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Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries

Neil deGrasse Tyson (Goodreads Author)

4.08 · Rating details · 27,829 ratings · 1,324 reviews

A vibrant collection of essays on the cosmos from the nation's best-known astrophysicist. "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 almost childlike e ...more

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Paperback, 384 pages

Published September 2nd 2014 by W. W. Norton Company (first published November 1st 2006)

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Feb 19, 2014 Samadrita rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: gen-non-fiction-essays-critique, brain-fodder, cherished, the-cosmos-beckons, in-by-about-america, humour-of-the-dignified-kind, adoration, science, omg-aliens, physics

Neil deGrasse Tyson is a force to reckon with.

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But he is not Carl Sagan.

While Sagan must have smiled down kindly on your meek acknowledgement of ignorance regarding, say, black holes, Tyson will have most probably given you the stink eye or aimed a sarcastic jibe at your apathy, before proceeding to explain why black holes still remain a topic of much speculation in the community of astrophysicists worldwide.

Tyson does not pull any punches in this collection of essays while slamming the news me ...more

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Apr 01, 2017 Bradley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, science, 2017-shelf

This is a very fun read for all you science nerds... not only being clear and humorous but wide-ranging and careful to build up a number of those necessary building blocks of knowledge but doing it precisely in order to slam you with the good stuff later.

Like how you'd DIE IN A BLACK HOLE... :)

To belabor the obvious by the title. :)

Seriously, this book gives us a ton of great ways to die and not just by black hole. I really appreciated that. :)

I'd characterize this book as an easy to intermediat ...more

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Nov 09, 2009 Chloe rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science, audiobook

Within my skull, where all of those vital pieces of data surrounding science are supposed to be stored, there is instead a vast beaker-shaped void of ignorance. In high school, while we were supposed to be studying the musculature of the formaldehyde-soaked amphibians pinned ignominiously to their coffinesque metal trays, I was far more interested in studying the effects of adding fire to small green buds. During my brief time wandering the hallways of the University world, I was able to do away Within my skull, where all of those vital pieces of data surrounding science are supposed to be stored, there is instead a vast beaker-shaped void of ignorance. In high school, while we were supposed to be studying the musculature of the formaldehyde-soaked amphibians pinned ignominiously to their coffinesque metal trays, I was far more interested in studying the effects of adding fire to small green buds. During my brief time wandering the hallways of the University world, I was able to do away with my prerequisite requirement by taking an “Arts of Science” course tailor-made for those more interested in empathy than entropy and, while I did manage to get a crocodile on my report card, all I took away from that class was an abiding hatred for hippies. The long and the short of all this is that I didn’t know a quasar from a neutron or a brown dwarf from a red giant (though Red Dwarf was a magnificent television series).

As a devout lover of science fiction and hi-tech gadgetry of all sorts, this was a matter of not a little shame for me. To resolve this I decided that it was time for me to fill in some of the (immense) gaps in my education the best way I know how- via book. Yet how to avoid having my eyes glaze over the moment someone started explaining cell structures or complex wave fields? Fortunately, as it often does, my television provided a solution when Stephen Colbert took a visit to the American Museum of Natural Historys Hayden Planetarium and spoke with its Director, Neil deGrasse Tyson. Tyson, while just as geeky as you would expect from an astrophysicist, is phenomenally skilled at taking incredibly complex scientific theories and translating them into a Common English that even Stephen Colbert is able to understand. My fate was sealed. This man was the ideal author to ease myself into the brave new world of stellar science.

Death by Black Hole is a collection of essays the Tyson penned for Natural History magazine over the course of several years. Each essay addresses a different topic, running the gamut from the birth of the universe, the history of astronomical discoveries, humankind’s fixation on the red hills of Mars and the life-bringing water that may lay frozen away, all the way to the Pluto Wars (it’s amazing just how contentious Pluto’s status as planet is). Of course there’s some overlap between the chapters and some facts get repeated but, rather than bugging me, I found it to be a good refresher of what had come before that helped solidify my basic understanding of the concepts at hand. Most interesting to me, policy junkie that I am, is the closing essay in which Tyson writes about the plague of scientific ignorance sweeping the country. After almost brutally doing away with that Bible-in-textbook-clothing anachronism that is “intelligent design,” he makes great points about America’s waning prestige in scientific research and the future costs, both economic and academic, that we will have to pay due to ceding our intellectual priority to advance knowledge. I’m not much interested in sustaining American supremacy in any field, but I can always get behind an argument for strengthening education.

