'It all began in Cambridge. We were gathered there for the Alumni Weekend, when a thousand elderly graduates return to hear lectures from the great minds of the 21st century.' One of the questions posed was, will civilisation survive the 21st century? This sets Nott pondering his own mortality, the environment, but more importantly, climate change. Will the gloom mongers be proved right? This is serious stuff, but quickly spirals into fantasy. A mixture of fact, fantasy, imagination and truth, Sir John's writing is extremely funny: one premised on a serious subject but written with an ironic, irreverent twist.