Avis Lang – Carol's Notebook

Author: Avis Lang

Since 2002, Avis Lang has been editing and collaborating with the ubiquitous space advocate Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City—initially as the senior editor responsible for his Natural History magazine column, “Universe”; subsequently as the editor of their book Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier (W.W. Norton, 2012); and most recently as coauthor of their book Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military (W.W. Norton, 2018).

In 2013, under her own name, Lang published an essay-length ebook, “Somehow, Someday: Prospects for Spacefaring,” intended for the lay reader willing to spend an hour acquiring a few basic ideas about space exploration.

While working in Canada during the 1970s and 1980s as an art historian, essayist, curator, and performer, Lang taught fine arts and women’s studies at the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, the Banff Centre, and the University of Lethbridge. Her best-known curatorial project was Pork Roasts: 250 Feminist Cartoons (1981), an international traveling exhibition of work by more than a hundred cartoonists from thirteen countries. She now lives in New York City, where she has been an adjunct lecturer in English at the City University of New York and is currently a Research Associate at the Hayden Planetarium.

My non-fiction reading really has little rhyme or reason to it. I pick up books that grab my attention or that I've seen other people love. I have to admit I don't really have a huge interest in space exploration or military history, but Neil deGrasse Tyson is a big name and I've seen a show or two on tv and at a planetarium that he's hosted, which is why I picked up Accessory to War. At times Accessory to War is just fascinating. For me, that was mostly when it was discussing the history of astrophysics and how its beginnings affected armies and explorers and merchants. I also found the parts about how current countries approach space interesting. It's well-written. It doesn't talk down to those of us who don't know much, but it also wasn't over my head. It was conversational and easy to follow. Unfortunately, there were other parts that were dry and boring. Lists of treaties...