BookTalk.org

I'm excited to say that I'll be seeing Neil deGrasse Tyson talk in less than a week. This guy is like a rock star now with sold-out shows across the country.

Our tickets were $125 each. I thought prices like that were reserved for big name rock bands. His popularity gives me hope for our species.

I sure wish we had more people involved in our book discussions because I could always ask Tyson for either a live chat or email interview. But we have to deserve his time. Years ago when we interviews Richard Dawkins, Steven Pinker and other great authors/educators we had a larger level of participation. If I see enough interest in this book between now and next Thursday I'll talk to Tyson about an interview.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson: An Astrophysicist Reads the Newspaper

The Neil deGrasse Tyson talk was wonderful and I got my money's worth. Much of his talk revolved around the poor state of science and math education in the United States in comparison to other places throughout the world. I knew we weren't doing well but the statistics he provided were a bit startling.

At the end of the talk and the Q&A session I was hoping there would be a book signing or opportunity to shake his hand and talk to him. But he exited the stage never to be seen again. My hope was to invite him to an email interview or a live chat with us to discuss Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, but the opportunity just wasn't there. Sorry guys.

I was wondering about that Chris, as in the second video he told the audience that each one would get a signed copy of the book. Sorry you did not.

This was a pretty large audience and I'm pretty sure the people in the very front seats went to meet him backstage after the show. We paid $125 for our tickets. Maybe I should have paid for the next tier up but man that's a lot of cash for a lecture. I have to wonder what Carl Sagan would be doing if he were still with us. Would he be tapping into the same revenue stream as Tyson by doing lecture tours? Maybe so. We all need money.

Chris OConnor wrote:This was a pretty large audience and I'm pretty sure the people in the very front seats went to meet him backstage after the show. We paid $125 for our tickets. Maybe I should have paid for the next tier up but man that's a lot of cash for a lecture. I have to wonder what Carl Sagan would be doing if he were still with us. Would he be tapping into the same revenue stream as Tyson by doing lecture tours? Maybe so. We all need money.

Hi Chris, that's a shame that you didn't get to meet Neil, but he is like a rock star with managers. Your role in running Booktalk with an open public discussion on his book should be of interest to his managers as a promotional opportunity.

You're right, Robert. I'll send him a message and see if I can get something set up.