Tomorrow April 8th, along a narrow arcing swath of America, people will experience a total solar eclipse.

Day will disappear and the sky will turn dark. The air will cool. Night creatures will awaken.

Street lights will begin to shine. And then it will be over, as if it never happened.

Everything will return to the way it was,

except perhaps for those who witnessed it.

A total solar eclipse is the closest thing to space travel that you can experience without

leaving the surface of the earth. This is David Barron giving a TED Talk in

2017. He's a science writer and author of the book American Eclipse the

nation's epic race to catch the shadow of the moon and win the glory of the world.

It's like for a few minutes you are suddenly transported to some alien world.

It's like you're living in some sci-fi movie, seeing a sky you've never seen,

seeing the universe in a whole new way. It really can change your

outlook for years to come if not the rest of your life.

Beren's goal is to get as many people to witness a total solar eclipse as possible.

To view one you need to be in the moon's shadow that's called the umbra.

He calls himself an umbra file.

An umbra file.

An umbra file is a fancy word for what I am and that's an eclipse chaser.

It just it means a shadow lover and that's what I am. I love being in the shadow of the moon.

The eclipse that started it all for David was in 1998 in Aruba.

And I went there thinking this would be an interesting astronomical event to watch and it just absolutely

bold me over it changed my life it was the most spectacular thing I'd ever seen. Today, to honor tomorrow's eclipse, we're sharing an episode of NPR's Life Kit podcast.

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