Neil deGrasse Tyson is back.
In 2024 we spoke with the gracious famous astrophysicistspeaker, podcaster and bestselling author concerning “Merlin’s tour of the universe“, a revised and updated edition of Tyson’s very first book, published in 1989 as a collection of questions and answers, originally appearing as an amusing column in the McDonald Observatory’s StarDate magazine.
The fictional timeless sorcerer named “Merlin of Omniscia” from the Andromeda galaxy has returned to answer a new set of questions in a new volume titled “I have just visited this planet: other scientific adventures of Merlin of Omniscia” arrives October 21, 2025.
“The takeaway here is that this was the dawn of my scientific and educational career,” Tyson tells Space.com. “So it was a testing ground for how I was ultimately going to bring science to the public. The methods, tools, tactics, and personality that I imbued in Merlin were elements that persist in me to this day. In that sense, it’s been important in my life, even if to the reader it’s just a collection of cutesy questions and answers.”
This stunning new 350-page hardback book has also been revamped for the 21st century since its launch in 1998 and contains a treasure trove of witty answers to questions asked by the general public on topics such as planets, stars, comets, black holes, moons, galaxies and even superheroes.
“But if you read them, you’ll see that they do things that a typical response wouldn’t do,” he adds. “Today, if you just type a question into ChatGPT, it comes back and it’s a bit meaningless, it has no soul, no personality. It has nothing to draw you in. And Merlin, with his quirky personality, is intended to be a vehicle for people to enjoy learning, rather than just taking it like you have to take medicine.”
With widespread layoffs and decreased funding currently affecting the scientific community in almost every field, “Just Visiting This Planet” and its emphasis on curiosity and discovery are even more relevant in reminding Earthlings of the absolute necessity of science to contribute to the progress of our species.
“If you abandon the science and the shifting boundaries represented in many places where budgets have been cut, that has consequences,” Tyson notes. “People vote for who they want, and I’m not going to get in your way. If the democracy you want is one that cuts science programs, it’s going to bite you in the ass.
“Because it’s the science that underlies the innovations that many of us take for granted, and that comes from American industries. American industry relies on and supports the basic science that’s behind it, underneath it. And you don’t see it because it’s done in university labs and by people who don’t necessarily have YouTube channels.
“These are hard-working researchers exploring the limits of our understanding of their field, and they’re funded by the government. If the government doesn’t fund them, no one will fund them, because there’s no return on the annual report. The research is too far removed even from R&D that would be done by a company. Once it’s published and people see it and understand it, they say, ‘Oh my God, this is a new understanding of how it works.’ of nature. “
“Then smart engineers then come along and say they can turn this into a product or make an advertisement for it. That happens in the end. It also means that you’re not able to make a judgment on a research project just because the title seems a little far away.”
“Having government officials look at the titles of research papers and decide whether or not they are frivolous because they can’t imagine why it is relevant will have consequences as we step back on the frontier of scientific research and look at other countries that have doubled down on the role of science in their lives. China in particular. We will sink lower before we get back up and realize the folly of these decisions. Anything that gets people excited about science only pays dividends in the world. future.”
For this revised and updated version of “Just Visiting This Planet,” Tyson has carefully selected questions for a more modern readership accustomed to extracting explanations via the Internet.
“So these are 200 additional questions drawn from over a thousand. Some questions I removed since they are now searchable on Google, like ‘How hot is the sun?’ It’s pretty fun. So we can do it in a more fun way than ChatGPT, I assure you. There are a lot more “if, then” questions in this book. Plus, my brother, who is an artist, illustrated it. I’m happy to report on this.”
And since it’s Halloween season, we’d be remiss if we didn’t have Tyson growing up in New York City in a huge apartment building where he and his friends would win several grocery bags full of sweet loot. What were her favorite fun-sized candy bars? Milky Way and Mars of course!
“Just Visiting This Planet: Further Scientific Adventures of Merlin From Omniscia” arrives in bookstores from Blackstone Publishing on October 21, 2025.