Joan Levine
Last Updated on June 7, 2022, by eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 184
Lest we do ourselves in first with some nuclear holocaust there are any number of ways our planet can end—all perhaps as terrible, some more fascinating and beautiful to contemplate than others…. There is only one certainty: the world will end.
In order to understand why we can be so...
(The entire section contains 184 words.)
See This Study Guide Now
Start your 48-hour free trial to unlock this study guide. You'll also get access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts.
Already a member? Log in here.
Lest we do ourselves in first with some nuclear holocaust there are any number of ways our planet can end—all perhaps as terrible, some more fascinating and beautiful to contemplate than others…. There is only one certainty: the world will end.
In order to understand why we can be so assured of an end, [in "The End of the World"] Franklyn Branley traces the evolution of the earth, sun and moon from their hypothetical births to the present and predicts possible futures, none of which are optimistic. [The text is controlled and clearly developed.]…
Branley consoles us with the knowledge that each of these potential catastrophes is billions of years away. Perhaps by then we will have colonies on other planets in other solar systems…. Meanwhile he helps us picture the incomprehensible, which is the strength of this book—providing the reader a solid precipice to stand on while surveying The End of the World.
Joan Levine, "For Young Readers: 'The End of the World'," in The New York Times Book Review (© 1975 by The New York Times Company; reprinted by permission), March 2, 1975, p. 8.