How to Survive the End of the World: A Graphic Exploration of How to (Maybe) Avoid Extinction, STEM [Non-fiction, Graphic Art Publication]

How to Survive the End of the World: A Graphic Exploration of How to (Maybe) Avoid Extinction by Katy Doughty & illustrated by Katy Doughty 

ISBN: 9781536232790
Hardcover $24.99
Age 14-Up, Grades 9-Up
MIT Teen Press 

My thoughts: I have mixed feelings about this book. Firstly, I don't care for graphic novels, etc. As a child I did love the comic books and the Sunday newspaper comics section. But those days are past. However, I do concede that there is a certain attention-grabbing quality to a graphic book or story, and I also acknowledge that the genre is actually "genre spanning" and can be a useful tool to get reluctant readers to read or to educate interestingly about the mundane.

So where does How to Survive the End of the World......" fit into the mold of genre, interest, educate, or entertain? This quality hardcover book begins with early Earth's existence and events that geology has preserved. A look at plagues that nearly wiped out broad swaths of mankind and onto modern man's creation of tools that could potentially destroy mankind and any form of life on Earth. So the book has a bit of history, and bit of education, a lot of caution, some encouragement, and tid-bits of "how to survive" tucked into the pages.

The comics, or should I say "illustrations," are done creatively and will forge images in the reader's mind without terrifyingly raw reality. 

A product of MIT Teen Press, the intellectual quality of content promises to be worth delving into and is such that will engage children with bright, questioning minds. 

Having recently experienced the Covid Pandemic and the isolation, fear, alarm that ensued, readers will appreciate the part of this book that covers pandemics and plagues throughout history and how mankind survived -  often with great loss. They'll get a glimpse into solutions and pros and cons of fighting disease. 

Readers will take a look at current concern many have of machines, technology, robots taking over mankind. Then there is a look at present fears and past events of when huge chunks of rock (meteors and meteorites) fall from the sky and devastate the land. These are very present fears and the book takes a reassuring look at such.

"It takes courage to imagine the end of the world--an even more courage to try to change the ending." [pg. 224, How to Survive the End of the World: A Graphic Exploration of How to (Maybe) Avoid Extinction]

About the book: In a full-color debut, a graphic novelist takes an engrossing, gleefully existential deep dive into the many ways that humanity could—and almost did—meet its end.

Since 99.9 percent of all species that have lived are extinct, it’s bound to be our turn eventually, right? So what’s most likely to kill us? A well-timed asteroid? Some new robot overlords? With wit and dry humor, debut graphic novelist Katy Doughty blends science and history to explore our chances of surviving disasters such as plagues, global warming, and alien invasion. Drawing on interviews with experts in fields like infectious diseases, AI, and interplanetary exploration, she combines cutting-edge research with compelling visuals: mugshots of the deadliest microbes, graphs of the winners and losers of mass extinction events, and a whole lot of dinosaur drawings. For apocalypse aficionados, the morbidly curious, and the just plain curious, this is your antidote to existential dread—a timely, imaginative, and ultimately hopeful take on humankind’s ability to survive the odds. 

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy to facilitate a review. Opinions are mine, alone and are freely given.