Book review: Death by Black Hole

Collects Tyson's columns from Natural History magazine from 1995 to 2005. They're excellent! I was reminded of Isaac Asimov's monthly science articles, except Tyson never has to phone it in. (Sometimes Asimov clearly couldn't come up with a good idea but still had to produce a column, so he would write an article that regurgitated the encyclopedia or did lots of dull numeric comparisons -- "the Amazon carries 15% more water than the Nile...") The column topics include the general and philosophical -- how does science work? why are people so mathematically unsophisticated? -- and overviews of basic physics and astronomy, as well as the current frontiers of research (dark energy, GRBs, extrasolar planets, and active galaxies). Polished, educational, and often funny; highly recommended even if you think you already know all about astronomy.