Merlin's Tour of the Universe, Revised and Updated for the Twenty-First Century: A Traveler's Guide to Blue Moons and Black Holes, Mars, Stars, and Everything Far
by Neil deGrasse Tyson
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A USA Today bestseller!The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry takes readers on an entertaining and edifying tour of the universe.
In Neil deGrasse Tyson's delightful journey through the cosmos, his fictional character Merlin responds to popular questions asked by adults and children alike. Merlin, a timeless visitor from Planet Omniscia in the Andromeda Galaxy, has observed firsthand many of the major scientific events of Earth's history. Merlin's show more friends include the most important scientific figures and explorers of all time—da Vinci, Magellan, Newton, Einstein, and Hubble. While Merlin occasionally recounts playful conversations with these luminaries, all questions are answered with authentic science, infused with wit, wisdom, and an occasional rhyme. With the help of intermittent humorous cartoons, Merlin clarifies the details of familiar phenomena like gravity, light, space, and time, and travels to distant stars and galaxies to describe what makes them tick, rotate, explode, and collapse.
Merlin's Tour of the Universe is perfect for anyone who harbors burning questions on how the cosmos works.
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Member Reviews
A bit disappointing. The answers to readers' questions from Tyson's old newspaper column were mostly not long enough to be fully interesting, and he often seemed to (intentionally?) misread the kinds of questions that seemed to be asking for fun "what-if" answers rather than straightforward ones. *shrug* YMMV.
This is an amusing set of responses from Merlin, in reality the astrophysicist and TV personality Neil deGrasse Tyson, to astronomy questions submitted by readers of Stardate, which was a publication of the McDonald Observatory of the University of Texas at Austin. Since his Stardate days, Tyson has become, and remains, the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
Quick read; Q&A is just not my style.
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Author Information
59+ Works 15,616 Members
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson was born in New York City on October 5, 1958. Interested in astronomy since he was a child, Tyson gave lectures on the topic at the age of 15. He attended the Bronx High School of Science and was the editor-in-chief for its Physical Science Journal. After earning a B.A. in Physics from Harvard in 1980, Tyson show more received an M.A. in Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin in 1983. He earned his Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Columbia in 1991. Since 1996, Tyson has held the position of Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at Manhattan's American Museum of Natural History. In 2001, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve on the Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry. In 2004, Tyson joined the President's Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy. He has hosted PBS's television show NOVA scienceNOW since 2006. Tyson can also be seen frequently as a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Tyson has written many popular books on astronomy, and he began his "Universe" column for Natural History magazine in 1995. In 2009, he published the bestselling book The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet to describe the controversy over Pluto's demotion to dwarf planet. His other books include Accessory to War: The Unspoken alliance between astrophysics and the military. Tyson was recognized in 2004 with the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, and Time named him one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2007. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Piper (2820)
Common Knowledge
- Original title
- Merlin's Tour of the Universe: A Traveler's Guide to Blue Moons and Black Holes, Mars, Stars, and Everything Far
- Alternate titles
- Merlin's Tour of the Universe: A Skywatcher's Guide to Everything from Mars and Quasars to Comets, Planets, Blue Moons, and Werewolves (1997 edition) (1997 edition)
- Quotations
- Sharing knowledge and wisdom is as fundamental as acquiring knowledge and wisdom.
- Original language
- English
Classifications
- Genres
- Science & Nature, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 520 — Natural sciences & mathematics Astronomy Astronomy
- LCC
- QB52 .T98 — Science Astronomy Astronomy General
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 320
- Popularity
- 99,512
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.83)
- Languages
- English, German, Portuguese
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 25
- ASINs
- 5