What I most enjoyed was the excitement that Tyson has for his field. He doesn’t get bogged down in the minutiae of atomic weights and the like, but thrills at the possibilities of quantum mechanics and takes an almost excessive amount of joy in ruminating over the possible ways that people can be killed in space from the atom-splitting nullification of crossing a black hole’s event horizon to the persistent fear of a species-leveling asteroid striking Earth. Tyson is a man possessed of a childlike sense of wonder at the mysteries of the universe that sees the current limits of our scientific understanding not as having reached the final frontiers of science but as hurdles to be vaulted over in our quest to know. His enthusiasm is quite contagious and I challenge any reader to emerge from this book without being excited about science.
...more

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Apr 22, 2009 Chris rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: society, science

I have often lamented the passing of my favorite popular scientist, Carl Sagan, by talking about how necessary he is right now. We are at a point in our history where scientific illiteracy is growing, where people are not only ignorant of how science works, but are proud of their ignorance. What we need is someone who can reach the majority of Americans who are not especially scientifically literate - the people whose automatic reaction to science is to think, "That's just too hard for me to dea ...more

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Oct 29, 2012 Jocelyn rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, favourites, five-out-of-five, essays, natural-sciences

I don't think I can properly explain how much I love this book, but I'll try.

Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries is a collection of essays Tyson wrote for Natural History, a magazine dedicated to -- you guessed it -- natural history (basically, science) between 1995-2005.

What I like about it:
- Tyson writes in a way that's easily accessible for anyone even without a science background. His analogies are easy to understand and they're fun. Like, "Oh, Neil deGrasse Tyson, you." Also, h ...more

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Oct 01, 2007 Maria rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction

I have one last section to go (Religion and Science), but my main points won't be affected by it.

Death By Black Hole provides, especially in the first couple of sections, a really good outline of various problems that astrophysicists are confronted with, and it definitely made me think of the scientific process in a new way. So that was pretty cool. But on the whole, my reaction was rather meh - kind of disappointing when the book really isn't bad.

My main complaint about the book isn't actually ...more

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Dec 30, 2009 David rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, science, astronomy

As a scientist, at first I was rather bored by this book. I was not learning anything new, and not gaining new insights into astronomy.

But, as I read further, it just hit me--this book is tremendously entertaining! If you are a layman, and looking for a unique viewpoint, you could do a lot worse than this book. And, believe it or not, you will be entertained!

In addition, Tyson puts several aspects of astronomy and astrophysics into a unique perspective. He describes all the ways that the univers ...more

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Jun 23, 2013 B Schrodinger rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: space, physics, non-fiction

Neil is without doubt one of the greatest scientific communicators alive. He is erudite and hilarious with no apparent effort and can always bring the 'wow'.

I enjoy his podcast and have probably watched near all videos on youtube that feature him. This is the first time that I have tried his written work and I am very pleased with the results.

This work is a collection of editorial pieces that Neil writes for a periodical. They are intended to be short, punchy scientific stories and not form an o ...more

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Jul 21, 2011 Stephanie *Eff your feelings* rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science, non-fiction, 2011

Blinded by science
Einstein, Io, comet tails
Information glut

I consider myself an intelligent person. I also find science fascinating. I'm just not sure what happen between me and Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries.....

Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for a science-y book. Maybe I over estimated my intelligence. Both are quite possible. The whole time I was listening to this, it was like listening to Charlie Browns teacher. whaa wha whaa wha whaa Galileo, wha wha E=mc2, whaa whaa wha ...more

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Jan 19, 2021 Gary K Bibliophile rated it it was amazing

4.5 Stars - I’m rounding up because of my inner science geek 🤓.
You always remember your first... Physics book of course 😀 For me this was... umm - not this one - it was actually Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time”. Technically I read “The Illustrated Brief History of Time” (I like pictures 📷 - I thought the illustrations were helpful in visualizing the concepts). Being an Electrical Engineer I have some formal collegiate training in this discipline. A lot of engineers have two semesters ...more

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Feb 29, 2020 Ahmed R. Rashwan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

So I have a thing for Black Holes, so what?! You knew that already! You didn't? Well now you do.

I have had an obsession with Black Holes for as long as I can remember. It was perhaps one of the first phenomena of the big umbrella of Astronomy and Cosmology that I was introduced to and I immediately fell in love with; I mean what is there not to love. An equal or even grander obsession is awarded of course to the author of this brilliant book.

Of course, as with almost all scientific books, the ti So I have a thing for Black Holes, so what?! You knew that already! You didn't? Well now you do.

I have had an obsession with Black Holes for as long as I can remember. It was perhaps one of the first phenomena of the big umbrella of Astronomy and Cosmology that I was introduced to and I immediately fell in love with; I mean what is there not to love. An equal or even grander obsession is awarded of course to the author of this brilliant book.

