The latest fad to hit pop culture is the impending date of December 21, 2012.  Hollywood, in its typical use of paranoia and fear has begun churning out disaster movies related to 2012.  Scattered throughout the chaff have been a few, more level-headed bits of information around the date and the Mayan culture.  Gerald Benedict’s work is one of the more even handed approaches.

Benedict takes the time in the introduction of the book to give the reader a necessary overview of Maya culture, including the Maya concept of time, which was cyclical and not linear as a more Western based concept of time is.  It is this view that lends itself to Benedict’s basic premise of the book: that while something may happen in 2012, it will not be some sort of global apocalypse.  From Benedict’s point of view, a shift in global consciousness is more likely due to a number of astronomical factors that will influence our existence here on earth.

Blending science and mysticism, Benedict attempts to bring more of a balance to the dire predictions offered by mainstream media: it’s not the end of the world, but it might be the end of the world as we know it (all references to R.E.M. aside).  From Watkins Publishing and available from your local, independent bookstore. (Shop independent, shop local, and tell ’em you saw it on Elephant Journal!)