TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER

Reviewed by Steven H Silver

Neil DeGrasse Tyson's latest book, Take Me to Your Leader is a series of ruminations by Tyson regarding what it means to be alien. It is broken up into seven chapters which explore what is alien to humans, how aliens would see humans, how their intelligence might differ, what their technology might look like, what powers they might have, whether there is any evidence of alien visitations, and finally what alien means to Tyson. Throughout the book, Tyson uses examples of the variety of life and culture that already exists on earth to support his reasoning.

As is to be expected from Tyson, Take Me to Your Leader is written in a transparent style, guiding the reader through his thought processes as he tries to avoid the standard view of aliens who could just as easily be humans in rubber costumes. By pointing out how different humans are from octopi from snakes, he tries to explore aliens who may look nothing at all like us, eventually pointing out that aliens may not even recognize humans as anything worthy of being communicated with. In addition to using natural examples, he also brings in science fictional explorations of humanity, looking at the aliens in the film Arrival or Fred Hoyle's novel The Black Cloud. In the former, humans and aliens are able to communicate, while Hoyle looks at a world with the alien intelligence is barely aware of humans and initially doesn't even consider that earth could harbor life.

When Tyson turns his attention to any evidence of aliens visiting Earth, he applies the skepticism one would imagine. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, which he sees no signs of existing. He discusses various reports of alien abductions and their similarities and differences and why they don't fit the concepts of alien that he has previously discussed in the book. Furthermore, he discusses his professional exploration into alien encounters and the lack of any evidence for them that would be akin to the types of evidence science generally requires. He neither completely rejects the idea that aliens have visited Earth, although he feels it is unlikely, nor that aliens exist in the universe. In fact, Tyson makes it clear that he believes aliens must exist and he fervently hopes he will have a chance, some day, to meet them.

Take Me to Your Leader is a short book that touches on a variety of different issues, attempting to inform the reader of the difficulties with the idea of alien encounters, starting with the cultural and physical expectations from each side. Much of it, of course, is conjecture on Tyson's part, but he is in a position to understand the intricacies and ramifications of his conjectures. Rather than just coming across as guesses, Tyson's perspectives come from a background of someone who has studied, as best as one is able in a world without alien encounters. While the book is supposition and perspective, it offers rationale behind the ideas Tyson puts forward, perhaps allowing the reader to think of the possibility of alien encounters in a more realistic fashion.

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