The End of the World

Comets provide Geoffrey Dennis with a starting point for examining people's fears about the world's future. He describes their bright centres, surrounding haze, tails and movements, then follows the meanings attached to them across different times and places. Astrologers read warnings in the sky, rulers face predictions about their fortunes, and wine growers welcome signs of a promising vintage. These varied reactions bring astronomical explanations into contact with habits of belief.

The discussion also considers religious expectations of an approaching end. Dennis compares interpretations of Christ's predictions and the ways the four Gospels present them, connecting early Christian fears with earthquakes, floods and other upheavals. His prose combines physical description, historical examples and sharply expressed opinions. Readers interested in astronomy and the history of belief can explore how people turn unusual sights and troubled times into arguments about the earth's fate.