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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Oh no, it's the end of the world! (again), April 28, 2010
I've enjoyed reading a new book which discusses, and debunks, some of the major catastrophic events predicted to occur in 2012. The book, Will the World End in 2012?, was prompted by the movie "2012" which presented some of the most outrageous disaster scenes not seen since the movie The Day After Tomorrow (same director).
Its author, Dr. Raymond C. Hundley, a pastor and professor, takes on the top ten 2012 claims which includes:
1. The Mayan Long Count Calendar: They actually predict a new era, not destruction.
2. Solar storms: It could mess up your radio reception and blow out a few computers, but I hope we get a terrific evening light show like the Aurora Borealis.
3. CERN and the Large Hadron Collider: This one reminds of a StarGate SG-1 episode
4. Nostradamus: I'm so tired of this guy. If you make 50,000 predictions you might get a couple right.
5. Reversal of the poles: Huh? Do we have replace all the compasses?
6. Planetary collisions: Not in the cards at this time.
7. Galactic planetary alignment: This goes on all the time somewhere in the universe.
8. Eruption of a super-volcano: O.K., after seeing this Iceland volcano blast, this sort of worries me.
9. The WebBot project: The geeks answer to Armageddon!
10. Religious predictions: I can't find an actually date in the Bible.
Hundley's book takes you through each prediction and provides rational explanations why each one has little or no substance to it. It's a quick read and enjoyable.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
An analytical, investigative work? Not so much., May 24, 2010
This review is from: Will the World End in 2012?: A Christian Guide to the Question Everyone's Asking (Paperback)
Over the course of ten chapters, Hundley outlines 10 theories held to by so-called "2012 Doomsday theorists". Providing their main point, occasionally with a counterpoint, and a summary. The summary of this book itself sets you up to believe that Hundley "analyzes the predictions...", "investigates the claims...", and "takes a close look..." at each of these theories.
My contention? The book is full of crazy theories (they are what they are...nothing Hundley can co about that) fleshed out by half-baked research.
At one point, a theory is outlined and Hundley writes that it is "confirmed by [...]". I checked out the site - it's some random blogger's Web site that hasn't been updated in a year and a half. This is what we would consider to be analytical investigation?
The subtitle to this book is "A Christian guide to the question everyone's asking". I was pleased to note that for a "Christian guide", we finally got to see some Scripture buried in Chapter 10 -- only alongside other religious predictions held by Hindus, Muslims, Hopi Indians, and others. And, quite frankly, this section simply outlined the verses of end-times prophecy we all read in our Bibles anyway. No additional analysis or understanding provided.
The last two chapters, I think, try to sum up the point that Hundley wants to make. Here, he provides his "Final Evaluations" and "Preparation for the End of the World". His final summary:
So the answer to the question in the title of this book, Will the World End in 2012?, is: it could but it might not. (p. 133)
Well, thank you Dr. Hundley. He continues here to flesh out his personal opinions based on the previous ten chapters. And, of course, ends up with the exact same point that we all knew from the beginning -- it could, but it might not.
Hundley rightfully points out the fact that Jesus Himself said He didn't know the day or the hour, and follows up with providing a mediocre outline of the gospel and a challenge to be prepared for this time. But even here, his attempt to substantiate and verify the truths of Scripture and the gospel message are par-baked and fall flat.
While I leave this book feeling like I understand a few of the points that doomsday theorists hold on to, I'm most grateful that it was a quick read. Now I can get back to living my life -- living passionately as if the world will end on May 25, 2010 - but preparing that it might not end until 2013...or later. After all, if Jesus Himself didn't know when the end would come, why would I spend any time trying to figure it out?
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
End of the world? Prove it!, May 3, 2010
This review is from: Will the World End in 2012?: A Christian Guide to the Question Everyone's Asking (Paperback)
Think the world is going to end soon? You aren't the only one. Think the world is ending in December 2012? We'll see about that...
I'm a huge "fan" of eschatology and a couple of my favorite books are all about the End Times. So it was with great anticipation that I obtained a free copy of "Will the World End in 2012?" from the publisher in return for a review. The book analyzed various different hypotheses about how the world will end and when. Whether it's the Mayan calendar predictions around December 12, 2012, the second coming of Christ, or Old Faithful erupting, Hundley summarizes various possibilities and then comes to his own conclusion as to whether the hypothesis is conceivable.
It's a quick read - at least 1/4 of the book is just NOTES in the back. Because of that, I also found this book to be very superficial. Given the weighty topic he has chosen to write about, I was surprised that Hundley treats each one very quickly and doesn't go into great detail at all. For example, I don't know much about the Large Hadron Collider experiments and would have thoroughly enjoyed reading more - much more - about these machines and what scientists are trying to do with them. Instead, Hundley spent 6-7 pages giving a summary background, providing a few pithy quotes, and then offering a quick conclusion as to whether the Collider can cause Armegeddon.
It's like Hundley wrote a primer for another, better book. Yes, the content was interesting, but the delivery was poorly executed and left me frustrated by it's supreme brevity.
I'm sure the author's heart was in the right place (he mentions at the beginning that he is a Christian). The goal of his book is to show that despite how the world does end, the importance is to be in a right relationship with God when the time does come. But I think the book could have been executed much better in order to have a bigger impact on his larger message.
This book only gets 2 stars out of five. The two stars are for what the book DOES provide - some basic information about the end of the world and how it could happen. But had the author spent more time (and pages) on actual content, this book easily could have gotten a higher rating.
I got this book for free from [...] and was asked to read and review the book. The opinions expressed in this review are wholly my own and I was not required to write a positive review.
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