I truly enjoyed this book. It is one I will keep on my bookshelf and refer back to often, I am sure. Mr. Tyson has a distinct point of view and is able to intelligently defend it. He stresses the importance of scientific literacy in our society, which is woefully lacking in our country. While I do not agree with everything he writes about as far as religion and faith, I respect him immensely. Some of my favorite quotes in the book:
"..In life, it's not good enough to be right. You must also be effective."

"'extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence' remains a potent guide when investigating the natural world. But it comes with a recurring risk: knowing enough about a subject to think you are right, but not enough to know you are wrong."

"the most important moments in life occur at times when how we think will matter more than what we know."

"purpose is not defined outside ourselves, but from deep within. My purpose in life is to lessen the suffering of others; advance our understanding of the universe; and enlighten others along the way."

Dr. deGrasse has done a great job, through his academic career and his many modes of communication, to realize his purpose! Keep rockin' it, Dr. deGrasse!!
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An awesome compilation of letters and exchanges between the public and Dr. Tyson, all answered and written in his humorous yet succinct style we’ve come to love. ( )

This probably hovers between a 3 and a 4, like a 3.5. I like Neil deGrasse Tyson (for the most part). Most of his (other) writings are fine and intellectual and intelligent and great. And this really is no different... but he does come off as smarmy, snarky, and a bit condescending and grandiose towards some of the letters. Also, remember - these are the hand-picked correspondences he chose. So these are the ones he wanted to use to make this book.

Generally he comes off as nice, intelligent, and helpful. But his replies to the religious groups do reek of the typical scientific/intellectual responses; but those aren't even the ones I'm talking about. I'm mainly talking about his responses to just other, random people, and their inquiries. He comes across as both flippant and condescending and elitest at times.

Still, overall a good and interesting read if you like Neil Tyson. Outside of that, your not really 'learning' anything from this, just kind of given a window of his life, a spectrum and view into his mind - per se. A coded, veiled, chosen view, but a somewhat view. ( )

I'm a NDGT fan, but this collection of correspondence was a bit of a letdown. I would've liked to read some correspondence with people he actually takes seriously, a substantial exchange of arguments to whatever topic he deems necessary and not just the ever same litany of "science is better than faith/religion/superstition". Everybody who knows him also knows his stance on this before opening the book, and his arguments in these responses to questions from all kinds of people were, to be blunt, simplistic and repetitive to a degree that it verged on the edge of contemptuous. Perhaps it was because he gathered similar questions into thematic chapters that he sounded like a broken record, but there wasn't much of the wit and enthusiasm for science that is so characteristic for his live appearances. ( )

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is a very public scientist. He receives a lot of mail (including email). From this vast archive of correspondence he has culled a selection of letters that ask good questions, bad questions, praise or blame, and to each he provides sensible and sometimes lengthy responses. The sheer effort to meaningfully fulfil how he sees his role as a public scientist is astonishing.

That said, I’m not entirely certain to whom this book is addressed. It is presented by the publishers as a companion, of sorts, to Tyson’s Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. It is not. You would be hard pressed to learn much about astrophysics from these correspondences. Rather what you learn is just how taxing (I want to write “tedious”, but I suspect Tyson is just more generous than I) it must be to be regularly confronted with the cliff edge of scientific illiteracy. Perhaps the few letters of startling optimism and scientific enthusiasm sprinkled in here make up for how disheartening the others must be. Perhaps.

I’d gladly recommend this book to someone to whom it might serve as inspiration. Until then, I’ll continue to recommend Tyson’s other titles. ( )