Death by Black Hole

Death by Black Hole: and Other Cosmic Quandaries

Neil deGrasse Tyson, 2006

This book is a compilation of essays that were first published in Natural History magazine's "Universe" section. Neil deGrasse Tyson is able to take complex concepts of astrophysics and make them accessible to the non-scientist, with just enough humor to make them interesting. 

I thought that this was a really good book. Most of the essays were really interesting and - more importantly - understandable! I never thought that astrophysics could be easy to understand, but Tyson writes it so that even the uninitiated can at least comprehend most of what he is writing about. There were definitely sections that made me feel really stupid, when what he was writing about went over my head, but the majority of the essays actually made me feel kind of smart for understanding it all (even if I know that in reality it mostly is over my head). I think that Tyson is a great writer, as well as being a brilliant astrophysicist, and I'm glad I picked up this book. I'll definitely be reading more by him in the future.