Of course, as with almost all scientific books, the title is pretty elusive. Yes, there was talk of Black Holes, a lot of talk, but there was a slew of other cosmological subjects too! But, of course, you will hear absolutely no complaints from me. As my favourite astronomer, I am inspired by Neil deGrasse Tyson much in the same way he was probably inspired by Carl Sagan.

There is probably no other human beings on this planet that have invested more to the field of astronomy like Sagan and Tyson have. I, of course, do not mean this in a scientific sense but a commercial one. Sagan and Tyson are to Astronomy what Bill Nye is to Science.

So for all intends and purposes, this review is in fact a form of praising for Neil deGrasse Tyson and his meaning to me as a person rather than a review of the actual book. There are simply some people out there who's literary work is completely overshadowed by their contributions to the subject upon which they write about, so I will dismiss the small quantity of repetitiveness inherent in all scientific books (especially ones comprising of several essays).

They tell you never to meet your heroes, that it is somehow inevitable to be disappointed by such an interaction; that the perfect image you have most definitely built of your heroes is most certainly to fall short of reality. But while I cannot claim to have met Neil deGrasse Tyson, I have at least had a closer glimpse to his personal opinions and thoughts. I shied away from this book for the longest time specifically for fear of being disappointed by the literary work of a person I probably hold the highest esteem of amongst all people.

I don't even recall when or how I was first "introduced" to Neil but what followed was an obsession that has lasted years, till this day. I have probably watched his 'Cosmos' show, inspired by Carl Sagan's Cosmos up to at least 5 times. Neil is funny, witty, intelligent and very very charismatic. If it wasn't for him, there would have definitely been so many different aspects of astronomy that I wouldn't have particularly grabbed. His style of "story-telling" transports you back to a time when anything interested you, when your explorer genes were yet to be suppressed; just like you were a little kid again. So it comes as no surprise that I read the entire book imagining Neil was narrating it to me, for I had completely memorised his pattern of speech and voice, and it is equally not surprising that I would love any work, literary or otherwise that Neil produces.

I ask nothing more of men of science, to be able to pass down the passion in the way that Neil has been very successful in doing is the calling for all of scientists, regardless of their field of study. ...more

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Mar 09, 2020 Yesenia Cash rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book was much harder than Astrophysics for people in a hurry! I’m glad I have the paperback edition as well because I most definitely will be re-reading this! However, still wonderful and I always enjoy Neil Degrasse Tyson’s sense of humor even though most of the puns went over my head.

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Feb 11, 2012 Josh rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: educational, non-fiction

For me this book was merely okay. I've read quite a bit of these types of books, physics for the layperson, and this book was probably my least favorite.

I don't like the overall tone of the book. Tyson makes a point to belittle the human race as much as possible and he comes across as pessimistic. By no means do I think humans are the pinnacle of perfection, but I think we're doing pretty well.

The content of the book was all over the place and only briefly touched on black holes and other cosmic ...more

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Jan 18, 2017 Christopher rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: epub, non-fiction, audiobook, science, 2017

There isn't anything particularly advanced in this book, though as it is a collection of essays, perhaps that is expected. It's easy to get into as a result, and Tyson has a good style that stays entertaining while being informative. ...more

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Feb 04, 2010 Leslie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

If the lovely fact that our sun will probably burn out in 4 billion years and our beloved Earth will turn into a huge ball of black rock because of it (until it's vaporized that is) bothers you, keeps you up in the night, this book might not be for you. If you're worried about an asteroid hitting somewhere between Hawaii and California in 2039 and Idaho becoming ocean front property (hmm, maybe an improvement?), then this book might not be for you. If you're worried about what might happen to yo If the lovely fact that our sun will probably burn out in 4 billion years and our beloved Earth will turn into a huge ball of black rock because of it (until it's vaporized that is) bothers you, keeps you up in the night, this book might not be for you. If you're worried about an asteroid hitting somewhere between Hawaii and California in 2039 and Idaho becoming ocean front property (hmm, maybe an improvement?), then this book might not be for you. If you're worried about what might happen to you if you inadvertently get a little, tinsy bit too close to a black hole of death! (even your atoms get pulled apart) then again, I might not read this book.

Because, if you thought your ulcer was healing and you could eat salsa with your chips again. Think again! A collection of essays about a myriad of cosmic topics from Natural History magazine written by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson (you've probably seen him on PBS, and no he's not the night sky guy with the weird voice), this book entertains. Frightens. Enlightens. And inevitably makes you feel much, much smarter for reading it. But believe me, sometimes this knowledge is a scary, scary thing! In fact, now I'd like to take some of it back. Oh, brain atrophy!

Except for a few about half way through that made my eyes start to glaze over, I found most of these essays really interesting and readable. Tyson is obviously one of those well known science professionals who is actually interested in, and good at, teaching (believe it or not!) instead of just doing research and publishing. So yes, they do exist..

