• The Milky Way

  • An Autobiography of Our Galaxy
  • By: Moiya McTier
  • Narrated by: Moiya McTier
  • Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
  • 3.8 out of 5 stars (125 ratings)

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The Milky Way  By  cover art

The Milky Way

By: Moiya McTier
Narrated by: Moiya McTier
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Publisher's summary

In this approachable and fascinating biography of the galaxy, an astrophysicist and folklorist details everything humans have discovered—from the Milky Way's formation to its eventual death, and what else there is to learn about the universe we call home.

After a few billion years of bearing witness to life on Earth, of watching one hundred billion humans go about their day-to-day lives, of feeling unbelievably lonely, and of hearing its own story told by others, The Milky Way would like a chance to speak for itself. All one hundred billion stars and fifty undecillion tons of gas of it.

It all began some thirteen billion years ago, when clouds of gas scattered through the universe's primordial plasma just could not keep their metaphorical hands off each other. They succumbed to their gravitational attraction, and the galaxy we know as the Milky Way was born. Since then, the galaxy has watched as dark energy pushed away its first friends, as humans mythologized its name and purpose, and as galactic archaeologists have worked to determine its true age (rude). The Milky Way has absorbed supermassive (an actual technical term) black holes, made enemies of a few galactic neighbors, and mourned the deaths of countless stars. Our home galaxy has even fallen in love.

After all this time, the Milky Way finally feels that it's amassed enough experience for the juicy tell-all we've all been waiting for. Its fascinating autobiography recounts the history and future of the universe in accessible but scientific detail, presenting a summary of human astronomical knowledge thus far that is unquestionably out of this world.

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2022 BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY AND SCIENCENET
NAMED A BEST AUDIOBOOK OF 2022 BY BOOKPAGE

©2022 Moiya McTier (P)2022 Grand Central Publishing

Critic reviews

"It's about time we heard the story of the Milky Way in its own words. The good news is that our galaxy is not only ancient and majestic; it's also whimsical, amusing, and downright chatty. Moiya McTier's book is an entertaining introduction to some of the most profound features of our astrophysical neighborhood."—Sean Carroll, New York Times bestselling author of Something Deeply Hidden

"If you want to learn about the Milky Way, who better to go to than the source? Well, up until now, the Galaxy hasn’t been talking–but all of that has changed! Turns out, the Milky Way has a sense of humor, an attitude, and, frankly, isn’t super impressed with us as of late. If you’re looking for a fun and unique way to learn about astrophysics—this is the book for you! "—Kelly Weinersmith, New York Times bestselling author of Soonish

"A direct, fun, and charming mix of the science, folklore, and history of our Milky Way galaxy. And since that galaxy is technically composed at least in part by ME, I cannot help but take some of the credit."—Ryan North, New York Times bestselling author of How to Invent Everything

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What listeners say about The Milky Way

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Disappointed

I heard about this book on an NPR interview and thought the concept sounded interesting. I love the topic, but the delivery… I couldn’t get through chapter 2. The galaxy’s “attitude” is terribly irritating and takes away from the message I believe the author intended.

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32 people found this helpful

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Comments from a technophile

During my first semester in college, at Clarkson College of Technology, my major was particle physics. My second semester at Uppsala University, my major was drama. I then spent 20 years in the Air Force doing various jobs in research electronics. After the Air Force, I became a computer programmer. I got a BS in Accounting from Rollins College in Winter Park, FL. All this is leading up to the fact that I have always been interested in science, in fact, while in the Air Force I worked in support of all three space programs - Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. So hearing what it all is about from the horses mouth was entertaining. I thank the Milky Way for giving us its autobiography and am looking forward to future stories from the perspective of folklore.

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18 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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I’m sure this is a good book for someone

This work is probably better suited to a long essay form but in a book it kind of loses its capacity as a cute idea. Probably just the right tone for some readers/listeners but definitely misses the mark for many others.

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16 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A great first dive into our awesome galaxy!

A grand tour of our home galaxy! She might be a tad uppity but she is a grand collection of 300,000,000,000 stars along with countless black holes, unimaginabley massive clouds of hydrogen forming new stars and most importantly to us meat sacks, planets!
She has done us the grand kindness of forming a stable place for life to flourish and seems to be on our side.
A fun, clever listen! Moyia is a treat as both author and narrator and an obvious adherent to old notion "if your not careful, you might just learn something!!"
There is a ton in here to learn and you won't get it all at first, but is a fantastic launching pad for curiosity and lists many
subjects of study from the big bang to dark matter that today's fifth graders will be cracking in 20 years!

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16 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Personifying the Milky Way- Brill!

What a unique approach to science. I can see this book being a stepping stone for so many who aren't sure that a STEM education or career is the right way to go. If I were teaching a course to curious minds, I would definitely grab this book as a starting point. McTier's incorporation of science, math, mythology, religion and some subtle social commentary, makes is a book worth reading.

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9 people found this helpful

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Sentient Galaxy

This was a wonderful story and method of instructing the general public that may be unfamiliar wis familiar with cosmology!

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4 people found this helpful

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Really cool!

Loved it! It was entertaining and informative. Basic knowledge of astronomy really helped a lot.

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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the sentient galaxy sassiness

It was a real presentation of astronomy and presented in an interesting way. It made a previously uninteresting subject interesting.

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Decent but distracting

I was excited for this book because of the authors voice and tone..but it ended up being hard to follow and some topics were way above the average person’s understanding of math and science. It seemed disorganized almost.

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POV Milky Way makes learning fun

Moiya McTier's enthusiasm for the Milky Way and it's neighbors (including us) is infectious. She totally disarms the academic journey into space. Her approach to the subject is like saying... you can understand all this and it's going to be fun. It gets a little tedious after a bit and sometimes you have to reverse engineer the message but this is a rare take on the subject and all ages will enjoy this wonderful story and her playful read.

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