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Neil deGrasse Tyson has a talent for guiding readers through the mysteries of outer space with stunning clarity and almost childlike enthusiasm. This collection of his essays in "Natural history" magazine explores a myriad of cosmic topics, from astral life at the frontiers of astrobiology to the movie industry's feeble efforts to get its night skies right. Tyson introduces us to the physics of black holes by explaining what would happen to our bodies if we fell into one, examines the needless friction between science and religion, and notes Earth's progression to "an insignificantly small speck in the cosmos." Renowned 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 sharing his infectious excitement for our universe.… (more)
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A note on the audio: Dion Graham is a fantastic narrator, but I really wish Tyson had read his own book. Ever since watching Cosmos I've wanted him to read me bedtime stories about the marvels of the universe.
The essays are informative and entertaining. A lot has changed in the 17 years since I took my particle physics class at BYU, so I am always interested to learn more. Not only does he describe what is happening in science, he describes the edges very well. By edges I mean the places where scientists are not sure what is happening and are actively searching for answers. That is always the most interesting part of any science. The problem today is that to get to that edge, you have to take years of schooling to understand what they are looking for. Once the edge could be explored in your home lab or a field (if you were Benjamin Franklin) now you need millions of dollars and a space telescope.
The book is a bit repetitive, though that often happens with collections of essays because each one had to be self contained and couldn't refer to last month's issue. There has been a bit of editing to smooth out the sequencing and to make it an easier read.
While I enjoyed all the essays, I took exception to the last one, entitled, The Perimeter of Ignorance. Here is the author's basic premise,
Writing in centuries past, many scientists felt compelled to wax poetic about cosmic mysteries and God's handiwork. Perhaps one should not be surprised at this: most scientists back then, as well as many scientists today, identify themselves as spiritually devout.
But a careful reading of older texts, particularly those concerned with the universe itself, shows that the authors invoke divinity only when they reach the boundaries of their understanding. They appeal to a higher power only when staring at the ocean of their own ignorance. They call on God only from the lonely and precarious edge of incomprehension. Where they feel certain about their explanations, however, God hardly gets a mention.
He goes on from this hypothesis to give some quotes from Newton and other scientists, who do indeed see an explanation for the unexplainable in the presence of God. He then links this tendency to the current vogue for intelligent design. That also follows, more or less. I have my own issues with intelligent design, at least how it is being explained and used in the public sphere, but I won't go into all that here. The problem I have is that the author considers an appeal to deity as an admission of failure and the mental equivalent of throwing up your hands and saying, "Heck if I know, only God could figure that out, I will just go find something easier to study, like Paris Hilton." He says, in talking about intelligent design and the dangers of it,
I don't want students who could make the next major breakthrough in renewable energy sources or space travel to have been taught that anything they don't understand, and that nobody yet understands, is divinely constructed and therefore beyond their intellectual capacity.
Since when is saying something is divinely designed the same as saying we are not capable of understanding it? As a devout person, but one who would have been a scientist, if not for a few chance decisions and a problem with basic arithmetic, I find everything divinely inspired, even those things we do understand. Too many people equate religion with ignorance, without considering the fact that the intelligent people who believe, must have a valid reason for doing so. And similarly, there are many ignorant people who have no religion. I cringe whenever a particularly proud, ignorant and Christian person is on the news saying something stupid because that just reinforces this ignorance=religion stereotype. I'm here to say intelligence=true religion. Believing in ignorance is just superstition whatever belief it may be. The more you understand your own beliefs, the more you want to learn. Our brains are designed to increase in knowledge, anything that does that helps all of us, no matter what the information may be.
This book is classic Tyson. Funny, easy to read and enlightening. The book itself is sort of a series of essays about the way nature can kill you.
Actually, this book is a set of essays that he wrote for a magazine, Nature. He covers a lot of topics. These cover some wide ranges like science and religion all the way to black holes.
Tyson has a great way of bringing a certain ease to scientific ideas. Not just the science itself but how to think about science. How to think rationally about life.
If you've never read Tyson before, this is a good place to start. You'll get a feel of the author's point of view as well as his enthusiasm for science and rational thought. Neil deGrasse Tyson is the kind of person I think of when I hear the word philosopher.
I recommend this book.
Read on September 02, 2013
rosado> walkies!
Apparently, this gentleman is often on the box in the corner (that isn't so funny anymore is it, now that the TV is never a box in the corner anymore.)
Not about this book, more along the mode of
2 likes
I knew that Dr. Gould had died. What I hadn't know was that Neil deGrasse Tyson (yeah, the guy who somehow took all the heat for Pluto being downgraded from planetary status to a mere planetoid) had succeeded Gould as a columnist.
This collection brings together Tyson's columns, They're delightful. I hadn't realized how out-of-date my knowledge of astrophysics and cosmology had become.
Kudos, Dr. Tyson.
We can call this as 'a Science book for the common man', since even people with basic knowledge will have an
Complicated topics like Quasars, Quantum Theory and Black holes are detailed with utmost simplicity. The book covers a wide range of subjects and takes a deep-dive on many of them.
In most chapters, I was able to paint a mental picture of the material I was reading. Such is the flair of the Author's presentation.