book

From the National Academy Press:

How did life evolve on Earth? The answer to this question can help us understand our past and prepare for our future. Although evolution provides credible and reliable answers, polls show that many people turn away from science, seeking other explanations with which they are more comfortable.

In the book Science, Evolution, and Creationism, a group of experts assembled by the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine explain the fundamental methods of science, document the overwhelming evidence in support of biological evolution, and evaluate the alternative perspectives offered by advocates of various kinds of creationism, including intelligent design. The book explores the many fascinating inquiries being pursued that put the science of evolution to work in preventing and treating human disease, developing new agricultural products, and fostering industrial innovations. The book also presents the scientific and legal reasons for not teaching creationist ideas in public school science classes.

Mindful of school board battles and recent court decisions, Science, Evolution, and Creationism shows that science and religion should be viewed as different ways of understanding the world rather than as frameworks that are in conflict with each other and that the evidence for evolution can be fully compatible with religious faith. For educators, students, teachers, community leaders, legislators, policy makers, and parents who seek to understand the basis of evolutionary science, this publication will be an essential resource.

Below is the brochure for the book, which is available from the National Academy of Sciences.

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  Capturing the Stars: Astrophotography By the Masters

  By Robert Gendler, June 2009

  Foreword by Neil deGrasse Tyson

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  Exploring the Invisible: Art, Science, and the Spiritual

  By Lynn Gamwell, 2005

  Foreword by Neil deGrasse Tyson

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  Fly Me to the Moon: An Insider's Guide to the New Science of Space Travel

  By Edward Belbruno, 2007

  Foreword by Neil deGrasse Tyson

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  Hubble: Imaging Space and Time

  By David Devorkin and Robert Smith, 2008

  Foreword by Neil deGrasse Tyson

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  The Handy Space Answer Book

  By Phillis Engelbert and Diane L. Dupuis, 1998

  Foreword by Neil deGrasse Tyson

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  The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet

  Gathered here in one place is a record of Pluto’s rise and fall from planethood, given by way of media accounts, public forums, cartoons, and letters I received from disgruntled school children, their teachers, strongly opinionated adults, and colleagues.

  Neil deGrasse Tyson, 2009

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  The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet

  Gathered here in one place is a record of Pluto’s rise and fall from planethood, given by way of media accounts, public forums, cartoons, and letters I received from disgruntled school children, their teachers, strongly opinionated adults, and colleagues.

  Neil deGrasse Tyson, 2009

  Format: Kindle

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  Death By Black Hole, And Other Cosmic Quandaries

  Anthology of the best essays that have appeared in Natural History magazine under the title Universe.

  Neil deGrasse Tyson, 2007

  Format: Kindle

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  One Universe: At Home in the Cosmos

  The connections of astrophysics with everyday life. The companion book to the 2000 opening of the Hayden Planetarium and the Rose Center for Earth and Space. Visit the online version of this book, enhanced with 1,000 hyperlinks, review questions, and problem sets.

  Neil deGrasse Tyson, Charles Liu, & Robert Irion, 2002, Hardcover 2000

  Format: Internet

Leading experts explain the discoveries of modern astrophysics in an illustrated companion to the American Museum of Natural History's newly renovated Rose Center for Earth and Space. Cosmic Horizons illuminates the most recent discoveries of modern astrophysics with essays by leading astronomers, including NASA scientists. The book also features profiles of astronomers such as Carl Sagan and Georges Lemaître (father of the Big Bang theory), case studies that cover the controversial evidence for the possibility of life on Mars, and stunning four-color photographs throughout.

Written for the general reader, Cosmic Horizons makes the complex, abstract areas of astronomy and astrophysics—from the Big Bang to black holes—accessible and comprehensible to the public. Complementing the museum's acclaimed new Frederick Phineas and Sandra Priest Rose Center exhibition, the book investigates how the universe expands to produce galaxies, stars, and planets, and, perhaps, life on other worlds. It also examines some of the emerging technologies that make these discoveries possible. With more than eighty full-color images and a resource section that includes a bibliography and an extensive glossary, Cosmic Horizons offers a new appreciation of the complexities of time and space and a greater understanding of our fragile planet and the universe beyond. Four-color illustrations throughout.

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  The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet

  Gathered here in one place is a record of Pluto’s rise and fall from planethood, given by way of media accounts, public forums, cartoons, and letters I received from disgruntled school children, their teachers, strongly opinionated adults, and colleagues.

