Anti-Catastrophe League

More about the book

A superbly written narrative non-fiction work by an exciting new talent, this book offers a brilliant study of the individuals and teams striving to save the world. Humanity has a unique ability to endanger itself, facing ancient threats like asteroids and super-volcanoes, alongside modern self-created time-bombs. However, this propensity for self-imperilment also fuels our drive for ambitious solutions. The author, drawing from experience in existential risk, tells the story of a species learning to defuse multiple threats simultaneously. The narrative explores imminent dangers to humanity and introduces a diverse cast, including scientists, eccentrics, diplomats, and visionaries, all working diligently to avert catastrophe. Readers will encounter AI mind readers, an economist from the Alliance to Feed Earth in Disasters, a physicist striving to evade death, an innovator who created a germ-killing lightbulb after losing a friend to a hospital superbug, and the individual tasked with securing the USSR's biological and nuclear weapons, among many others. This compelling narrative echoes the works of Jon Ronson and Dan Schreiber, presenting a captivating exploration of the world's potential end and the proactive measures we can take to prevent it.