Jennifer's Reviews > Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military

"Many significant advances in our understanding of the cosmos are by-products of government investment in the apparatus of warfare, and many innovative instruments of destruction are by-products of advances in astrophysics."

Neil deGrasse Tyson expands on this statement by leaps and bounds in his book: Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military. With almost 600 pages and nearly 19 hours via audio, Accessory to War is a mixture of science, history, education, and thought-provoking contradictions and perspective. At times fascinating and at other times dry as a bone, I admit to needing several breaks during my reading experience. However, Tyson has a way of helping the common non-scientist, like me, learn about and understand subjects that may feel otherwise quite intimidating.

Tyson begins this book with emotion and ends on a chapter filled with hope, both which I loved. The lengthy middle may be hit or miss for some but like he says in his first chapter, "It's better to see than not to see. It's better to know than not to know, better to understand than not to understand." Overall, Accessory to War offers an important learning opportunity that should be considered.

My favorite quote:
"Though smitten by the cosmos, we have no choice but to embrace it from multiple degrees of separation: when we want to know the motions of a star, we examine not the star itself, not an image of the star, not even the spectrum derived from the light recorded in an image of the star, but rather shifts in the patterns in the spectrum derived from the light recorded in an image of the star. A convoluted consummation.
So astrophysicists have learned to be lateral thinkers, to come up with indirect solutions. True, scientists in general are skillful problem solvers. Physicists can build a better vacuum chamber or a bigger particle accelerator. Chemists can purify their ingredients, change the temperature, try out a novel catalyst. Biologists can experiment on organisms born and bred in the lab. Physicians can question their patients. Animal behaviorists can spend hours watching clans of their favorite creatures. Geologists can scrutinize a hillside ravine or dig up sample rocks. But astrophysicists need to find another way, never forgetting that we're the passive party in a singularly one-sided relationship."