Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson is one of my favorite science educators. Reading his book: Astrophysics for People in a Hurry has no shortage of interesting facts, historical stories, and funny jokes, even for a twelve-year-old. He describes in relatively short chapters the history of the universe, what’s in it and what will become of it. His writing style is so smooth and easy to read; it feels like a gripping fictional novel, rather than an astrophysics book with real people and information. Dr. Tyson’s ability to tell a story about the whole universe in 12 chapters is inspiring and just simply amazing.
In my opinion, this book consists of 4 parts. Part 1 consists of the first three chapters where Dr. Tyson explains the birth of the universe, the laws of physics that govern it, and the light that governs what we see and don’t see. Part 1 is an introduction to the universe so that we can understand what is going on and how it came to be.
Part 2 consists of chapters 4, 5, and 6. Here he introduces us to a world of exotic things as if you went to the jungle for the first time and see so many exotic beings. Dr. Tyson was our guide through that jungle, explaining the mysterious dark matter and dark energy, and giving us a little tour on the thrilling action between the galaxies.
Part 3 consists of chapters 7 and 8. Here we are transported to a chemistry lab, where we explore the Periodic table of elements, who are the creators of everything we ever touch, see and feel. He also explains how those elements react with one another to form the best possible version of the universe.
And finally, part 4 consists of chapters 9, 10, 11, and 12. Here he takes us on a journey through history by telling tales of how we humans thought that we where kings of the universe, but the more we go further into the future, the more insignificant we are. Dr. Tyson challenges our capacity to accept that we are one with the universe, not distinctive. He also introduces another kind of commonness, which would be fantastic if we could prove it, are we alone in the universe or is there a multiverse? These questions challenge us to think that we are not unique, that we are indeed one with the universe. This quote explains part 4 in the best possible way:
