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The End of Everything: (Astrophysically Speaking) Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Katie Mack (Author, Narrator), Gabra Zackman (Narrator), Simon & Schuster Audio (Publisher)
4.6 out of 5 stars 3,049 ratings
Goodreads Choice Award nominee

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2020
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY * THE WASHINGTON POST * THE ECONOMIST * NEW SCIENTIST * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY * THE GUARDIAN

From one of the most dynamic rising stars in astrophysics, an “engrossing, elegant” (The New York Times) look at five ways the universe could end, and the mind-blowing lessons each scenario reveals about the most important concepts in cosmology.

We know the universe had a beginning. With the Big Bang, it expanded from a state of unimaginable density to an all-encompassing cosmic fireball to a simmering fluid of matter and energy, laying down the seeds for everything from black holes to one rocky planet orbiting a star near the edge of a spiral galaxy that happened to develop life as we know it. But what happens to the universe at the end of the story? And what does it mean for us now?

Dr. Katie Mack has been contemplating these questions since she was a young student, when her astronomy professor informed her the universe could end at any moment, in an instant. This revelation set her on the path toward theoretical astrophysics. Now, with lively wit and humor, she takes us on a mind-bending tour through five of the cosmos’s possible finales: the Big Crunch, Heat Death, the Big Rip, Vacuum Decay (the one that could happen at any moment!), and the Bounce. Guiding us through cutting-edge science and major concepts in quantum mechanics, cosmology, string theory, and much more, The End of Everything is a wildly fun, surprisingly upbeat ride to the farthest reaches of all that we know.

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  1. Listening Length
    6 hours and 21 minutes
  2. Author
    Katie Mack
  3. Narrator
    Gabra Zackman, see all
  4. Audible release date
    August 4, 2020
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Simon & Schuster Audio
  7. ASIN
    B07Z8B5NZ8
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length 6 hours and 21 minutes
Author Katie Mack
Narrator Gabra Zackman, Katie Mack
Audible.com Release Date August 04, 2020
Publisher Simon & Schuster Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B07Z8B5NZ8
Best Sellers Rank

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
3,049 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book engaging with an accessible writing style that explains complex concepts clearly. Moreover, they appreciate how it guides readers through prevailing theories and provides meaningful insights from physics/cosmology. Additionally, the book is delightful to read from start to finish, with one customer noting its somewhat lighthearted approach to an ominous topic.

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PacingWriting styleInformation qualityReadabilityHumorInformation content
91 customers mention "Pacing"91 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's pacing positive, describing it as an entertaining read with an engaging style that makes complex subjects accessible.

"Katie Mack is a very competent and smooth writer. She explains large ideas simply." Read more

"...PS The bonus Q&A with Katie Mack portion after the book ends is well worth the read...." Read more

"Katie Mack is a fairly young physicist with a humorous, engaging style, reminding me of my legendary mad chemist Doc Lisa...." Read more

"...In a larger sense, The End of Everything is a reassuring treatise on the importance (and joy) of trying to know something rather than just..." Read more

73 customers mention "Writing style"69 positive4 negative

Customers appreciate the writing style of the book, noting that it is well written for the layman and explains complex concepts in accessible language.

"Katie Mack is a very competent and smooth writer. She explains large ideas simply." Read more

"In The End of Everything, Katie Mack perfectly balances technical language with concise and approachable explanations to lend readers with even the..." Read more

"...The book is written for laymen, and I found it to be between Neil De Grasse Tyson / Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking in difficulty level...." Read more

"...to those of us who follow research on the cosmos, the author has a clear, conversational style and a skill at explaining even the most dense, math-..." Read more

71 customers mention "Information quality"71 positive0 negative

Customers praise the book's scientific content, appreciating how it admirably guides readers through prevailing theories while being densely packed with information about the cosmos.

"...judicious use of humor, analogies, diagrams, and vivid descriptions to keep readers engaged and captivated...." Read more

"...This is a work of cosmology and eschatology, on the end of the universe as we know it. There are familiar..." Read more

"...Perhaps most importantly, we learn about dark matter and dark energy, which are important concepts that have greatly changed cosmology over the last..." Read more

"...Mack (Professor of Physics, among other things) provides us a non-fiction look at cosmology and astrophysics...." Read more

38 customers mention "Readability"38 positive0 negative

Customers find the book excellent and worth a close reading.

