Time is running out. Decades from now, an artificial black hole has fallen into the Earth’s core. As scientists frantically work to prevent the ultimate disaster, they discover that the entire planet could be destroyed within a year. But while they look for an answer, some claim that the only way to save Earth is to let its human inhabitants become extinct: to reset the evolutionary clock and start over.
Goodreads Reviews

Average Rating:
3.9 rating based on 8,149 ratings (all editions)
ISBN-10: 055329024X
ISBN-13: 9780553290240
Goodreads: 96471
Author(s): Publisher: Bantam
Published: 6/1/1991
It's fifty years from tomorrow. A microscopic black hole has accidentally fallen into the Earth's core and the entire planet is in danger of being destroyed within two years. A team of scientists frantically searches for a way to prevent the ultimate disaster. But while they look for an answer, others argue that the only way to save the Earth is to let its human inhabitants become extinct: to let the million-year evolutionary clock rewind and start over.
From an underground lab in New Zealand to a spacestation in Low Earth Orbit, from an endangered species conservation ark in Africa to a home in New Orleans, Earth spans exotic settings and challenging new ideas. It's peopled with extraordinary characters: a brilliant, devoted young scientist who discovers his life's work may be responsible for destroying the world; a hard-bitten shuttle pilot who vows to learn the secret of her husband's tragic death; a legendary Novel laureate whose relationship with the planet borders on the mystical; a midwestern youth who leaves behind the boredom of suburban American life for the dangers of the unknown; a Maori billionaire who fears that all his money cannot control his fate — or the fate of the world.
But, above all Earth is a profound, impassioned testament about our own responsibility to our endangered planet.
3.9 rating based on 8,149 ratings (all editions)
ISBN-10: 055329024X
ISBN-13: 9780553290240
Goodreads: 96471
Author(s): Publisher: Bantam
Published: 6/1/1991
It's fifty years from tomorrow. A microscopic black hole has accidentally fallen into the Earth's core and the entire planet is in danger of being destroyed within two years. A team of scientists frantically searches for a way to prevent the ultimate disaster. But while they look for an answer, others argue that the only way to save the Earth is to let its human inhabitants become extinct: to let the million-year evolutionary clock rewind and start over.
From an underground lab in New Zealand to a spacestation in Low Earth Orbit, from an endangered species conservation ark in Africa to a home in New Orleans, Earth spans exotic settings and challenging new ideas. It's peopled with extraordinary characters: a brilliant, devoted young scientist who discovers his life's work may be responsible for destroying the world; a hard-bitten shuttle pilot who vows to learn the secret of her husband's tragic death; a legendary Novel laureate whose relationship with the planet borders on the mystical; a midwestern youth who leaves behind the boredom of suburban American life for the dangers of the unknown; a Maori billionaire who fears that all his money cannot control his fate — or the fate of the world.
But, above all Earth is a profound, impassioned testament about our own responsibility to our endangered planet.