Neil deGrasse Tyson has harbored a lifelong fantasy of being abducted by aliens. The renowned astrophysicist openly admits he wants to be taken. 'I even picture the scenario in my head: I'm sitting out there alone, and a beam of light comes down,' he says. 'It's not a spacecraft that's hovering over me. It's just a beam of light from space. And I just get lifted up into that beam of light, and I appear in a new place.'
This lifelong fascination has culminated in his new book, Take Me to Your Leader: Perspectives on Your First Alien Encounter, which illuminates what we know about possible extraterrestrial life and what we can anticipate if they ever make contact. 'Even if it doesn't actually happen, there's value to going through the thought experiment of what could happen,' Tyson explains. 'Maybe there's some takeaways that offer insights into how you think about the world, how we think about each other and the future of our civilization.'
A Unique Blend of Science and Pop Culture
The book, released Tuesday, offers a unique roadmap into Tyson's prodigious mind, blending pop culture with quantum physics. Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, references evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould and Cartoon Network's Rick and Morty, weaving ideas from French philosopher Voltaire and lyrics by Katy Perry. It mixes the physics of invisibility with Star Trek and includes digressions into multispectral vision, how Superman could kill us all by farting, and why supersonic planes 'look badass.'
Aliens Will Be Smarter and More Powerful
Tyson concludes that if aliens arrive on Earth, they are likely to be far more advanced than humans. He compares it to trying to teach a chimp long division. 'They'll not only be brilliant, but they'll be way more powerful than us in practically any way that matters, which is why it's so laughable when you see in Hollywood movies some mothership arrives and people pull out their pistols and start shooting guns at it. Like, 'Really? Have you thought this through?''
During first contact, Tyson advises against shaking hands or raising a hand in greeting. 'Leave all your habits at home, until you learn a thing or two about theirs,' he writes.
Timely Release Amid Renewed Interest in UFOs
The book arrives amid a surge of interest in aliens. The Pentagon has released new files on UFOs, Project Hail Mary was a bestseller, Steven Spielberg is preparing his alien movie Disclosure Day, and former President Barack Obama declared on a podcast that aliens are real (later clarifying he had seen no evidence but that 'the odds are good there's life out there').
Tyson decided to write the book after watching recent congressional hearings on UFOs, noting that both Republicans and Democrats seemed unified in seeking the truth. 'They had a common subject that they're both interested in,' he says. 'When I saw it hit that level, I realized I have something to contribute.'
A Book of Etiquette for Meeting Extraterrestrials
This is the first book under Simon & Schuster's new Simon Six imprint, led by Jonathan Karp, who calls Tyson 'the Bruce Springsteen of astrophysicists.' Karp notes, 'You name a respected scientist who has ever written a book of etiquette on how to meet aliens. It hasn't been done. This is truly terra incognita.'
Tyson believes communication with aliens is possible through science—universal constants like the speed of light, Newton's laws, and Einstein's relativity. Aliens might even recognize our periodic table's organization, if not the names or symbols. He also concludes they won't be tiny or enormous, citing brain-to-body-weight ratios. 'The laws of physics greatly restrict the likelihood of Earth being visited by, much less invaded by tiny aliens,' he writes.
If aliens are monitoring us, they might want to meet our apparent leader—Taylor Swift. However, Karp suggests Tyson should be humanity's point man, with the book as his calling card. 'I think this is the funniest factual book that anyone will ever read on aliens and that's quite a statement,' says Karp. 'There's so much chaos and conflict in the world, and it's a book on aliens that has the potential to bring us all together. He's clearly been thinking about aliens his entire life, and he's managed to write about them with the acuity of a scientist and the appeal of an entertainer. That's a powerful combination.'