"Katie Mack is a very competent and smooth writer. She explains large ideas simply." Read more

"...ways the Universe might end, based on current physics, was a delightful read. It is an interesting and fun book...." Read more

"the books were given as gifts, the books were read, and everyone is smarter for having read it." Read more

"...To sum up, the book is very well and can serve as a guide through modern theoretical physics for any "scientific-curious mind"...." Read more

14 customers mention "Humor"10 positive4 negative

Customers appreciate the book's humor, with one noting how it maintains a lighthearted tone while addressing ominous topics, and another mentioning its interesting anecdotes and strange ideas.

"...A bang of a book. Dark jokes. Easy read." Read more

"I enjoyed this book, and the occasional levity. But contrary to other reviews, I don't feel this was a breezy read, despite my science background...." Read more

"...when covering interesting scientific topics but... But humor is terribly subjective and it just takes one clinker of a joke to cause a reader to..." Read more

"Very interesting book about how the universe probably works, as far as we know, and multiple ideas about how it might end or be recreated in the..." Read more

14 customers mention "Information content"10 positive4 negative

Customers appreciate the book's information content, with one customer noting that complex concepts are made easy to understand, while others find it very challenging.

"Katie Mack has put together a deeply-thoughtful explanation of very challenging and meaningful insights from physics/cosmology aboutthe ways the..." Read more

"...book about how the universe probably works, as far as we know, and multiple ideas about how it might end or be recreated in the blink of an eye..." Read more

"Definitely not for the layman with no background in physics or astronomy...." Read more

"...She wonderfully put it all together for me: the people, the scientific evidence to date, the critical pieces of evidence needed, and how..." Read more

All good things must come to an end
5 out of 5 stars
All good things must come to an end
I am an avid reader of astronomy/cosmology/astrophysics books & like content. They mostly all have one thing in common; they all talk about the big bang and how the universe started. It does get redundant after a time to read about the start of the cosmos over and over. This book was a great change of pace. Not only was it looking at the many ways we could all eat the big one, but it did so in a very humorous way. Dr. Katie Mack does a great job of explaining each "end" requiring the reader to have little or no formal background on the topic to understand it. She also adds in commentary foot notes that are humorous & feel like she is just having a conversation with you rather than talking at you. (see photos for examples) Anyone who has an interest in physics, astronomy, or just space in general should give this book a read.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Terry Bergstrom
    5.0 out of 5 stars Nice
    Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2025
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Katie Mack is a very competent and smooth writer. She explains large ideas simply.
    Helpful
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  • Chez GKY
    5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Left-brain Stretcher
    Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2022
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    In The End of Everything, Katie Mack perfectly balances technical language with concise and approachable explanations to lend readers with even the mildest scientific inclinations ample appreciation of the astrophysics behind our universe's creation (and demise) - all while doing the subject matter justice.

    Mack's work starts out by extensively describing the universe and space-time as we know them and elaborating on the different microphases of the Big Bang that got us here in the first place. It then proceeds to offer the reader different ways the universe could terminate existence, walking the reader through each theory's technical details, providing scientific basis in the form of research and observations to support or debunk each one, and occasionally capping chapters off with neat discussions of probability.

    Cosmological constants, dark energy, and the myriad of other topics can get dense at times (or always equally dense but ever-expanding, but I digress), and Mack makes judicious use of humor, analogies, diagrams, and vivid descriptions to keep readers engaged and captivated. Supported this way, the content presented affords even laypersons intriguing rethinks on the very origins of our universe: Maybe the Big Bang was but a transient point and not THE origin?

    Nevertheless, getting lost in some chapters will be excusably inevitable to some, myself included. Quick re-reads of these chapters are advised, since succeeding ones often build upon concepts discussed prior, as was the case between the Big Rip and Heat Death chapters. Keep up with the content, however, and the The End of Everything delivers hours of brilliant left-brain stretching - one apocalypse at a time.

    PS The bonus Q&A with Katie Mack portion after the book ends is well worth the read.