Way, oh way back in the dark ages when I was in college I took a series of physics classes from an astronaut named Don Lind. He was a cocky ass who said stuff like, if you ever get a chance to fly in space.. . I wanted to slap him...anyway, I remember learning about prisms and color and how our brain interprets it, and thinking that was the coolest thing! I remember telling my twelve year old sister about it, about how a prism works and why we are able to see that myriad of colors without moving our eyes (look it up, it's really cool!). She looked at me like I was a martian from outer space who'd just landed and interrupted an episode of Get Smart, and made fun of me for years because of it.

Well, neiner neiner. Now I feel vindicated.
Sort of..
Crap, she's probably still making fun of me.
Oh well.. ...more

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Mar 07, 2017 Ram rated it really liked it

Shelves: popular-science

Another of those books that I think that if I would have read them when I was 15-25 years old , I would have changed my career.

The book is a collection of essays that appeared as a column in the Natural History magazine and are all related with space.

With great talent to simplify things in an interesting way, the author presents various aspects of the knowledge related to space:

The history of the research both from the technological and personal view

The mind boggling size and variety of the univ ...more

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Jan 24, 2017 Esme rated it it was amazing

Ok, so you're looking for a science book that's accessible to everyone - you've found it!

Neil goes over some really interesting concepts, but they aren't what I would say for advanced readers. Much like his work on Cosmos, the concepts are simple but entertaining and informative. This is a book you could give to beginners who are just dipping their toes into astronomy, physics and earth space sciences.

Like always, it's written in a warmer tone than say, Dawkins or Hitchens, and is even more ac ...more

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Mar 03, 2017 Chesca (thecrownedpages) rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2017, non-fiction

Entertainingly informative, Neil DeGrasse Tyson's Death by Black Hole was exquisitely written by this master storyteller and it took me to places I never thought existed and opened my eyes to the littlest and to the grandest discoveries and mistakes in the field of astrophysics.

Although I enjoyed reading this book, I admit that it was quite overwhelming at some points that it took me almost a year to finish it.

This book, like the facts in it, was indeed baffling in a good way. ...more

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Mar 16, 2014 jeremy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: science, essays

in this young, still fertile century, there may not be a better emissary and evangelist for scientific curiosity than neil degrasse tyson. the bronx-raised astrophysicist's ability to succinctly, accessibly, and entertainingly convey even the headiest and most complex of subjects is itself a marvel. death by black hole: and other cosmic quandaries collects 42 of tyson's essays from natural history magazine, published over 11 years beginning in 1995.

death by black hole is divided into 7 sections; in this young, still fertile century, there may not be a better emissary and evangelist for scientific curiosity than neil degrasse tyson. the bronx-raised astrophysicist's ability to succinctly, accessibly, and entertainingly convey even the headiest and most complex of subjects is itself a marvel. death by black hole: and other cosmic quandaries collects 42 of tyson's essays from natural history magazine, published over 11 years beginning in 1995.

death by black hole is divided into 7 sections; each delving into a particular realm of scientific inquest and knowledge. spanning 13.8 billion years, tyson considers everything from the big bang and inflation to the current state of science education and its detractors. as with all of his writing (or media appearances), tyson is remarkably erudite, good-natured, and gifted with a fantastic, if sometimes charmingly corny sense of humor. even subjects that may already be well familiar to the reader are offered in a refreshing, thought-provoking way.

tyson covers all of the usual astronomical and cosmological subjects, frequently veering into philosophical and pragmatic asides. while his own interest in the subject is clearly insatiable, his talent for engaging others and making them as excited is most notable. it would be difficult for a reader with even a cursory enthusiasm to muster the escape velocity necessary to avoid the pull of tyson's abundant passion and fervor.

ndt is an irreplaceable asset not only to the science community at large, but to anyone that values the role of education and curiosity in a free society. death by black hole is a veritable buffet for the imagination... and what better conduit to the stars than the essays of neil degrasse tyson.

to deny or erase the rich, colorful history of scientists and other thinkers who have invoked divinity in their work would be intellectually dishonest. surely there's an appropriate place for intelligent design to live in the academic landscape. how about the history of religion? how about philosophy or psychology? the one place it doesn't belong is the science classroom.

if you're not swayed by academic arguments, consider the financial consequences. allow intelligent design into science textbooks, lecture halls, and laboratories, and the cost to the frontier of scientific discovery - the frontier that drives the economies of the future - would be incalculable. 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. the day that happens, americans will just sit in awe of what we don't understand, while we watch the rest of the world boldly go where no mortal has gone before.

...more

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Jul 18, 2016 Jose Moa rated it really liked it

Shelves: cosmology, science, astronomy

A sort of a Nearly a Histhory of Everything but foccused mainly on astrophysics,writen as a series of articles touching diverse subjects.

