Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist with the American Museum of Natural History, director of the world-famous Hayden Planetarium, a monthly columnist for Natural History, and an award-winning author. He has begun production of a new Cosmos series, premiering in early 2013. He lives in New York City.
Read an indepth interview with Dr. Tyson and author Sandra Kitt exclusively for AALBC.com
Dr. Neil DeGrasse - A fascinatingly disturbing thought.
Space
Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier
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Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (February 27, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0393082105
ISBN-13: 978-0393082104
Neil deGrasse Tyson is a rare breed of astrophysicist, one who can speak as easily and brilliantly with popular audiences as with professional scientists. Now that NASA has put human space flight effectively on hold—with a five- or possibly ten-year delay until the next launch of astronauts from U.S. soil—Tyson’s views on the future of space travel and America’s role in that future are especially timely and urgent. This book represents the best of Tyson’s commentary, including a candid new introductory essay on NASA and partisan politics, giving us an eye-opening manifesto on the importance of space exploration for America’s economy, security, and morale. Thanks to Tyson’s fresh voice and trademark humor, his insights are as delightful as they are provocative, on topics that range from the missteps that shaped our recent history of space travel to how aliens, if they existed, might go about finding us.
Just
Visiting This Planet
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Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Main Street Books; 1 edition (July 13, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385488378
ISBN-13: 978-0385488372
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
In a companion volume to Merlin's Tour of the Universe, here is a
completely new collection of questions and answers about the cosmos for
stargazers of all ages. Whether waxing about Earth and its environs, the Sun
and its stellar siblings, the world of light, physical laws, or galaxies
near and far, Merlin--a fictional visitor from Planet Omniscia--is easy to
understand, often humorous, and always entertaining.
Merlin fields a wide range of questions from many curious mortals, and in so
doing draws on his own vast knowledge as well as the expertise of many close
friends, including Archimedes, Galileo, Einstein, and Santa.
So far, Merlin has not been stumped, responding to questions on mysteries
such as:
If aliens exploded our moon, what effect would it have on us?
What are your thoughts on the theory that a star named Nemesis is circling
our solar system and was responsible for killing off the dinosaurs?
Is it true that if I leave a container on my roof for a period of time, I
can actually collect space particles from outer space?
Delightfully illustrated throughout, Just Visiting This Planet is a
skywatcher's book for lovers of the universe by one of its brightest lights.
Neil deGrasse, widely claimed by atheists, is actually an agnostic.
Death
by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries
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Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (November 17, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0393330168
ISBN-13: 978-0393330168
Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.9 x 8.3 inches
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.
The
Sky is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist
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Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Prometheus Books; 1st edition (May 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 159102188X
ISBN-13: 978-1591021889
Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
As the youngest-ever Director of the Hayden Planetarium, Neil de Grasse
Tyson is America's best-known astrophysicist, constantly called upon by the
media to explain news-making scientific phenomena such as the discovery of
water on Mars. How did an African American kid growing up in the Bronx,
expected by everyone to become a star athlete, not an intellectual, become
an extraordinarily successful scientist? This is the fascinating and moving
account of Tyson's love affair with the night sky, beginning with the
fateful day when he, as a small boy, happened to turn a pair of binoculars
up toward the moon and was struck with wonder.
Packed with gorgeous descriptions of the night sky, The Sky Is Not the Limit
invokes the grandeur of the cosmos as it tells Tyson's compelling personal
story. In addition, it is a perceptive look at life and society as seen
through the eyes of an astrophysicist, providing a valuable look into how
scientists work in, and think about, the social, political, and physical
world. From that eye-opening first glimpse of the moon, through his struggle
to fulfill his dream of becoming an astrophysicist, to the triumphant
opening of the new Hayden Planetarium, Tyson's story is remarkable.
Merlin's
Tour of the Universe: A Skywatcher's Guide to Everything from Mars and
Quasars to Comets, Planets, Blue Moons and Werewolves
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Paperback: 316 pages
Publisher: Main Street Books; 1 edition (July 14, 1997)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385488351
ISBN-13: 978-0385488358
Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.8 x 8.3 inches
Merlin, a fictional visitor from the Andromeda Galaxy, Planet Omniscia,
has been friends with many of the most important scientific figures of the
past including Kepler, da Vinci, Magellan, Doppler, Einstein and Hubble. In
this delightful tour of the galaxies, Merlin often recounts his
conversations with these historical figures in his responses to popular
astronomy questions asked by adults and children alike. Merlin's
well-informed answers combine a unique combination of wit and poetry along
with serious science explained in refreshingly clear, reader-friendly
language.
Dear Merlin: Can a person cross our galaxy in a spaceship during one human
lifespan?
Merlin: In 1905, Merlin's good friend Albert Einstein introduced the
"Special Theory of Relativity," which predicts that time will tick slower
and slower the faster you travel. Were you to embark on such an adventure
you could conceivably age as little as you wish, depending of course, on
your exact speed. The problem arises when you return to Earth, which will
have moved several hundred thousand years into the future and everyone will
have forgotten about you.
A skywatcher's book for lovers of the universe by one of its greatest
lights.
Origins:
Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution
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Neil Degrasse Tyson (Author), Donald Goldsmith (Author)
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton; Reprint edition (October 24, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0393327582
ISBN-13: 978-0393327588
Origin's explores cosmic science's stunning new insights into the
formation and evolution of our universe— of the cosmos, of galaxies and
galaxy clusters, of stars within galaxies, of orbiting planets, and of
different forms of life. "Distill[s] complex science in clear and lively
prose." —Scientific American Book Club..."The most informative, congenial
and accessible general look at cosmology to come along since Carl Sagan's
Cosmos 27 years ago," says Publishers Weekly. "The tone is informational,
aimed at high clarity, and laced with giddy humor . . . general readers of
every stripe will benefit from the authors' sophisticated, deeply
knowledgeable presentation. If the casual book buyer purchases one science
book this year, this should be the one." "Introduces the vibrant
general-interest literature about individual post-Sagan advances in
astronomy and cosmology."
—Gilbert Taylor, Booklist
