Acknowledgments -- Prologue -- Part I : End is near! -- Skies are falling -- Celestial messages ; Bridge to eternity ; Dreams of perfection ; Visions of doom and redemption ; Revelations of the end -- Heaven's alarm to the world -- Importance of being vague ; Wars of redemption ; Masque of the red death ; Re-creating heaven and hell ; Apocalypse now! ; Thus spoke the science apologist -- Part II : Cosmic collisions -- Making worlds -- Stone of Aegospotami ; Evil also rises ; Cosmic boils ; Rationalization of doom ; Genesis of worlds ; Genesis of worlds, circa A.D. 2001 -- Impact! -- Geology turns catastrophe ; Dinosaur doom ; Apocalyse now? ; Searching for killers ; Fighting doom in outer space ; Prepare or else! -- Part III : Rise and fall of stars -- Fire in the sky -- Sun worshipers ; Solar chemistry ; Solar alchemy ; Red giants ; Shedding of the veil -- Cosmic maelstroms -- Unbearable heaviness of being ; New stars that are old ; Absurd idea ; Last bastions of normalcy ; Gravity redefined ; Descent into the maelstrom : prologue ; Descent into the maelstrom : a fantasy ; Descent into the maelstrom : Postscript -- Part IV : To the end of time -- Fire and ice -- Cosmos, circa 1945 ; Cosmos, circa 1980 ; Short discourse on time : part I -- Time regained -- Cosmos, circa 1998 : building blocks ; Cosmos, circa 1998 : the quartet of fundamental forces ; Quest for unification : the inner-space/outer-space connection ; Quest for unification : toward the beginning ; Cosmos, circa 1998 : cosmic challenges ; Cosmos, circa 1998 : inflating the big bang ; Cosmos, circa 1998 : the quest for new cosmic origins ; Cosmos, circa 2002 : remembrance of fluctuations past ; Cosmos, circa 2002 : the return of the ether? ; Short discourse on time : part 2 -- Epilogue : Celestial wisdom.
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