eil DeGrasse Tyson is a science popularist, rather like Bill Nye and Carl Sagan. He brings science down to the level where normal nabobs (such as your humble reviewer, with his small backyard scope) can understand. And he does a good job at it.

His book on general astrophysics was very good. Starting with the complete history of the universe (at least for its critical first day or so) was quite fascinating. Moving out to the scale of the universe, how scientists calculate things, how we basically know what we know, was quite revealing. It got me to realize just how “impotent” I am with my scope. I am now aware, as I try to focus on the light emitting from a distant star, just how many other wavelengths I ignore (radio, UV, radio and gamma rays) – in other words, it’s like seeing a world where everything is limited to a single color. Also fascinating were the discussions on the various bodies circling our remote little star, the peculiarities of our system, the span of the various bodies, even the reasons planets form into the balls of dirt that they are.

It was actually disturbing to read how other galaxies are actually racing away from ours – I’d always assumed they were slowing and might (in some distant time) come crashing back. That they are accelerating away from us, ever faster, and in some distant future will vanish in our night sky, well, that was disturbing. Where are they going? Why are they accelerating?

And what is dark matter? Why are things we can’t see or sense causing such disturbances?

The more I learn, the less I know, it seems.

Anyway, a good read for anyone who just wants to appreciate the amazing universe around us.

>>>IF YOU WANT TO READ ABOUT A TIME BEFORE THE LIGHTS OF THE NIGHT SKY EVEN STARTED THEIR LONG JOURNEYS TO OUR EYEBALLS, CHECK OUT MY HISTORIC FICTION!<<<