A very entertaining,easy to read popular science book with, unusual in this sort of books, a touch of fine and at times acid humor.

It has two very interesting final chapters where the author makes a disgression of the relations between people,science and religion,and makes clear his position in regard to the inteligent design hypotesis with yhe following textua ...more

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Mar 12, 2009 Kathy rated it liked it · review of another edition

A great title for a book, that alone made me want to read it. Of course, this is the type of book I will almost always pick up from the library. It is a collection of essays on science for the magazine Natural History. It covers a wide range of topics, usually relating to physics, from particle physics to astrophysics. I love this stuff and I only wish I retained enough math to be able to read more technical discussions than these rather general essays.
The essays are informative and entertaining A great title for a book, that alone made me want to read it. Of course, this is the type of book I will almost always pick up from the library. It is a collection of essays on science for the magazine Natural History. It covers a wide range of topics, usually relating to physics, from particle physics to astrophysics. I love this stuff and I only wish I retained enough math to be able to read more technical discussions than these rather general essays.
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. ...more

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Nov 02, 2007 Alex Telander rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2007

DEATH BY BLACK HOLE AND OTHER COSMIC QUANDARIES BY NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: An astrophysicist for the American Museum of Natural History, director of the world famous Hayden Planetarium, and columnist for Natural History magazine, Neil DeGrasse Tyson brings to the non-scientific world the ideal book for those fascinated with space, the cosmos, black holes, and all the questions and wonders therein. Death by Black Hole is the perfect book for the reader who wants answers to questions about the univer DEATH BY BLACK HOLE AND OTHER COSMIC QUANDARIES BY NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: An astrophysicist for the American Museum of Natural History, director of the world famous Hayden Planetarium, and columnist for Natural History magazine, Neil DeGrasse Tyson brings to the non-scientific world the ideal book for those fascinated with space, the cosmos, black holes, and all the questions and wonders therein. Death by Black Hole is the perfect book for the reader who wants answers to questions about the universe in a simple and clearly defined way so that even if they know next to nothing about science and it’s jargon, Tyson makes it easily understandable.

While I was hoping for something a little more in depth in the style of Brian Greene’s The Fabric of the Cosmos or Lee Smolin’s The Trouble With Physics, Death by Black Hole nevertheless provides quick and simple answers to many questions everyday readers without a science background have about physics, the universe, space, and most matters dealing with the cosmos. The book is a selection of his columns in Natural History that are organized in a somewhat textbook fashion. Tyson starts with the idea of science and nature in its basic form, how humanity views Earth, the solar system, the universe. Along with this discussion, Tyson also gives minor history lessons on the development of different ideas in physics and astronomy, what people came up with what big ideas and how the progression led to the development of the big theories of our current time with string theory and relativity. Going on from here, Death by Black Hole address the crucial steps that led to the formation of the universe and its development over the many billions and billions of years, again explaining how it is that scientists know what they do and what instruments were used, as well as the history of who invented and used said instruments.

It is then that Tyson finally turns to the subject matter of the title of the book in the section “When the Universe Turns Bad: All the Ways the Cosmos Wants to Kill Us.” Here he addresses the complex and still relatively unknown subjects of chaos theory, dark matter (which constitutes over 90% of all matter in the universe, while we still know next to nothing about it), and finally black holes. Tyson takes the reader on a hypothetical journey with what would happen if one were to be sucked into a black hole and how as they approached the event horizon, they would become stretched until the elasticity point of their skin was surpassed and the body would be torn into thousands then millions of little pieces.

With many questions now answered, in the next section Tyson discusses how science is viewed by the media, Hollywood, and people around the world in general. The final section addresses the concept of science and religion, again taking the reader on a historic journey through the development of first religion, then science, and the struggle that has ensued for centuries. It is the perfect end to a book on science, as Tyson lectures the importance of supporting fact and reality in a time when there are many who believe more in faith, even when all the evidence is to the contrary.

For more book reviews, and author interviews, go to BookBanter. ...more

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Dec 29, 2012 Emma Sea rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, auckland-library, astrophysics

My main dissatisfaction with this book is that it's a series of collected magazine columns. This does seem a bit like criticising an apple because it's not a banana, however I think Tyson would have be been better advised to hire an editor to whip this into an actual book, rather than just reprint the original short essays. For example, in chapter 25 Tyson critiques the concept of the "Goldilocks Zone", discussing the myriad ways life could flourish in environments entirely dissimilar to our own My main dissatisfaction with this book is that it's a series of collected magazine columns. This does seem a bit like criticising an apple because it's not a banana, however I think Tyson would have be been better advised to hire an editor to whip this into an actual book, rather than just reprint the original short essays. For example, in chapter 25 Tyson critiques the concept of the "Goldilocks Zone", discussing the myriad ways life could flourish in environments entirely dissimilar to our own e.g. in seas of liquid ammonia or methane. But then in the following chapter Tyson contends that life will only originate on a planet with a temperature that allows liquid water i.e. in the Goldilocks Zone. Originally these essays would have been published months or years apart, but juxtaposed like this it is a frustrating read, to say the least.

