The Day It Finally Happens by Mike Pearl

The author, Mike Pearl, is a journalist who’s articles I’ve long enjoyed in Vice and Vice Motherboard. His articles often focus on speculative - what would happen if? - scenarios, and range from the plausible to the less so. regardless, they are always an entertaining and thoughtful read and. So I was intrigued when I learnt that he had written a book based on the same premise, and keen to give it a read.

Each chapter in The Day It Finally Happens focuses on a speculative possibility. These range across a broad sweep of speculation and topics include The Day the UK Finally Abolishes its Monarchy, the first chapter and a personal favourite of mine as I’m anti-monarchy,  The Day Antibiotics Don’t Work Anymore and The Day Nuclear Bombs Kill Us All. 

Some scenarios are difficult to imagine: The Day The Entire Internet Goes Down, for example. This is an unlikely scenario as is The Day A real Jurrasic Park is Opened. Some, like The Day the US Completely Bans Guns are unrealistic for other reasons (does anyone ever believe America will come to its senses?). But others, such as The Day Humans Become Immortal are easier to visualise with the news constantly reporting advances in scientists' quest to combat ageing.

There’s something here for everyone and this book is well worth a read, but the real strength is the author’s ability to get readers thinking about things differently. As a journalist who worked for nearly twenty years in television, I’m well versed with many of the arguments, but each chapter gave me at least one angle I hadn’t considered.

This is a great book, thoughtful and concise, and I would highly recommend it.

4 out of 5 stars