Book: Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson’s
Genre: Science
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date: 2017

Source: Audio e-book borrowed from the library

Summary: This story begins at the beginning, at the very beginning, when the universe was a tiny, tiny dot that expanded so rapidly we now call it the Big Bang. We learn about gravity (thanks, Sir Isaac Newton) and relativity (thanks, Albert Einstein). For me, the physical things were most fascinating — stars, dark matter, black holes, galaxies.

Thoughts: I managed to read this book just at the right time. I still feel more in awe than in understanding of the images that were released last week from the James Webb Telescope, but at least Astrophysics for People in a Hurry gave me half-a-chance to not be completely overwhelmed.

Photo credit: NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute

In particular, Neil deGrasse Tyson helped me grasp the concept of time and distance. In the above image, we’re looking very far away and, therefore, we’re looking at the very deep past of our cosmos.

As soon as the James Webb images were released, Neil deGrasse Tyson hosted an explainer video on YouTube. A half-hour might seem intimidating, but everyone is so delighted and funny, that this is really enjoyable to watch.

Since I watched that video, YouTube thought I would enjoy Dr. Becky. The algorithm figured me out! A British woman astrophysicist reacting to (and explaining) funny JWST memes while experiencing the heat wave that I wrote about for Friday? Yes, please!

Appeal: The appeal of the book is in the title. If you want a quick understanding of astrophysics, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry is the book for you. I really enjoyed the audio version because Neil deGrasse Tyson’s voice is so pleasant and reassuring. The audiobook takes less than four hours to play.

Have you read this book? What did you think?