This is a book that makes you want to go out and look up at the night sky. Buzz Lightyear would be proud.
A synthesis of the latest thinking and research on space exploration, it sets out the meaning for humanity.
Tyson is the presenter of the award–winning StarTalk podcast and author of numerous books on popular science, including Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, and Walker is the senior producer of the series. This book, linked to a special mini-season of the podcast, features astonishing astronomical photographs as well as useful explanatory illustrations. The theme is how humanity began to explore space, although there are many interesting detours into questions, including the real color of the sun, the difference between a vacuum and a void, and the formation of black holes. The authors examine each of the planets in the solar system, drawing on novel research material gathered by the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft, as well as orbital telescopes. Many of these subjects have been discussed in-depth elsewhere, but deGrasse and Walker find new things to say, and they have a knack for using anecdotes to explain complex phenomena and scientific issues. They have a good time deconstructing the technology that appears in various sci-fi movies and TV shows, pointing out the problems of faster-than-light travel, the real effects of a lack of gravity, and the dangers of unregulated excursions through time. Worrying matters, certainly, but the tone is generally optimistic, and the authors clearly love the concept of space exploration. They also note that things once considered beyond the bounds of plausibility are now commonplace, and they conclude this engaging, accessible work with further optimism: "Scientific thinking always leaves the door ajar for the seemingly impossible. So perhaps we exaggerate—but only just a little—when we declare that infinity is only a moment’s pause on the way to unlimited destinations that await us.”
This is a book that makes you want to go out and look up at the night sky. Buzz Lightyear would be proud.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9781426223303
Page Count: 320
Publisher: National Geographic
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
A top-flight nonfiction debut from a unique artist.
The acclaimed director displays his talents as a film critic.
Tarantino’s collection of essays about the important movies of his formative years is packed with everything needed for a powerful review: facts about the work, context about the creative decisions, and whether or not it was successful. The Oscar-winning director of classic films like Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs offers plenty of attitude with his thoughts on movies ranging from Animal House to Bullitt to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to The Big Chill. Whether you agree with his assessments or not, he provides the original reporting and insights only a veteran director would notice, and his engaging style makes it impossible to leave an essay without learning something. The concepts he smashes together in two sentences about Taxi Driver would take a semester of film theory class to unpack. Taxi Driver isn’t a “paraphrased remake” of The Searchers like Bogdanovich’s What’s Up, Doc? is a paraphrased remake of Hawks’ Bringing Up Baby or De Palma’s Dressed To Kill is a paraphrased remake of Hitchcock’s Psycho. But it’s about as close as you can get to a paraphrased remake without actually being one. Robert De Niro’s taxi driving protagonist Travis Bickle is John Wayne’s Ethan Edwards. Like any good critic, Tarantino reveals bits of himself as he discusses the films that are important to him, recalling where he was when he first saw them and what the crowd was like. Perhaps not surprisingly, the author was raised by movie-loving parents who took him along to watch whatever they were watching, even if it included violent or sexual imagery. At the age of 8, he had seen the very adult MASH three times. Suddenly the dark humor of Kill Bill makes much more sense. With this collection, Tarantino offers well-researched love letters to his favorite movies of one of Hollywood’s most ambitious eras.
A top-flight nonfiction debut from a unique artist.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-311258-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 31, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
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