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)

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.

Text 5, Narration 1

My star rating is an average of individual ratings for the author and the narrator. Taken for what it is, an anthology of essays, this book gives a good overview of many topics in astrophysics and science in general. As others have noted, if you are familiar with the current state of affairs, there will be little new to you. Tyson is clearly the heir apparent to Carl Sagan as popularizer of science. Someone should have provided the narrator with a pronunciation guide, though. To say that he pronounced non-English names and titles in a sometimes "non-standard" way would be charitable. The thing that set my nerves on edge the most was everytime he referred to the Apollo launch vehicle, the venerable "Saturn V", as the "Saturn Vee", not realizing that the "V" was a Roman numeral and the rocket was called the "Saturn 5". I never got the feeling the reader really understood what he was talking about and, therefore, all the excitement and emotion of Tyson's words came out as flat and forced. Too bad.

Fascinating! Hated to put it down

This book was not only enjoyable it was engrossing. I could not wait to get back to it every time I had to put it down. The author explains complex astrophysics in layman's terms. I enjoyed his lighthearted explanation of how the universe works. A broad spectrum of topics from the sub-atomic to complex molecules and how they are made are covered. I found myself saying "Oh yeah - I remember that from high school!" (40 years ago). Explaining the nuts and bolts of matter and how they make up our universe was very useful to me in understanding the relationship between planets, stars and galaxies.

recap for most

an interesting book. but if you read a brief history of time, and understood it, then most of this is just a recap. there are a few funy anecdotes and updates to previous knowledge to keep the mood light and make the book intresting.
in short, if u have a discovery channel level of understanding of string theory, then u can skip this title. if u think string theory has something to do with violins, then this is a good place to expand your horizons.

An entertaining scientific journey

The content is fantastic and vivid, roughly walking us through the start of the universe to our modern understanding of that start, always with a strong astronomical and cosmic perspective.

One of the most fascinating parts to me was fairly early on in the book, when the author described all of the scientific observations and deductions that could be made just by sticking a stick in the ground and observing its shadow!

I also appreciated, in a slightly terrifying way, the breakdown of the various ways the human race might be wiped out due to some space-borne or space-delivered disaster. Tyson shares an extremely provoking thought when he mentions that we as humans may one day be extinct and, upon being examined by some future intelligent species on this planet, wonders how big-brained mammals met the same fate of extinction as the "pea-brained" dinosaurs!

The reader is wonderful, with appropriate emphasis and pacing and the production is top-notch delivering a clear and crisp recording.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and it goes on my "re-listen in the future" list - both because it is such an enjoyable read, but also because there is so much fascinating information that I feel a second (or possibly even third) listen is needed to absorb it all!

If you are interested in matters of mankind progressing in the scientific endeavor, in matters astronomical or cosmological, and especially if you might like to hear how it could all go sideways on us due to the massive forces at work in our universe - I can highly recommend this book!

Mixed

Starts off excellent, very informative. For someone apparently not into any religion, he spent way to much time preaching at the end.

Great intro to astrophysics...

I love this book. Brought somewhat compicated concepts to life, with lots of colorful examples, great metaphores. I really love the humor, and the skill of the narrator. This book gives me a way to share my passion for science with my 9-12 year old children.

A must listen

This book is meant for the average astronomy enthusiast , but is amazingly lucid even for someone who doesnot understand any such concepts as "Black Hole", "Supernova" or "Quasars". Tyson has done an amazing job in compiling this book and even more so to narrate it so effortlessly.
I have gone through this book atleast 3 times and would recommend it to be a part of your must read list also.

A Random Walk Through Cosmology

As stated in the preface, this book is a collection of essays. The connection between the essays is very loose and the book reads like a random walk. I'm about half way through the book and it does not feel like the book is building toward anything. A Short History of Nearly Everything has a similar scope but does a better job of structuring the content.

The narrator's reading does accentuate the author's goofy humor and commentary deposited throughout the book. I agree with the other reviewer who noted that the narrator doesn't understand all of what he is reading. This limitation is more noticeable in the first few chapters of the book. His tone and enthusiasm is a bit forced but not totally inconsistent with the style of writing of the book.

I will most likely finish listen to the rest of this book. There are some interesting factoids and concepts that capture my interest and inspire me to seek out more information on these topics.

Very enlightening and entertaining!

If you've ever seen Neil deGrasse Tyson speak or be interviewed, you'll probably agree that his enthusiasm about the subjects he researches and writes about is quite infectious. Dion Graham captures that prefectly in his performance of the material, without being over-the-top. The content itself is at once awe-inspiring, intriguing, thought-provoking, and humbling. As it is was origially written as a series of individual articles, each chapter gives a good overview of one cosmic phenomenon or another, and they are well tied together in themes throughout the book. I loved listening to it, and I'm sure I'll revisit it again.