Product Description
A vibrant collection of essays on the cosmos from the nation's best-known astrophysicist.

Loyal readers of the monthly "Universe" essays in Natural History magazine have long recognized Neil deGrasse Tyson's talent for guiding them through the mysteries of the cosmos with stunning clarity and almost childlike enthusiasm. Here, Tyson compiles his favorite essays across a myriad of cosmic topics. The title essay introduces readers to the physics of black holes by explaining the gory details of what would happen to your body if you fell into one. "Holy Wars" examines the needless friction between science and religion in the context of historical conflicts. "The Search for Life in the Universe" explores astral life from the frontiers of astrobiology. And "Hollywood Nights" assails the movie industry's feeble efforts to get its night skies right.

Known for his ability to blend content, accessibility, and humor, Tyson is a natural teacher who simplifies some of the most complex concepts in astrophysics while simultaneously sharing his infectious excitement about our universe.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 66 reviews)

Best astronomy book for novices

This book is witty and well written. If you love to learn about astronomy this is the book for you.
September 07, 2008

Another good book by Dr. Tyson

I am a student of astrophysics and I just wanted something simple to read about my favorite subject. This is exactly what I got. Dr. Tyson's book conveyed the cosmos throughly in a very entertaining tone. I will be buying more of his books.
August 02, 2008

Gould for the Common Man?

Neil deGrasse Tyson is the current director of the hayden Planetarium and an astrophysicist with the American Museum of Natural History. His picture shows a portly African-American with a wry smile, wearing a vest with astonomical figures perhaps cut from a wizard's robe discarded by Hogwarts. Most likely half of America knows better what he looks and sounds like than I do, since he appears frequently on TV, on the Daily Show and various Fox blathergrounds. I heard him talking about comets for a few minutes on my car radio, and found him very quick, very amusing.

A comparison with Stephen Jay Gould is almost inevitable. This book, like most of Gould's, is a selection of Tyson's columns for the magazine Natural History. Tyson has a lighter touch and will be easier going for people without much background in science. He is nowhere near as encyclopedic or allusive as Gould, which will come as a relief to many. Gould wrote, increasingly so over the years, as a Harvard Don, which all the rhetorical flourishes of a man who expects his readers to be very erudite. The danger of such writing is pomposity and condescension. Since I almost became a Harvard Don myself, I have a high tolerance for pomposity, but I find Tyson's writing style delightfully relaxed.

Tyson's subject in Death by Black Hole is the astronomical zoo of gravitationally caged objects - stars, planets, comets, asteroids, and Anomalous Flying Objects - in what we still call the Universe, although the name seems less and less appropriate. Tyson back-fills as needed with tidbits of history but his central purpose is to make us acquainted with current observational astronomy. People who "already know all that" will enjoy his witty delivery, while the rest of us will learn quite a lot, quite painlessly.

One of the Identified Flying Objects Tyson describes is the asteroid Apophis, which ought to be of maximum interest for anyone under 40 years old. Tyson writes: "On Friday the 13th of April, 2029, an asteroid large enough to fill the Rose Bowl as though it were an egg cup, will fly so close to Earth that it will dip below the altitude of our communication satellites ...If the trajectory of Apophis at close approach passes within a narrow range of altitudes called the Keyhole, the precise influence of Earth's gravity on its orbit will guarantee that seven years later in 2036...the asteroid will hit earth directly, slamming in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii." You knew that, didn't you, and you've already made reservations for the observation grandstand on Mt. Whitney? What a show! But Tyson continues: "The tsunami it creates will wipe out the entire west coast of North America, bury Hawaii, and devastate all the land masses of the Pacific Rim." Oops. I'd better warn my grandchildren to sell my house in SF before it's too late.
Tyson doesn't mention it, but there's an upside to Apophis -- no need to worry about global warming after all.

In fact, Tyson is not all levity about Apophis, or about the inevitable fate of civilization. Later in the book, he discusses what "we" should be doing about our self-preservation in a universe that is far from anthropically perfect for human life, or any kind of life at all. Read it and quake - from laughter as well as fear.
May 17, 2008

Great Bedtime-Bathroom Book

I hate to use those descriptors in the title but I couldn't think of a better way to say it. This book is a collection of short essays that enlighten and entertain in a way that Dr Tyson is so uniquely qualified to do. Many of the topics are great for dinner conversation, especially the ones that discuss the relationship between science and religion.

I kept it on my bedside and read a few essays before bed and then placed it in the bathroom where guests often find themselves engaged with the witty and knowledgeable information. Worth the purchase.
April 05, 2008

Maybe THE Greatest Book Ever!!!

The first book in years that I couldn't put down once I started. I am 16 and thought I would give a challenging book a try, so I purchased this one. Good call! I fell in love with it as soon as I started. I love Tysons' sense of humor on scientific aspects of the universe. He explains stuff so well, even if you don't have a scientific mind. As I had said before, he adds a sense of humor not expected from someone with the title of an astrophysicist(and does it well!) I highly recommend picking this book up as it is maybe not only the best scientific book ever written, but quite possibly the best book ever! I don't think it gets any better than this!
April 05, 2008

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution
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The Sky Is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist
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God: The Failed Hypothesis. How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist
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Merlin's Tour of the Universe
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One Universe: At Home in the Cosmos
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