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A review by eprestamo
Letters from an Astrophysicist by Neil deGrasse Tyson
5.0
Probably my favorite book by my favorite scientist. This book has filled me with even more questions than ever before. Don’t worry though, I emailed him about it… I’ll update this if he ever gets around to sending me a response, lol.
The following are just a few of my favorite quotes from him found in this book (clearly had a hard time condensing the list… I tried):
“When the world stimulates your curiosity; when your state of not knowing leaves you restless; when your existential angst overflows; sometimes you just have to write a full-up letter to somebody”
“but there is another kind of hope - it’s in the challenge of learning about the real world and using our intelligence to change things for the better. In this way it’s the individual who is empowered to bring hope to the world… this can only be enabled by the efforts of a scientifically and technologically literate public. Therein lies a hope on earth far greater than ever promised by the act of prayer or introspection”
“Empower people to think for themselves rather than to have others do the thinking for them. Therein blooms the ‘soul’ of skepticism and the ‘spirit’ of free inquiry”
“My life is what I make of it”
(on the word “atheist”): “Never liked the term. Odd for words to exist that tell you what you are not. Is there a word for non-golfers? Non-chefs? Non-astronauts?”
“The most enduring thing about being human is the discovery of cosmic truths that transcend culture, politics, religion, and time forming the corpus of knowledge and wisdom we call civilization”
(Excerpt from a letter to Neil on stargazing) “now I can see the sky and it’s beautiful”
“Purpose is not defined outside of ourselves, but from deep within”
“We are stardust”
“Death is a kind of privilege of those few of us who have known life.”
“A cosmic perspective empowers me to celebrate every day I am alive.”
“Your writing is potent, but you never want to win an argument for being a better writer, or because you have a bigger vocabulary than your opponent.”
“They keep coming back to me to learn more about science, which is, for me, the best measure of respect there is”
“The most important moments in life occur at times when how we think will matter more than what we know.”
“Primary intellectual stimulation came not from school, but from books they read at home - alone”
“The concept of a role model is highly overrated. Or rather, role models should be assembled à la carte.”
“We now live in a world where differences of opinions lead to fights rather than conversations.”
“In life it’s not good enough to be right. You must also be effective.”
The following are just a few of my favorite quotes from him found in this book (clearly had a hard time condensing the list… I tried):
“When the world stimulates your curiosity; when your state of not knowing leaves you restless; when your existential angst overflows; sometimes you just have to write a full-up letter to somebody”
“but there is another kind of hope - it’s in the challenge of learning about the real world and using our intelligence to change things for the better. In this way it’s the individual who is empowered to bring hope to the world… this can only be enabled by the efforts of a scientifically and technologically literate public. Therein lies a hope on earth far greater than ever promised by the act of prayer or introspection”
“Empower people to think for themselves rather than to have others do the thinking for them. Therein blooms the ‘soul’ of skepticism and the ‘spirit’ of free inquiry”
“My life is what I make of it”
(on the word “atheist”): “Never liked the term. Odd for words to exist that tell you what you are not. Is there a word for non-golfers? Non-chefs? Non-astronauts?”
“The most enduring thing about being human is the discovery of cosmic truths that transcend culture, politics, religion, and time forming the corpus of knowledge and wisdom we call civilization”
(Excerpt from a letter to Neil on stargazing) “now I can see the sky and it’s beautiful”
“Purpose is not defined outside of ourselves, but from deep within”
“We are stardust”
“Death is a kind of privilege of those few of us who have known life.”
“A cosmic perspective empowers me to celebrate every day I am alive.”
“Your writing is potent, but you never want to win an argument for being a better writer, or because you have a bigger vocabulary than your opponent.”
“They keep coming back to me to learn more about science, which is, for me, the best measure of respect there is”
“The most important moments in life occur at times when how we think will matter more than what we know.”
“Primary intellectual stimulation came not from school, but from books they read at home - alone”
“The concept of a role model is highly overrated. Or rather, role models should be assembled à la carte.”
“We now live in a world where differences of opinions lead to fights rather than conversations.”
“In life it’s not good enough to be right. You must also be effective.”