It's a speedrun through astrophysics. If you are familiar with this level of physics you might actually enjoy it, otherwise it will leave you amazed but uncertain of what has just happened.

It seems like this book's goal is to leave readers in awe of the scientific discovery of the cosmos. Not necessarily to help them understand it. This book is dense - full of facts, fun facts, and factoids neatly packed into memorable metaphors. It presents a grand vision and a variety of subjects that astrophysics deals with. It is easy and fun to read. However, it feels like a magician show designed to impress, not to teach the audience how the tricks work. You'll be able to entertain your guests at the dinner table with a description of a physics phenomenon, but it might be hard to explain it based solely on this book.

I wish there was more connecting tissue between the essays and more science behind them but then it wouldn't be a short book for people in a hurry. I hope it accomplishes its goal and is a gateway to other books for people who have time and want to invest it to understand how the universe works.

The author's delivery in the audiobook is smooth as silk and easy to follow. It's hard to not get carried along with the enthusiasm and passion of Neil deGrasse Tyson. There are moments when he tries too hard to be cool and it can come across as arrogance but they do not spoil the experience.

If this is not your first book on the subject - it might be a fun refresher, otherwise you’ll get the highlights that will leave you with more questions than answers… which can actually be a very good thing. ( )

I'm not going to pretend I understood the material in this book, because I didn't. OK, maybe I got 15% of it. Clearly Neil deGrasse Tyson is a brilliant scientist, and while this may be astrophysics in a nutshell, I don't think it was simplified as much as I thought it would be. It did answer a few of my questions, including what the heck is dark matter? It didn't really answer my question, what was here before the Big Bang? *shrugs* I listened to the audiobook narrated by the author (top-notch engaging narration!), however I think with the complex concepts presented, I would have benefited more by reading the book instead. ( )

I read a lot of science fiction, but I've never been a hard sci-fi guy. I grew up being excited by planets and asteroids and moons and black holes, but got less into the science as I got older. I bought this book at a new independent bookstore, to support them and I figured it was short and would make a good bathroom book.

I ended up REALLY enjoying it, and now I'm smarter. Some things he mentioned I was probably just relearning from college, other things were completely new concepts. deGrasse's description of the big bang read like some kind of religious text. Like there a bunch of scientists standing around with cell phones recording the beginning of the universe. Like "in the first trillionth of a second this happened, then in the next 2 trillionths of a second this happened." It was just mind blowing that they could postulate about something that happened billions (trillions?) or years ago, billions (trillions?) of light years away down to measurements smaller than seconds.

Anyway, this book revived my faith in extraterrestrial life, if not that chance that we'll ever make contact with it.

Definitely recommended for dabblers in science and science fiction. ( )

Honestly, NdGT could read the phone book to me and I would be enthralled.
His matter of fact voice and wit make an otherwise boring and overmyhead subject into the realm of sorta kinda understanding.
He discusses planets and energy and humanity just to name a few. I wish I could retain all the information he shares with the reader but sadly, I will not, but I’d happily listen to this book again and again. ( )

Waste of time for anyone with basic education ( )