StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson
Everything You Ever Need to Know About Space Travel, Sci-Fi, the Human Race, the Universe, and Beyond
Hardcover
By Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jeffrey Simons, Charles Liu
Publisher: National Geographic Books
Released date: September 13, 2016

Scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson segued his radio show last year into a TV series on the National Geographic Channel called StarTalk, where each week he’d talk with celebrities about scientific topics, and now, there’s a new companion book called StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Boldly subtitled Everything You Ever Need to Know About Space Travel, Sci-Fi, the Human Race, the Universe, and Beyond, this 304-page full-cover hardcover hits on four major themes — Space, Planet Earth, Being Human, and Futures Imagined. But lest you think this is a dry science textbook, StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson seeks to make astronomy, cosmology, technology, and futurology fun and accessible to the layman, and it succeeds.

Tyson supplies the Introduction, while an “About This Book” section explains how the publishers took the best parts of the StarTalk television series to compile the book. It includes a handy guide on navigating through the various sidebars: “Laugh Out Loud,” which pulls humorous quotes by the guests on the show; “Biography,” which notes remarkable scientists; “Tour Guide,” which is more about our universe; “Drink of the Evening,” themed cocktail recipes developed by Tyson with bartenders at his StarTalk Live! shows; “Back to Basic,” which provides more details on the harder-to-understand scientific concepts; “Conversations,” witty banter from the people in the studio, and “Neil Tweets,” a look at some of the astrophysics bests posts to Twitter (and there are plenty to choose from!).

In the “Space” chapter, find out what to pack for a trip to the planet Mars; in “Planet Earth,” learn about how the Moon affects the tides; in “Being Human,” discover how similar humans are to apes, and in “Futures Imagined,” see if Armageddon and other sci-fi movies were accurate. Those are just tiny examples of all the information that’s packed into this book.

StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson is a fun read for the science enthusiast who enjoys a touch of celebrity with their academics.

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