Death by Black Hole

And Other Cosmic Quandaries

By: Neil deGrasse Tyson

Narrated by: Dion Graham

Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

“[Tyson] tackles a great range of subjects…with great humor, humility, and—most important—humanity.” —Entertainment Weekly

Neil deGrasse Tyson has a talent for guiding readers through the mysteries of outer space with stunning clarity and almost childlike enthusiasm. Here, Tyson compiles his favorite essays that he wrote for Natural History magazine across a myriad of cosmic topics, from astral life at the frontiers of astrobiology to the movie industry’s feeble efforts to get its night skies right.

Tyson introduces us to the physics of black holes by explaining the gory details of what would happen to our bodies if we fell into one, examining the needless friction between science and religion in the context of historical conflicts, and noting Earth’s progression to “an insignificantly small speck in the cosmos.”

Renowned 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 sharing his infectious excitement for our universe.

©2007 Neil deGrasse Tyson (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"Tyson takes readers on an exciting journey from Earth's hot springs...to the universe's farthest reaches....witty and entertaining." (Publishers Weekly)
"Smoothly entertaining, full of fascinating tidbits, and frequently humorous, these essays show Tyson as one of today's best popularizers of science." (Kirkus Reviews)
"[Tyson] demonstrates a good feel for explaining science in an intelligible way to interested lay readers; his rather rakish sense of humor should aid in making the book enjoyable." (Library Journal)

A great read

Everything about this book is 'top-shelf'. The narrator is animated, the story for all of the complex subject matter, is relayed in terms easy to understand. Worth a second read for sure, to catch the things one may have missed, or had time to reflect on and wishes to revisit .

Love it!

I love NDT's in-your-face, it-is-what-it-is style of writing. Excellent source of knowledge, fun facts, and humour.
The narrator is wonderful, also; but for one oopsie: he called the Saturn V (five) rocket the Saturn V (like Victor) rocket. Cringe-worthy, but hasn't prevented me from listening over and over (and over) again!

Not a disappointment.

Flawless narration. A real listening pleasure on Audible. The material was exactly as I expected, sometimes surprising and always interesting. Neil makes learning fun!

TV Host, an Astrophysicist

I ended up watching a revise version on Cosmos when it was on Fox. I've only seen a few episodes of the original with Carl Edward Sagan and was always amazed on how well he was able to explained space and life. I was a bit skeptical when I started to watch the new Cosmos with Neil deGrasse Tyson, but I was hooked from the very beginning. His style of explaining the universe is almost good as Sagan.

After the series ended, I wanted to know more about Neil deGrasse Tyson. I found out that he is a famous astrophysicist and wrote many books on the subject. "Death by Black Hole" is a bunch of articles into a book that Tyson wrote and they are outstanding at explaining the unknown that are out of this world.

Dr. Tyson has the same charisma as Dr. Sagan that you can listen to him for hours and always learn something new.

This is a great introduction of astronomy and science. I will be reading more of Tyson's work.

Amazing

It is amazing that he can turn theses advanced concepts in to something I ,mostly, understand.

Awesome book

Fun listen, almost forgot it wasn’t Tyson reading it, full of great knowledge from our favorite physicist, thanks Neil!

Too haughty

As a scientist who has read a lot of science, the tone of this was too haughty and arrogant. Other authors have found ways to convey the same information in a much better way.

The narrator did an excellent job capturing the book's tone, although if he'd found a way to mitigate it that would have made it more enjoyable.

Fun book, annoying reader

The performance is generally great, EXCEPT FOR THE CONSTANT PRONUNCIATION ERRORS. Seriously annoying and distracting, like the reader had never heard of quite a few physics concepts and names.

This book teaches you everything about the cosmos except black holes sad!

This book teaches you everything about the cosmos except black holes sad! Narration is bad and topics are repetitive

Well written and well read

Neil deGrasse Tyson presents this complex subject in a clear and gripping way. The reader,Dion Graham, has just the right pace and inflection to keep your attention. Normally, this subject requires diagrams to clarify what is being said but this presentation is clear without them.

An absorbing book that I look forward to hearing again.