The other problem with short essays is that things just start to get interesting and it's over. In chapter 21 Tyson briefly mentions technetium; an element with a half-life of only 2 million years, but which is nevertheless found in red giant stars.

"In other words, the star cannot have been born with the stuff, for if it were there would be none left by now. There is also no known mechanism to create technetium in a star's core and have it dredge itself up to the surface where it is observed, which has led to exotic theories that have yet to achieve consensus in the astrophysics community"

But you know, those diverse and exotic theories are exactly what I'd like to hear about! That was the most interesting part of the book for me, and it just gets left lying gasping on the floor.

Also, sadly, the book is aimed at someone who has done little or no prior science reading; a far broader generalist audience that I hoped for. I 100% agree with Maria's review, when she says this would be a good high-school-level book. If you don't generally read pop-science, but would like to learn more about how our universe works, I definitely recommend this book. Tyson is a great writer: engaging and able to explain complex ideas simply, with a dash of humour.

For me it's a 2.5, rounded up. ...more

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Jul 03, 2013 Nicholas Armstrong rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I can already see the masses of Tyson fans charging ahead just to light me aflame for having the audicity to doubt a word he says, but so I must. To be fair, I love Neil deGrasse Tyson. I saw him speak at USC, I've watched his lectures and his interviews, and I think he has done more for popularizing science than anyone else. But none of that a writer makes. This is especially true of sarcastic and sardonic wit.

Being funny in text is what I would rate as the most challenging things to accomplis I can already see the masses of Tyson fans charging ahead just to light me aflame for having the audicity to doubt a word he says, but so I must. To be fair, I love Neil deGrasse Tyson. I saw him speak at USC, I've watched his lectures and his interviews, and I think he has done more for popularizing science than anyone else. But none of that a writer makes. This is especially true of sarcastic and sardonic wit.

Being funny in text is what I would rate as the most challenging things to accomplish (some comics may agree) because it loses so much of the presence, tone, and body language that makes something funny. Tyson is a legitimately funny person, I promise this, but aside from the knowledge that he wrote this, none of that translates well. I could guess that this is because much of his humor is in his intonations, pauses, and timing, something any classclown can tell you about. But not any classclown can write a best-selling comedic novel, nor can just any astro-physicist write a truly comic novel, or at least one which transfers that genius.

What I'm getting at is that this book is dry. It seeks to inform, but it does so in a way that is just a little bit uninteresting and just a little bit reminscent of my astronomy courses. Interesting stuff, but the delivery was just all wrong.

This wasn't assisted by the fact that the structuring of the book is terrible. To be fair, Tyson admits at the outset that this is little more than a collection of essays slapped back to back and tidied up a bit to try and make them fit, but that is exactly how they read. The transitions are generally poor and always jarring. The sentences don't blend together so much as float like an oily film, and trying to read too many consectutive pieces put together makes me feel as if my brain were a poorly done game of tetris - too many holes and not enough matching lines.

But hey, I'm for anything that gets people reading, and I'm especially for anything that gets people reading about the world and about science. It goes without saying that I'm far happier this book is out there and so widely read than never having been published. I just prattle on because I'm a snot-nose with too many standards. ...more

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May 17, 2013 Leana M rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Well written and great stuff for the universe geek (or anyone with the slightest interest and curiosity for learning). NDT adds some fun with his quirks and humor. Allow me to indulge in a little pun here- And it ends with a bang. ;)

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Sep 26, 2012 Dale Jr. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, non-fiction, science, 4-star

Neil deGrasse Tyson has become a bit of an inspiration and scientific hero to me. He's a man who strongly pushes forth to erase scientific ignorance and champions the exploration of our world and the universe to further human greatness.

His lectures are intensely interesting and full of scientific knowledge, yet easy to follow by anyone willing to listen and apply their minds. He boils down some of the most complex theories and scientific facts so that they're easily understood. His writing is no Neil deGrasse Tyson has become a bit of an inspiration and scientific hero to me. He's a man who strongly pushes forth to erase scientific ignorance and champions the exploration of our world and the universe to further human greatness.

His lectures are intensely interesting and full of scientific knowledge, yet easy to follow by anyone willing to listen and apply their minds. He boils down some of the most complex theories and scientific facts so that they're easily understood. His writing is no different.

