Read Online Death by Black Hole And Other Cosmic Quandaries Neil deGrasse Tyson 9780393350388 Books

Product details Paperback 384 pages Publisher W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (September 2, 2014) Language English ISBN-10 9780393350388 ISBN-13 978-0393350388 ASIN 039335038X

Death by Black Hole And Other Cosmic Quandaries Neil deGrasse Tyson 9780393350388 Books Reviews

• It was a perfect gift for my friend, he loves Tyson and he is fascinated by space
• Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson, who is also known as the “black science guy” on various internet forums, such as reddit. Dr. Tyson’s also got some popular internet memes styled after him such as the “we got a bad ass over here” meme. However, in real life he is the director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City and is an extremely accomplished astrophysicist. In a lot of ways, he is the Carl Sagan of our generation. If you have seen the TV show Cosmos on either PBS or Fox, he is the new host for this revamped show which used to be hosted by Carl Sagan. He is very well known for his ability to take scientific concepts and distill them into something that we can understand. I’m no scientist, so I need someone who understands these concepts to explain them in a way that we can relate to.
  
  This book is a selection of small essays that he’s written for various newspapers, magazines, and internet blogs. Death by Black Hole touches on a lot of amazing scientific concepts that are almost taken by granted by a lot of people today, but it provides a foundation for everything that we do in space or dealing with the cosmos. Dr. Tyson is excellent at taking these concepts and putting them in situations that we can understand as non-scientists complete with humor. A wonderful example of this is in the essay “Going Ballistic," where he states what happens to a person who jumps through a hole dug through the center of the earth. The old “what happens when you dig all the way to China” quandary. He says, "Now comes the fun part. Jump in. You now fall continuously in a weightless, free-fall state until you reach the earth’s center, where you vaporize in the heat of the iron core.” He then goes on to ignore that complication and then talk about gravity and what happens as you move closer to and then farther from a center of mass.
  
  Dr. Tyson is one of the best scientific minds of our generation, and his major contribution to science is his ability to connect with the layman, which is you and me, and help them understand why science is so important to today’s society. So if you want a few laughs, and if you want to learn about astrophysics, astronomy, “regular” physics, and all the other amazing things that happen in our cosmos, I would recommend reading Death by Black Hole.
• This book is AWESOME. Tyson does a great job of explaining complex processes, objects, and ideas while keeping a light tone with just the right amount of humor and sarcasm.
• Super cool and a good variety of concepts.
• Lively writing as always by Tyson. My only complaint, and the only reason this isn't 5 stars, is that since this is a collection of essays, he reintroduces concepts multiple times. We learn what the Principia is many times. Probably not so bad if you're reading, since you can just skip ahead but if you're listening to it (as I was) during a commute you start to become annoyed the 5th or 6th time you learn that the Principia is Newton's explanation of his three laws of motion or the 8th time you learn about Galileo.
  
  Another complaint about the Audio book is that it isn't read by Professor Tyson, strange since he's got a marvelous speaking voice and had his own show.
  
  These complaints are minor though. The book is a merry journey through the wonders and terrors of our universe, suitable for all ages.
• I liked it a lot. The way it is written like you are chatting with the renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is very appealing. He uses a language and vocabulary accessible to most of the people who graduated highschool. Also the examples he gives are simple and easy to understand.
  I would like to see a revised version of this book, one that includes the discoveries from the latest years.
• An interesting look through the window to the world of physics, in the fantastical way only Neil deGrasse Tyson could. This book is almost a Cosmos in book form, it's a journey through well known and lesser so ares of physics and astronomy. It's not an un-putdownable one but I think that's the nature of books of this kind, it is interesting and fun, I would say read this if you enjoy Tysons TV work as it's in a similar style to that, less of a technical book and more for us laymen.
• That Neil D Tyson can get a bit poetic in his speech, but his thoughts are worth reading. I loved the book and I had a difficult time putting it down. I would recommend watching the revamped "Cosmos" series, which is free if you have Prime, before you read the book only because you can get a sense of how Neil Degrasse Tyson sounds when he talks/things about the universe (also check out "The Inexplicable Universe" on Prime). It really does help. Either way, if you've been wondering about what the hell is going on outside of our atmosphere, this book will give you some great insights.