  Neil deGrasse Tyson, 2009

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  Death By Black Hole, And Other Cosmic Quandaries

  Anthology of the best essays that have appeared in Natural History magazine under the title Universe.

  Neil deGrasse Tyson, 2007

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  Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution

  Origins explores cosmic science's stunning new insights into the formation and evolution of our universe: of the cosmos, of galaxies and galaxy clusters, of stars within galaxies, of planets that orbit those stars, and of different forms of life that take us back to the first three seconds and forward through three billion years of life on Earth to today's search for life on other planets.

  Neil deGrasse Tyson & Donald Goldsmith, 2004

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  Cosmic Horizons: Astronomy at the Cutting Edge

  A collection of twenty contributed essays on the modern frontier of astrophysics, with commentary and historical material added by the editors. A book conceived along with the 2000 opening of the Hayden Planetarium and Rose Center for Earth and Space.

  Edited by Steven Soter & Neil deGrasse Tyson, 2001

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  One Universe: At Home in the Cosmos

  The connections of astrophysics with everyday life. The companion book to the 2000 opening of the Hayden Planetarium and the Rose Center for Earth and Space. Visit the online version of this book, enhanced with 1,000 hyperlinks, review questions, and problem sets.

  Neil deGrasse Tyson, Charles Liu, & Robert Irion, 2000, Online Version 2002

  Winner: 2001 Science Writing Award, American Institute of Physics

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  The Sky Is Not the Limit Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist

  Autobiographical reflections.

  Neil deGrasse Tyson, 2000

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  Just Visiting this Planet

  A collection of six years from a Q & A column written monthly for Star Date magazine. Sequel to Merlin's Tour of the Universe (see below) that contains chapters of questions about astronomy and space asked by the general public and answered through the pen name Merlin.

  Neil deGrasse Tyson, 1998

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  Universe Down to Earth

  Essays on special topics in astronomy that evolved principally from invited talks and lectures delivered for introductory college astronomy classes at Columbia University, University of Maryland, and University of Texas. The book uses creative household analogies to help bring complex topics of the universe to the lay reader.

  Neil deGrasse Tyson, 1994

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  Merlin's Tour of the Universe

  Thirteen chapters of questions about astronomy and space asked by the general public and answered through the pen name Merlin.

  Neil deGrasse Tyson, 1989

Thirteen chapters of questions about astronomy and space asked by the general public and answered through the pen name Merlin.

From the Publisher:

Merlin, a fictional visitor from the Andromeda Galaxy, Planet Omniscia, has been friends with many of the most important scientific figures of the past including Kepler, da Vinci, Magellan, Doppler, Einstein and Hubble. In this delightful tour of the galaxies, Merlin often recounts his conversations with these historical figures in his responses to popular astronomy questions asked by adults and children alike. Merlin's well-informed answers combine a unique combination of wit and poetry along with serious science explained in refreshingly clear, reader-friendly language.

Merlin's Tour of the Universe is a skywatcher's book for lovers of the universe by one of its brightest lights.

We all have some questions we'd like to ask about astronomy. Well, here they are—And the answers, too, short, straightforward, light-hearted and correct. Think up more questions and perhaps we can get a second book out of Neil Tyson.

Isaac Asimov

Neil Tyson has written a charming, delightful book on astronomy which teaches and entertains the reader at the same time. Using the question-answer technique, but with questions from real people, with their names given to identify them. Tyson takes the reader on a jaunt through the universe, and like all trips, it is amusing, entertaining, and educational. With Merlin as the narrator, the astronomical mysteries from the notions of the planets to the expansion of the universe are explained. It's good reading for all ages.

Lloyd Motz

Essays on special topics in astronomy that evolved principally from invited talks and lectures delivered for introductory college astronomy classes at Columbia University, University of Maryland, and University of Texas. The book uses creative household analogies to help bring complex topics of the universe to the lay reader.

From the Publisher:

This witty, often amusing exploration of the physical universe explains fundamental concepts in a language that is clear even to those with little or no science background. Tyson transforms everyday experiences into venues of cosmic enlightenment as he probes the philosophy, methods, and discoveries of science, including stellar evolution, the conservation of energy, the electromagnetic spectrum, gravity, and thermodynamics.

Beginning with the history of counting, Tyson takes us up and down the number line from picometers to light-years as he demonstrates the universality of mathematics. We then learn about the scientific method and its importance not only to cutting-edge researchers but also to laypeople like television advertisers, who use it in commercials to prove the worth of products that lift stains, eradicate ring-around-the-collar, and absorb excess stomach acid.

