About:
Cosmic Queries: StarTalk’s Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We’re Going by Neil DeGrasse Tyson and James Trefil tells the reader little tidbits about the world, and universe, we share. Mr. Tyson is an astrophysicist, Director of New York City’s Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, and a TV and podcast host. Mr. Trefil is a professor of physics in George Mason University.
- 312 pages
- Publisher : National Geographic
- Language: : English
- ISBN-10 : 1426221770
My rating for Cosmic Queries — 5
Buy Cosmic Queries Amazon.com*
More Books by Neil DeGrasse Tyson*
More Books by James Trefil*
Thoughts:
Much like Cosmos by Ann Druyan, this book is filled with short chapters, filled with knowledge and wisdom. The book is written in a familiar language, the authors don’t assume anything so if this is the first book you pick about this subject, you won’t be intimidated.
Additionally, Cosmic Queries by Neil DeGrasse Tyson and James Trefil is beautifully designed, filled with equally beautiful photographs, graphics and color with amusing captions. Accordingly, every other page or so, there is a tweet by Mr. Tyson’s own Twitter account over the past 10 years or so.
By no means, is this book a comprehensive look at all these subjects. Chiefly there are short summaries of fascinating topics, an introduction which hopefully will create a spark and make you understand our world better, and even delve deeper into the ones you find the most interesting.
The authors did an excellent job explaining modern physics concepts in a simple manner. Nevertheless, several times I head to re-read some sections, but that’s because I either forgot or misunderstood what they wrote. However, that was because I was reading too fast, it had nothing to do with the explanations themselves.
In particular, the authors give analogies to the concepts they’re explaining to give the reader a sense of scale based on our own life. For example, to explain how big the universe is and how much we know about it, they compared it to filling a glass out of the ocean. By looking at our sample (a glass of ocean water), we know almost nothing, especially about the creatures living in the ocean.
Even though the subjects are complex, the book is an easy and understandable read. I highly recommend this book for curious, imaginative kids of all ages.
Buy Cosmic Queries Amazon.com*
More Books by Neil DeGrasse Tyson*
More Books by James Trefil*
Zohar — Man of la Book
Disclaimer: I got this book for free from TLC Book Tours
*Amazon links point to an affiliate accoun
No Comments