I've been diving further and further into astrophysics and varying theories in related fields (string and multiverse theory is, simply put, awesome). This journey has made me quite familiar with Tyson and I figured it was about time to pick up one of his texts.

Death by Black Hole is a collection of essays and lectures spanning the entire field of astrophysics and cosmology. From the Big Bang, to the life cycles of stars. From the speed of light to the mind-boggling power of black holes. There's even a section where Tyson describes the three biggest ways our world will come to an end. And it has nothing to do with ancient Mayan prophecy or the second coming.

When scientifically investigating the natural world the only thing worse than a blind believer is a seeing denier.

Since it is a collection of various lectures and essays, some information is repeated here and there, but it does not detract from the wealth of knowledge contained between the covers. I learned a lot. Retained most of it in one reading due to Tyson's way of writing and explaining. This is a book full of information, yet you never feel like your reading something as dry as a text book. Tyson makes you want to keep reading. He injects humor along with serious scientific education.

I'm glad that his book lived up to my expectations of him and I will be sure to pick up his others. Quite frankly, this was the best non-fiction book I've read this year. Wonderfully executed and easily devoured. I feel both filled with new knowledge, and humbled by the amount I, and the rest of my human brothers and sisters, do not know yet.

But as Tyson lays out in his book, it's not wrong to be ignorant of something as long as you are continuing to try and figure it out.

Science is a philosophy of discovery. Intelligent design is a philosophy of ignorance. You cannot build a program of discovery on the assumption that nobody is smart enough to figure out the answer to the problem. Once upon a time, people identified the god Neptune as the source of storms at sea. Today we call these storms hurricanes. We know when and where they start. We know what drives them. We know what mitigates their destructive power. And anyone who has studied global warming can tell you what makes them worse. The only people who still call hurricanes "acts of God" are the people who write insurance forms.

...more

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Aug 08, 2009 Samantha rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science

I love Neil deGrasse Tyson. His humor and straightforwardness were some of the best things about the History Channel documentary, The Universe. And his lectures on YouTube are always extremely inventive, interesting, and entertaining. So when I saw this book on the shelf at my local bookstore, I had to buy it.

I wasn't disappointed.

Ever since I was a child, I've enjoyed learning about the universe. I'll never be an astrophysicist, but it always fascinates me to learn about all that's out there (a I love Neil deGrasse Tyson. His humor and straightforwardness were some of the best things about the History Channel documentary, The Universe. And his lectures on YouTube are always extremely inventive, interesting, and entertaining. So when I saw this book on the shelf at my local bookstore, I had to buy it.

I wasn't disappointed.

Ever since I was a child, I've enjoyed learning about the universe. I'll never be an astrophysicist, but it always fascinates me to learn about all that's out there (and all that may be out there that we have yet to discover). Of course, the language of the cosmos is complicated: nebulae, pulsars, quasars, supernovas, black holes, event horizons, dark matter, antimatter, etc., etc.

That's where Dr. Tyson comes in. He has an uncanny ability to take something that is unfailingly complex to the 'average' person such as myself and explain it in a way that I can understand. And he does so with unsurpassed humor, wit, and even the slightest bit of self-deprecation.

In the end, he says, the universe is out to kill us. In many, many ways. And even though there is a lot we still don't understand about the universe and how it began and where it's going, that doesn't mean we stop looking. There is always more to learn, there is always more to discover, and if the essays in his book are any indication, it is all utterly fascinating.

The last part of the book deals with science and religion. Dr. Tyson claims that being a scientist doesn't necessarily preclude belief in God. However, he staunchly claims that God has no business in scientific discovery, that simply crediting God with creating all the things that science can't currently explain opens the door to the cessation of scientific discovery. He quotes Galileo, who said, "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."

If the science vs. God debate makes you uncomfortable, have no fear--it's a very small part of the book, tucked in at the very end after all the terrific science essays.

I highly recommend this book, even if you're only slightly interested in the universe. ...more

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Jan 17, 2010 Bakari rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: science, 2010-books-read

Astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson‘s Death By Black Hole is definitely an engaging read, especially for these modern times. Though many pages and chapters about the particulars of matter, energy, space, and time—the physics of the universe—were very difficult for my scientifically illiterate mind to comprehend, I read nearly ever page for nuggets of understanding.

Tyson is a excellent writer because he knows his subject matter. Just think how different our Bible reading population would be if T Astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson‘s Death By Black Hole is definitely an engaging read, especially for these modern times. Though many pages and chapters about the particulars of matter, energy, space, and time—the physics of the universe—were very difficult for my scientifically illiterate mind to comprehend, I read nearly ever page for nuggets of understanding.

