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IN MARCH, during a talk at the State University of New York, astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson made an impassioned plea for America to return to its Apollo-era mindset. 鈥淣obody is dreaming about tomorrow any more,鈥� he lamented. It is a complaint that strikes a chord with anyone who is concerned for the future of space exploration and the future of humanity. This book is the best hope I have seen for putting the situation right.

Humans have a fascination with the future. We are desperate to know how it all ends. Chris Impey has an advantage over most of us because he is a professor of astrophysics and so in a position to speculate with a degree of confidence.

There is certainly a lot that physics can tell us: our sun鈥檚 death throes will one day engulf the Earth in a raging furnace, for instance, and Andromeda will collide with the Milky Way in a few billion years. These and other futures are described here with skill, authority and flair. The real beauty of Impey鈥檚 book, though, is that such events are not painted as a backdrop to impending doom. They are the spur to ingenuity, hope and, ultimately, survival.

How It Ends is endlessly inspiring. It describes with relish what we humans have already found out about the universe and life鈥檚 place in it. Drawing on writings ancient and modern, it offers examples of what the human spirit is able to make from the relentless passing of time. And, thanks to Impey鈥檚 insight into science鈥檚 role in the human drama, it gives hope that the same spirit that has served so well in the past may help us survive the future.

He recalls the words of Antoine de Saint Exup茅ry: 鈥淚f you want to build a ship, don鈥檛 drum up people together to collect wood and don鈥檛 assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.鈥� For Impey, it is the endless immensity above our heads that will save us. 鈥淒espite the cost and the practical difficulties, space still has the power to inspire,鈥� he says.

So although he gives a sobering breakdown of what will happen when the sun dies and the Milky Way evaporates, we also gain an expert perspective on whether we can overcome the odds and escape these cataclysms. If we apply ourselves to the problem, it looks like we can. 鈥淚t no longer seems unreasonable to claim that our destiny is in space,鈥� Impey says.

Other people have attempted this kind of book and failed miserably; the narrative becomes lost in groundless speculations or mired in soul-crushing pessimism. In Impey鈥檚 hands, the future comes alive and calls to us. It is enthralling, not depressing. As it turns out, somebody is dreaming about tomorrow. And it鈥檚 a dream that we would do well to share.