Death by Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries by Neil deGrasse Tyson is a collection of forty-two essays that originally appeared in Natural History Magazine from 1995 to 2005. The essays are divided into several sections beginning with the history of science and its emergence from the occult arts. Following there are essays on the knowledge of nature and how we have discovered the content of the universe. Particularly interesting were the essays on life, its presentation and meaning. The series of essays related to science and culture are especially pertinent to the current trend of science denial in some political circles. (“When scientifically investigating the natural world, the only thing worse than a blind believer is a seeing denier.”) In the last section Tyson walks the tight rope between faith and reason with essays on “Science and God.” Science, especially astrophysics, can be a challenge to comprehend, but Tyson helps us to understand by avoiding tortuous mathematical formulas and mysterious scientific jargon. Instead, his examples and explanations are entertaining, witty and easy to understand. Tyson is a natural who engages the reader with enthusiasm and clarity Tyson is an astrophysicist with the American Museum of Natural History and is the director of the Hayden Planetarium. Sometimes called the Twenty-first Century Carl Sagan, he is an award winning author and a frequent science and astronomy commentator on radio and television.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 17:48:02 +0000
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