Tyson is a excellent writer because he knows his subject matter. Just think how different our Bible reading population would be if Tyson had wrote the Book of Genesis. His “in the beginning“ would have probably talked about the discoveries and meaning of supernovas, as the “primary source for the origin and relative mix of heavy elements in the universe.” He would have verses about Newton’s laws of motion and early twentieth century theories about quantum mechanics. His creation story would not be described in a mere seven days; his story would talk about billions of years—more time than most of us can imagine. But of course, the Bible was written in an era which lacked the scientific discoveries that Tyson writes about.

But, but...this is what makes Death By Black Hole, and other books similar to it, so important. Reading a book like this provides us more knowledge about the universe and who we are as homo sapiens than Biblical writers could ever imagine. We simply need the education, patience, and study to learn what has been discovered. Though we are not, as Tyson writes in his essay, “Fear of Numbers,” “wired for logical thinking,” the brain, as he goes on to say, is “a marvelously flexible organ.” And in my view it’s time that more and more of us start using our brain to its greatest potential. Believing and praying to gods and reading horoscopes are no longer sufficient for our survival as a species. We can do much, much better than that.
Perhaps a few months from now, I’ll read another of Tyson‘s books, Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution, and view the PBS companion special as I do. It will be much like viewing the Carl Sagan’s Cosmos back in my college days. ...more

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May 21, 2012 Evan Wondrasek rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Death by Black Hole is one of the most interesting non-fiction science books I've ever read. It's a collection of essays published by Neil deGrasse Tyson over the last 10+ years, and provides great, down-to-earth explanations of amazing astrophysics phenomena.

This isn't a book about farfetched scenarios as its title implies - only a single chapter was actually about "death by black hole" - but the rest of the book presented a thorough and highly scientific explanation of the universe as we know ...more

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Jan 04, 2010 Sean rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I feel that the reason that people do not understand science in the US today is because we have a foolish tradition of thinking that the only way to "know" physics is through the terse formalism of mathematics. Math is a tool to do science, as much as a microscope or a superconducting supercollider. The disservice we do as scientists are when we are unable to communicate the concepts about our physical world to the population at large because we tangle ourselves up in mathematical formalism.

Neil ...more

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About Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson

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Neil deGrasse Tyson was born and raised in New York City where he was educated in the public schools clear through his graduation from the Bronx High School of Science. Tyson went on to earn his BA in Physics from Harvard and his PhD in Astrophysics from Columbia.

Tyson's professional research interests are broad, but include star formation, exploding stars, dwarf galaxies, and the structure of our Neil deGrasse Tyson was born and raised in New York City where he was educated in the public schools clear through his graduation from the Bronx High School of Science. Tyson went on to earn his BA in Physics from Harvard and his PhD in Astrophysics from Columbia.

Tyson's professional research interests are broad, but include star formation, exploding stars, dwarf galaxies, and the structure of our Milky Way. Tyson obtains his data from the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as from telescopes in California, New Mexico, Arizona, and in the Andes Mountains of Chile.

In 2001, Tyson was appointed by President Bush to serve on a 12-member commission that studied the Future of the US Aerospace Industry. The final report was published in 2002 and contained recommendations (for Congress and for the major agencies of the government) that would promote a thriving future of transportation, space exploration, and national security.

In 2004, Tyson was once again appointed by President Bush to serve on a 9-member commission on the Implementation of the United States Space Exploration Policy, dubbed the Moon, Mars, and Beyond commission. This group navigated a path by which the new space vision can become a successful part of the American agenda. And in 2006, the head of NASA appointed Tyson to serve on its prestigious Advisory Council, which will help guide NASA through its perennial need to fit its ambitious vision into its restricted budget.

In addition to dozens of professional publications, Dr. Tyson has written, and continues to write for the public. He is a monthly essayist for Natural History magazine under the title Universe. And among Tyson's eight books is his memoir The Sky is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist; and Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution, co-written with Donald Goldsmith. Origins is the companion book to the PBS-NOVA 4-part mini-series Origins, in which Tyson serves as on-camera host. The program premiered on September 28 and 29, 2004. And beginning in the fall of 2006, Tyson appears as the on-camera host of PBS-NOVA's spinoff program NOVA ScienceNow, which is an accessible look at the frontier of all the science that shapes the understanding of our place in the universe.

Tyson's latest two books are the playful and informative Death By Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries, which was a New York Times bestseller, and The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet, chronicling his experience at the center of the controversy over Pluto's planetary status.

Tyson is the recipient of nine honorary doctorates and the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal. His contributions to the public appreciation of the cosmos have been recognized by the International Astronomical Union in their official naming of asteroid 13123 Tyson. On the lighter side, Tyson was voted Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive by People Magazine in 2000.

Tyson is the first occupant of the Frederick P. Rose Directorship of the Hayden Planetarium. Tyson lives in New York City with his wife and two children. ...more