    PPS This book is great practice for the reading comprehension portion of the GMAT exam, where you have to get used to taking in subject matter that is either extremely complex, of no interest, or both to you.
    6 people found this helpful
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  • Pseudo D
    4.0 out of 5 stars let er rip
    Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2020
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Katie Mack is a fairly young physicist with a humorous, engaging style, reminding me of my legendary
    mad chemist Doc Lisa. One time she was yelling and said "that's the bottom line...cause Stone Cold
    Said So". Katie also has a tendency to use capital letters, especially when telling us this could DESTROY
    THE WHOLE UNIVERSE! There are references to Star Trek, and for younger ones Battlestar Galactica,
    although even that was quite a few years ago already.

    I think she's an effective popularizer like Carl Sagan, Michio Kaku and others. The book doesn't have
    many equations, but reminds us that it's a lot more fun if you learn the math. (Doc used to say, I'd
    like to teach this, but there's the New York state test, so I can't.) For those who don't do the advanced
    math, Mack is good with concepts and images to engage the other side of the brain.

    This is a work of cosmology and eschatology, on the end of the universe as we know it. There are familiar
    concepts like the Big Bang, proposed by Fr. Georges Lemaitre, and Black Holes. Like most of the younger
    generation, there's inspiration from Stephen Hawking as well as Roger Penrose. The expanding and contracting
    universe raises the question of the Big Crunch and whether this process can go on indefinitely. One that
    I hadn't heard before and found fascinating was the Big Rip. The whole Standard Model and space-time
    as we know it is somehow being held together but Mack shows how this is extremely precarious. On a smaller
    scale, the sun will expand and the earth will come to an end. Eventually, conscious life and reflective
    consciousness here and elsewhere will come to an end. This is deeply tragic for her, for many of her top
    colleagues and for everyone, when they reflect on the beauty of the emerging consciousness.

    Eschatology is a theological (my field) term, and raises questions on the borders of religion and philosophy.
    These are discussed at the beginning, and Mack says that her study taught her a lot, but not the meaning
    of life. I found this interesting, because while science expands our sense of wonder, awe and mystery, the
    meaning and love that it raises require the other side of the brain and the heart. Bernard Lonergan (among
    many other things, a philosopher of science) talked about the meaning of meaning. Hegel (or to keep it
    simpler, Edgar Allan Poe) said that for those who don't do philosophy and religion, the higher synthesis of
    the Idea often unfolds through art. This includes painting, sculpture, music, literature, architecture, and
    even the art of love and human relationship.

    Mack is confident that there are alternate universes where "I" and "you" are there in the same physical
    mode of being, but it's not the same center of consciousness as "I" and "you". A basic principle of
    theological eschatology is that there is the end of the cosmos but there is also the end of you and me,
    and what God is doing. For now, Mack helps us to understand the miracle of how the cosmos is somehow
    being held together beyond our power and understanding.
    12 people found this helpful
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  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars You could have a beer with her
    Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2024
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Ever thought of having a conversation with a physicist and not feel you were being talked down to? Or even better, the conversation ended with you feeling you actually understood what the conversation was about? Then Katie Mack's book about the origins and potential end of the universe (if, in fact, it turns out there's only one) is for you.
    In a larger sense, The End of Everything is a reassuring treatise on the importance (and joy) of trying to know something rather than just believe it.
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • B
    5.0 out of 5 stars Buen libro
    Reviewed in Mexico on November 12, 2023
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Fue un regalo, la persona quedo encantada con el libro.
    Report
  • LH
    5.0 out of 5 stars What an amazing read!
    Reviewed in Canada on April 27, 2025
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    This is an amazing book! Katie Mack is an amazing human and I’m so grateful she wrote this book! Thank you for all you do and share with the world.
    Reading it for a second time :)
    Report
  • AFZ
    4.0 out of 5 stars Buen libro
    Reviewed in Spain on April 12, 2021
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Buen libro para empezar en éste tema, profundiza lo justo para entender las cosas sin ser un profesional y no aburre. Es mejor "el universo en tu mano" creo yo.
    Report
  • Tim King
    5.0 out of 5 stars Just brilliant from start to finish
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 9, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    Wonderful book, excellent insights and also very accessible and funny in places. Highly recommend to anyone
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  • Jorge García
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excelent concise book
    Reviewed in Germany on March 14, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    This author really knows how to explain all the main theories of the end of the universe. I really recommend it
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