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  • The Milky Way

  • An Autobiography of Our Galaxy
  • By: Moiya McTier
  • Narrated by: Moiya McTier
  • Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
  • 3.6 out of 5 stars (5 ratings)
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The Milky Way cover art

The Milky Way

By: Moiya McTier
Narrated by: Moiya McTier
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Summary

In this approachable and fascinating biography of the galaxy, an astrophysicist and folklorist details everything humans have discovered—from the Milky Way's formation to its eventual death, and what else there is to learn about the universe we call home.

After a few billion years of bearing witness to life on Earth, of watching one hundred billion humans go about their day-to-day lives, of feeling unbelievably lonely, and of hearing its own story told by others, The Milky Way would like a chance to speak for itself. All one hundred billion stars and fifty undecillion tons of gas of it.

It all began some thirteen billion years ago, when clouds of gas scattered through the universe's primordial plasma just could not keep their metaphorical hands off each other. They succumbed to their gravitational attraction, and the galaxy we know as the Milky Way was born. Since then, the galaxy has watched as dark energy pushed away its first friends, as humans mythologized its name and purpose, and as galactic archaeologists have worked to determine its true age (rude). The Milky Way has absorbed supermassive (an actual technical term) black holes, made enemies of a few galactic neighbors, and mourned the deaths of countless stars. Our home galaxy has even fallen in love.

After all this time, the Milky Way finally feels that it's amassed enough experience for the juicy tell-all we've all been waiting for. Its fascinating autobiography recounts the history and future of the universe in accessible but scientific detail, presenting a summary of human astronomical knowledge thus far that is unquestionably out of this world.

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2022 BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY AND SCIENCENET
NAMED A BEST AUDIOBOOK OF 2022 BY BOOKPAGE

©2022 Moiya McTier (P)2022 Grand Central Publishing

Critic reviews

"It's about time we heard the story of the Milky Way in its own words. The good news is that our galaxy is not only ancient and majestic; it's also whimsical, amusing, and downright chatty. Moiya McTier's book is an entertaining introduction to some of the most profound features of our astrophysical neighborhood."—Sean Carroll, New York Times bestselling author of Something Deeply Hidden

"If you want to learn about the Milky Way, who better to go to than the source? Well, up until now, the Galaxy hasn’t been talking–but all of that has changed! Turns out, the Milky Way has a sense of humor, an attitude, and, frankly, isn’t super impressed with us as of late. If you’re looking for a fun and unique way to learn about astrophysics—this is the book for you! "—Kelly Weinersmith, New York Times bestselling author of Soonish

"A direct, fun, and charming mix of the science, folklore, and history of our Milky Way galaxy. And since that galaxy is technically composed at least in part by ME, I cannot help but take some of the credit."—Ryan North, New York Times bestselling author of How to Invent Everything

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Patronising and condescending

The premise of the Milky Way being a sentient character in a story told from the galaxy's perspective is a great idea for transferring knowledge. It's just such a shame that, in this case, our galaxy is an unrelentingly arrogant and conceited jerk that appears to take pride in finding any opportunity to point out how small, insignificant, ill-educated we are as human beings. At first it was a vaguely amusing character trait, but then it continues to point of downright annoyance.
To put it bluntly, the book wound me up. Too much galactic ego and nowhere near enough substance to justify it being a book of scientific interest. Boring, tedious and full of itself.

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Great book

it was a great listen but its quite tough, so be prepared to think 🤔 I would highly recommend if you love to learn about space how stuffs made. also, the author has a great voice and personality you can tell she enjoyed writing and reading this story to us.

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