Tyson deftly demystifies astronomical terms and concepts such as the Big Bang, black holes, redshifts, syzygy, and Kirkwood Gaps; traces the life of the stars from birth to death; presents the Periodic Table of Elements, highlighting noteworthy elements such as titanium, iron, and hydrogen; gives an unorthodox yet entertaining tour of famous constellations; and tackles modern-day astrology.

Universe Down to Earth makes vivid analogies between scientific laws and household items such as oven-baked pies, tossed tomatoes, and lightbulbs, as well as amusement park rides, Hollywood films, and junk food. Consequently, each idea presented etches delightful impressions on the reader's mind. Bringing demonstrations of the principles of nature into the living room, Tyson writes in a lucid, easygoing style that finally makes scientific literacy possible for enthusiasts and those with math and science phobias alike.

Tyson wrote Universe Down to Earth out of his experience in teaching astronomy to real people who have little scientific background. This makes it different from the many books written without such experience. Tyson writes in a simple style with a lightness of touch, which can come only to one who is absolute master of his subject.

Freeman Dyson, The Institute for Advanced Study

Universe Down to Earth is a most original book, designed to explain modern astronomy to the uninitiated. Its very clear descriptions are supplemented by many analogies with everyday experience, which are unusually informative as well as highly entertaining. The book stands out as a remarkable example of effective and enjoyable communication in a fascinating field of science.

Lyman Spitzer, Jr., Princeton University

A sprightly, easy-to-read introduction to some key ideas of physics and astronomy, marked by well-chosen anecdotes and lucid explanations. An ideal present for anyone interested in science.

Carl Sagan, Cornell University

A collection of six years from a Q & A column written monthly for Star Date magazine. Sequel to Merlin's Tour of the Universe (see below) that contains chapters of questions about astronomy and space asked by the general public and answered through the pen name Merlin.

From the Publisher:

In a companion volume to Merlin's Tour of the Universe, here is a completely new collection of questions and answers about the cosmos for stargazers of all ages. Whether waxing about Earth and its environs, the Sun and its stellar siblings, the world of light, physical laws, or galaxies near and far, Merlin—a fictional visitor from Planet Omniscia—is easy to understand, often humorous, and always entertaining.

Merlin fields a wide range of questions from many curious mortals, and in so doing draws on his own vast knowledge as well as the expertise of many close friends, including Archimedes, Galileo, Einstein, and Santa.

So far, Merlin has not been stumped, responding to questions on mysteries such as:

• If aliens exploded our moon, what effect would it have on us?
• What are your thoughts on the theory that a star named Nemesis is circling our solar system and was responsible for killing off the dinosaurs?
• Is it true that if I leave a container on my roof for a period of time, I can actually collect space particles from outer space?

Delightfully illustrated throughout, Just Visiting This Planet is a skywatcher's book for lovers of the universe by one of its brightest lights.

Tyson has created a space-age Merlin. An astrophysicist and educator, Tyson weaves together imaginative with straightforward science. —USA Today

Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist

Autobiographical reflections.

From the Publisher:

The captivating story of a boy from the Bronx who grew up to be America's most prominent astrophysicist.

As the director of New York City's Hayden Planetarium, Neil deGrasse Tyson is America's best-known astrophysicist, constantly called upon by the media to explain news-making scientific phenomena, such as the discovery of water on Mars, to the general public. How did an African-American kid growing up in the Bronx, expected by everyone to be a star athlete (he was a wrestler) not an intellectual, become an extraordinarily successful scientist? This is the entrancing account of Tyson's lifelong passion for astronomy, beginning with the fateful evening when he, as a small boy happened to turn a pair of binoculars up toward the moon and was struck with wonder.

Overflowing with gorgeous descriptions of the night sky, The Sky is Not the Limit invokes grandeur of the cosmos as it tells Tyson's compelling personal story. In addition, it is a perceptive look at life and society as seen through the eyes of an astrophysicist, providing valuable insight into how scientists work in and think about the social, political and physical world. From that eye-opening first glimpse of the magnified moon, through his struggle to fulfill his dream of becoming as astrophysicist, to his plans for the triumphant reopening of the new Hayden Planetarium, in February 2000, Tyson's story is a memorable one. This is the breakout book of a rising scientific star, poised to become America's next Carl Sagan.