How to Survive the End of the World
Katy Doughty
MITeen Press
Published March 31, 2026
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About How to Survive the End of the World
“Brilliant; at once terrifying and fascinating.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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.
My Review
OMG, this was such a stressful book to read! Haha. I don’t think it was meant to be as stressful as it felt to me when I read it. There’s a lot of wry humor, which keeps things a bit light. Each chapter presents one possible doom humanity could face and then usually breaks down key information showing why that isn’t the doom we’re perched on the edge of right now. Some chapters highlighted historical moments when the inhabitants of Earth faced mass extinctions (such as the one that caused the dinosaurs’ extinction) or threats to humanity’s survival, such as the plague.
The graphic novel format made it very easy to read this book. There’s a good balance of words to pictures, though probably more words per page than fiction readers of this format are used to. The bright color palette also kept the tone a little brighter than the topic suggests.
I think readers who enjoy nonfiction or who have questions about humanity’s possible demise will find this book both informative and thought-provoking.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 14 up.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.
Romance/Sexual Content
None.
Spiritual Content
Reference to different spiritual beliefs about the end of the world.
Violent Content
Descriptions of various events that could cause the world and/or humanity to end.
Drug Content
None.
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