A Brief History of the End of the F*cking World
The hilarious and fascinating new book from the international bestselling author of HUMANS
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A Brief History of the End of the F*cking World
Narrated by:
Tom Phillips
Buy Now for £17.94
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Narrated by:
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Tom Phillips
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By:
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Tom Phillips
'Exceptionally funny from cover to cover, it is not only an entertaining read but also deeply researched and thoughtful' Irish Independent
'Fans of Phillips's earlier books Humans and Truth will be pleased that the ex-BuzzFeed editor is on form, not letting the grimness of his subject spoil his gagsmithery' Guardian
'A great read ... [Phillips] fills his timeline of unfilled apocalypses with wry humour' New Scientist
Do you feel like we're living in the end times? Does it seem like everything is on fire, and one disaster follows another?
Here's a small comfort: you're not the first to feel that way. If there's one thing that people throughout history have agreed on, it's that history wasn't going to be around for much longer.
This book is about the apocalypse, and how humans have always believed it to be very f*cking nigh. Across thousands of years, we'll meet weird cults, failed prophets and mass panics, holy warriors leading revolts in anticipation of the last days, and suburbanites waiting for aliens to rescue them from a doomed Earth. We'll journey back to the 'worst period to be alive', as the world reeled from a simultaneous pandemic and climate crisis. And we'll look to the future to ask the unnerving question: how might it all end?
But it's also a book about how we live in a world where catastrophe is always looming - whether it's a madman with a nuclear button or the slow burn of environmental collapse. Because when we talk about the end of the world, what we really mean is the end of our world. Our obsession with doomsday is really about change: our fear of it, and our desire for it, and how - ultimately - we can find hope in it.
Praise for the Brief History series:
'Uproarious . . . Abundant good humour' The Times
'Witty, entertaining and slightly distressing... You should probably read it' Sarah Knight, author of The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck
'Brilliant. Utterly, utterly brilliant' Jeremy Clarkson
'Very funny' Mark Watson
'Both readable and entertaining' Telegraph©2025 Tom Phillips
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Critic reviews
Superb ... entertaining ... Phillips traverses this sprawling terrain with energy and charm.
[A] topically valuable corrective for those who think - what with Gaza, Ukraine, floods, firestorms and fools with their fingers on world-ending buttons - we are indeed in the end times and should descend into our silos or colonise Mars ... Fans of Phillips's earlier books Humans: A Brief History of How we F*cked It All Up and Truth: A Brief History of Total Bullsh*t will be pleased that the ex-BuzzFeed editor is on form, not letting the grimness of his subject spoil his gagsmithery.
A great read ... [Phillips] fills his timeline of unfulfilled apocalypses with wry humour and keeps the queue of plagues and judgements accessible.
Exceptionally funny from cover to cover, it is not only an entertaining read but also deeply researched and thoughtful [. . .] his research is meticulous, and he lays it out with precision [. . .] What sets Phillips apart from other historical writers is his ability to mix academic research with comedy. He never simply presents historical facts; he delivers them with wit, sarcasm and a deep understanding of human absurdity. His writing allows for the historical details to be engaging, and his voice shines through every word. (Ksenia Samotiy)
Must listen for all earthlings!
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Dry, witty and entertaining
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A brilliant and highly entertaining book.
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Astonishing
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However, at the risk of being labelled a doom-monger, I take issue with the limited time and research given to climate and ecological collapse: basically about ten minutes, plus a few other references.
For example, there is no mention of the fact that, in the post-industrial age, extinction rates have increased by 100 to 1,000 times compared with any other point in human history. This puts us in the early stages of a mass extinction, albeit by only a few percent. Global wildlife populations, although not extinct, have declined by 70% in the last 50 years. This is something not seen on our planet for over 60 million years. This alone blows all the other, frankly menial, examples of apocalyptic doom scenarios combined in this book out of the water by a considerable margin. And that is just these two facts, there are hundreds more which Tom has not included.
It is also interesting that Tom refers to the words of the many negative climate commentators, although not by name, as rhetoric, but fails to mention that the media, governments and corporations are the ones feeding people lies and rhetoric to cover up the facts. If those facts had been revealed and acted upon many years ago, we might well not have to worry about this now at all.
Lastly, I would like to agree with Tom that humanity is, by nature, positive and resilient, and will not crumble easily in any crisis. However, to use Roger Hallam as an example of a doomsayer, and to compare him to an uneducated non-expert spreading fear about climate change based on a vague astrological opinion, is pretty poor research.
Roger Hallam was a farmer who gave up farming after climate change destroyed his farm. He did indeed co-found Extinction Rebellion, an organisation that has brought climate change and ecological collapse into mass public view for the first time, overcoming the lies and rhetoric of the elite and lobbied politicians.
Extinction Rebellion is also based in community and non-violence. At its heart, it is about the future and positive progress: working together, looking after each other, and resilience in its purest form. Not violence or doom. The example Roger gave in the interview Tom uses is a potential consequence of allowing the lies and rhetoric of the biased media, the uncaring rich and lobbied politicians to continue, and it still stands.
The key difference between climate and ecological collapse and all the other examples in this book is simply that it is not just the opinion of one person, a few people, or even hundreds of people who have a view and have gathered support for it. It is based on thousands of experts, scientists, world-renowned bodies and organisations, and they all agree.
And they have all been saying the same thing for years, even decades. The only reason this scenario is now apocalyptic is entirely thanks to the media, industries and politicians who have been lying to us for all these years. So thanks for a good read Tom, and even though I agree that climate and ecological collapse will probable not be existential, I would have appreciated it being dealt with in proportion to other examples in the book.
Almost brilliant
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