Although I'm not actually embarrassed by this, I tend not to read books that have awesome movies made from them, regardless of how well or badly the movie represented the actual written story.
Interpretation
Tyson expresses a preference for reading original books over their film adaptations.
In this quote, Neil Degrasse Tyson highlights his reluctance to read books that have been adapted into films, regardless of the quality of those adaptations. He suggests that the cinematic representation can overshadow the nuances and depth of the original written work, implying a preference for experiencing the author's narrative in its purest form.
In practice
In a book club meeting discussing adaptations, one might refer to this quote to emphasize the importance of the original text.
The problem is that many people operate on the assumption that NASA should go to Congress every year with hat in hand and justify it every year. Well, I see it as the greatest economic driver that there ever was. Economic drivers don't need justification.
The press still thinks [global warming] is controversial. So they find the 1% of the scientists and put them up as if they're 50% of the research results. You in the public would have no idea that this is basically a done deal and that we're on to other problems, because the journalists are trying to give it a 50/50 story. It's not a 50/50 story. It's not. Period.
As a scientist, I want to go to Mars and back to asteroids and the Moon because I'm a scientist. But I can tell you, I'm not so naive a scientist to think that the nation might not have geopolitical reasons for going into space.
In just one year, the expenditure of of the U.S.'s military budget is equivalent to the entire 50-year running budget of NASA combined.
One of my great laments is that education today seems to have... be less about passion and more about process, more about tactic or technique.
Lots of people think, well, we're humans; we're the most intelligent and accomplished species; we're in charge. Bacteria may have a different outlook: more bacteria live and work in one linear centimeter of your lower colon than all the humans who have ever lived. That's what's going on in your digestive tract right now. Are we in charge, or are we simply hosts for bacteria? It all depends on your outlook.
Heart and head are the constituent parts of character; temperament has almost nothing to do with it, and, therefore, character is dependent upon education, and is susceptible of being corrected and improved.
I have been a teacher myself all my life. I have an intense passion to share with people. Our only salvation is in knowledge, in learning.
That's the public-school system all over. They may kick you out, but they never let you down.
History education in schools is so poor that students often enter college ignorant of the past - and leave just as unenlightened.
Oh, magic hour, when a child first knows she can read printed words.
Ask me my three main priorities for government, and I tell you: education, education and education.
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