'Superb ... entertaining ... Phillips traverses this sprawling terrain with energy and charm' Telegraph

'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