A USA Today bestseller!
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry takes readers on an entertaining and edifying tour of the universe.
In Neil deGrasse Tyson’s delightful journey through the cosmos, his fictional character Merlin responds to popular questions asked by adults and children alike. Merlin, a timeless visitor from Planet Omniscia in the Andromeda Galaxy, has observed firsthand many of the major scientific events of Earth’s history. Merlin’s friends include the most important scientific figures and explorers of all time—da Vinci, Magellan, Newton, Einstein, and Hubble. While Merlin occasionally recounts playful conversations with these luminaries, all questions are answered with authentic science, infused with wit, wisdom, and an occasional rhyme. With the help of intermittent humorous cartoons, Merlin clarifies the details of familiar phenomena like gravity, light, space, and time, and travels to distant stars and galaxies to describe what makes them tick, rotate, explode, and collapse.
Merlin’s Tour of the Universe is perfect for anyone who harbors burning questions on how the cosmos works.
 
Contributor Bio(s)
 
Neil deGrasse Tyson is the host of the popular podcast and National Geographic Channel TV show StarTalk and Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, which aired internationally on the National Geographic Channel. He earned his BA in physics from Harvard University and his PhD in astrophysics from Columbia University. The author of ten books, including the bestselling Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries, Tyson is the first Frederick P. Rose director of the Hayden Planetarium. He lives in New York City with his wife and two children.