Books : Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 523.8875
EAN: 9780393330168
ISBN: 0393330168
Label: W. W. Norton
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: November 05, 2007
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Sales Rank: 11934
Studio: W. W. Norton
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
"One of today's best popularizers of science."—Kirkus Reviews
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 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 just what would happen to your body if you fell into one, while "Hollywood Nights" assails Hollywood's feeble efforts to get its night skies right. Tyson is the world's best-known astrophysicist, and he's at his best here, as a natural teacher who simplifies the complexities of astrophysics while sharing his infectious excitement for our universe.
Average Rating: 
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This is science writing at it's very best but more fun and more accessible than even past masters such as Gould and McPhee. Highly recommended!
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This book is witty and well written. If you love to learn about astronomy this is the book for you.
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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.
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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 ... Read More
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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.
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