail. The freaky thing about this is that I actually remember receiving the e-mail mentioned in this book. Creepy. (But the world didn’t end, so we’re okay.)
Next chapter has a list of potential antichrists, whose only flaw is being somewhat dated since both John Paul II and Saddam Hussein are looking much less likely as antichrists these days. Then the most serious part of the book, an overview of different eschatological interpretations of the Bible. And then, for all you non-religious folk, a list of ways for the world to end via natural disaster or technological catastrophe. See, something for everyone. And don’t forget the Endies, a list of awards for apocalyptic fiction. These were really funny, and they mention Kurt Cameron twice.
So the book is good, and there are lots of worse ways that you could spend ten dollars. And it’s gotten me into an eschatological mood, so sometime in the next few days I’m going to post some thoughts about the right way to live in the Last Days.
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