Neil deGrasse Tyson
astral messenger
Transl.: Christodoulos Litharis
Ed. Diopter, page 368

Neil deGrasse Tyson is a talented writer. He has the ability to talk about things that we all know well, as well as about many other things – complex, difficult, “scientific” or concerning our ethics, laws, culture – directly, directly, simply and reassuringly. one that makes you easily share his worries, and at the same time fills you with joy and optimism. Or “The Starry Herald” is a book that you just don’t want to finish.

A variety of subjects that interest every person, of any class, of any age, of any level of education, is presented in a simple and understandable language.

You learn a lot, you worry, you understand that some things are not quite the way you imagined them, you are interested in social and scientific issues, and most importantly: you do all this in the light of reason. A brilliant child of the Enlightenment, Neil de Grasse Tyson constantly says (both in his book and elsewhere) that he is “an astrophysicist and popularizer of science.” He steps on the shoulders of the giants, continuing their mission. As Christodoulos Litharis, the translator of the book, says in the text entrusted to us: “He turned out to be a worthy successor to Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan, intelligent people who devoted their lives to popularizing science for the benefit of mankind. informed citizen.

Dipoli

In his latest book, he does something very impressive: he divides his concerns into “dipoles”, devoting each chapter to one of them. Thus, he speaks of Truth and Beauty (“To deny the objective truths of science is to be scientifically illiterate, not an ideologue”), Research and Discovery (“The river of our discoveries in the natural world is growing exponentially, fueled by the nascent influx of new knowledge and understanding, and guaranteed to scatter all futurists”), Earth and Moon (“The way you think and how you ask some questions about nature matters more than you already know”), Controversy and decisions (“The unvaccinated are five times more likely to vote for Republicans than those who vote Democratic”), “Risk and Reward” (“Some say the stock market is the world’s largest casino. I generally agree, except you don’t bring free drinks”), Meat Eaters and vegetarians (“How many animal lovers are marching with signs demanding that we save leeches, mosquitoes, ticks, roundworms and fleas?”), gender and identity (“One day we may find that there are no categories at all, since the multidimensional universe of social genders unfolds on a continuum, like flowers contained in sunlight”), Color and Race (“Imagine if race, expression of gender and ethnicity were as out of place in how we judge people as whether they wear glasses, what brand of toothpaste they use, or whether they prefer waffles to pancakes”), “Law & Order” (“In Logoland, a diverse, pluralistic country, you are free to practice your religion. It’s just going to be hard for you to build a policy based on that”), Body and Mind (“Some of my best friends are made of chemicals. In fact, all my good friends are made of chemicals”), for various topics that are interesting. to every person, every class, every age, every level of education. And he does it admirably: with humor, clarity, abundant pop culture references always rooted in literature, and modesty.

Science and society

“Neil deGrasse Tyson,” to return to the book’s translator, who gave us an excellent job, “is the voice of sobriety and a rational spirit. In the light and paradigm of science, he illuminates aspects of our society and culture in crystal clear words. It touches on a wide range of topics to propose an approach from a universal perspective that is the culmination of the evolution of the human spirit and the knowledge we have already acquired, an approach that honors the rational nature of Homo sapiens.”

With inexhaustible self-mockery, the author does not miss the opportunity to refer to the attacks he periodically receives on social networks. It should be noted that he has about 15 million followers on Twitter. I followed him too.