This is scientific Americans 60 second science. I'm Steve Mursky.

I expected to have this interesting intellectual experience and instead it was just completely

visceral. Author and journalist David Barron talking about the first time he saw a

total solar eclipse in 1998 in Aruba.

It just tapped into something very, very deep in my brain.

I mean, I really think even though I knew what was going on the gut reaction was one of

absolute horror and at the same time

awe that it just sort of put my whole existence into a whole new perspective of

appreciating just how powerless and puny I am, but at the same time just how marvelous and spectacular

the universe is. And so it's both incredibly humbling and also incredibly

empowering I mean it's this great paradox and that's I think what makes it so

addictive and why why I chase eclipses and why there are other people who are

eclipse junkies and why I think frankly after August 21st of this year there will be

thousands more people who will find themselves chasing eclipses all over the world.

It's just an experience unlike anything else that you just want to have again.

David Barron will be in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, August 21st, to see his sixth total solar eclipse.

You can hear my entire half hour discussion with Barron, available on the Scientific American website as a Science Talk Podcast.

We also talk about his new book American Eclipse,

a nation's epic race to catch the shadow of the moon

and win the glory of the world. It's about a scientifically and

socially important eclipse back in 1878. If you can't make it to the path of

totality on August 21st, check out the NASA website for live coverage, and then visit

...