The Sky Is Not the Limit

January 31, 2000
Tyson (see One Universe, reviewed above) directs the Hayden Planetarium in New York City. His pleasant, digressive memoir explains how he got there, what it's like to be a famous astronomer and what he thinks of his work. At first it's a story about how science education can go right. We learn that Tyson, who is African-American, grew up among tall buildings in the Bronx--but his is not a story of triumph over grinding poverty. Young Tyson got a break from the city when his father found a one-year lectureship at Harvard, and as for the electricity required to run one of his first telescopes, "my dentist... happened to live on the nineteenth floor." Tyson's later chapters offer memories, anecdotes and musings on astrophysics, education, politics, popular culture and even wrestling, in which Tyson competed until grad school. Tyson explains how his wrestling skills and knowledge of physics helped him end an Italian traffic jam by lifting a parked car, and how he tried to buy a meteorite but lost an auction to Steven Spielberg. In one chapter, Hollywood's science mistakes raise Tyson's ire (the film Titanic got its night sky all wrong); in the next, he discusses getting stopped by police for "Driving While Black." With sentences like "The universe poured down from the sky and flowed into my body," Tyson may not be his discipline's best prose stylist; neither his essays nor his life match the unpredictable charm of Richard Feynman's. But he comes off very likably, and presents physics with ease and clarity. It's easy to imagine his memoir inspiring young future astrophysicists--and inspiring grownups to help them out.

March 29, 2004
Not many teenagers get to hobnob with the likes of the late Carl Sagan or to go on a luxury cruise liner with the world's leading astrophysicists to observe a solar eclipse off the coast of Africa. But from a young age, Tyson single-mindedly pursued his goal of exploring the universe. Today he is the director of New York City's renowned Hayden Planetarium and is well known from his appearances on the evening news, most recently as a leader of the movement to downgrade Pluto from its status as a planet. In this pleasing memoir, Tyson tells of his early adventures in rooftop observation of the heavens, his sister lugging heavy stuff up to the roof of his Bronx apartment building while he carried his precious telescopes. His insistence on the importance of scientific education shines through in the second half of the book, where he explains esoteric subjects like dark matter and the Big Bang without talking down to readers. Tyson argues passionately for the importance of exploring space, since our planet will one day become uninhabitable. The author doesn't spend much time on aspects of his life unrelated to science, though he gives a powerful account of his escape from his apartment near ground zero on September 11. Tyson's recounting of some of the obstacles and misperceptions that he had to overcome as a young person of color to achieve his goals should inspire and inform young readers. But this graceful and thoughtful memoir will also appeal to adults interested in exploring the heavens. B&w photos. Agent, Betsy Lerner, Gernett Co.