Softcover

ISBN 10: 0870819615 ISBN 13: 9780870819612

Publisher: University Press of Colorado, 2009

December 21, 2012. The Internet, bookshelves, and movie theaters are full of prophecies, theories, and predictions that this date marks the end of the world, or at least the end of the world as we know it. Whether the end will result from the magnentic realignment of the north and south poles, bringing floods, earthquakes, death, and destruction; or from the return of alien caretakers to enlighten or enslave us; or from a global awakening, a sudden evolution of Homo sapiens into non-corporeal beings—theories of great, impending changes abound. In The End of Time, award-winning astronomer and Maya researcher Anthony Aveni explores these theories, explains their origins, and measures them objectively against evidence unearthed by Maya archaeologists, iconographers, and epigraphers. He probes the latest information astronomers and earth scientists have gathered on the likelihood of Armageddon and the oft-proposed link between the Maya Long Count cycle and the precession of the equinoxes. He then expands on these prophecies to include the broader context of how other cultures, ancient and modern, thought about the “end of things” and speculates on why cataclysmic events in human history have such a strong appeal within American pop culture.

About the Author:

Anthony Aveni is the Russell Colgate Distinguished University Professor of Astronomy, Anthropology, and Native American Studies at Colgate University. He has researched and written about Maya astronomy for more than four decades. He was named a U.S. National Professor of the Year and has been awarded the H. B. Nicholson Medal for Excellence in Research in Mesoamerican Studies by Harvard’s Peabody Museum.

Review:

"[Aveni] writes with a mastery and polish that is wonderfully accessible."
—The New York Times Book Review

"Anthony Aveni is a passionate scholar and a vivid, engaging writer. . . .He is a polymath, too, with as astounding range of interests and knowledge. Like Jared Diamond, Aveni is a brilliant synthesizer, and a delightful one."
—Oliver Sacks

"Anthony Aveni delivers the goods on 2012. This isn't really a book about the Maya. It's about us. Read it now while there's still time."
—Dr. E.C. Krupp, Director, Griffith Observatory

" A concise and authoritative overview, providint a valuable introduction for non-exoerts. . . . The writing style is engaging and clear, and the author never talks down to the reader. Summing up: Highly recommended."
—Choice Magazine