How to Face the End of the World: An Ancient Guide for Apocalyptic Times

A remarkable percentage of people believe we are living in the end times, according to pollsters. Between the climate crisis, nuclear weapons, AI, and other existential threats, it’s easy to see why.

How should we think about the apocalypse? How can we mentally prepare for doomsday and other disasters? This anthology presents ancient Greek and Roman writings about the end of the world—from the poet Hesiod and his prediction that Zeus will destroy humanity to philosophers such as Plato, Lucretius, Seneca, and Epictetus, who viewed the end of the world as an inevitable and regular process of nature and the cosmos.

These writers—the original doomscrollers—show how thinking about the annihilation of civilization or the planet can be instructive and healthy, and they seek to teach readers how to face catastrophe without fear.