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Not so much by his list, but rather his comments on it, it is apparent that Tyson is agenda driven which, in itself, disqualifies his as the objective scientist he claims to be.

A revealing quote from Tyson can be found here:

"Every account of a higher power that I've seen described, of all religions that I've seen, include many statements with regard to the benevolence of that power. When I look at the universe and all the ways the universe wants to kill us, I find it hard to reconcile that with statements of beneficence."

Although he uses the self description "agnostic" that is clearly a cop out. No intellectually honest person can state that they believe in the existence of something they cannot describe or attribute qualities to.

If in fact the universe is the hostile place Tyson characterizes, then our continued existence in spite of the enormous odds against our even being in the first place is proof enough of a beneficent God.

I agree that these eight books (especially the Bible) are important reading (even if in some cases they serve to let you know your enemy) but Tyson's raising them to the level of IQ qualifiers reeks of an elitist arrogance beyond the pale.

It's a shame that Tyson did not receive the benefit of a truly Liberal education (in the classic sense) instead of frittering away his time in a graduate level shop class before he learned how to read and think critically.

Frankly, I had never even heard of this *guy* before. For all I know, he could be the guy who invented a terrific vacuum cleaner or owns a big-big chicken farm down south. Some call him a charlatan, others love him [reddit] ...I’d have to reserve judgement until I know more.

*Lists* can be useful...jumping off points, if you will, to further acquisition of knowledge and info. I don’t know that *his* list is any better than *The Great Books* list. Those of us who were schooled by Jesuits, are very familiar.

FWIW, if you’re not an intelligent person, to begin with, you’re not to get much of anything out of reading the books on his list.