Yep, a title that makes sense to me. Trust me, had the title of this book simply been “Astrophysics” my eyes (ears actually) wouldn’t have given it the “light of day”. But here we are unavoidably writing a little something about what IMO is just one of the best books written in recent history about a topic that would make astrophysics’ laymen like myself sweat - scratch that, bored.
What we do know and what can assert without further hesitation is that the universe had a beginning, the universe continues to evolve, and, yes, every one of our bodies’ atoms is traceable to the Big Bang and to the thermonuclear furnaces within high mass stars that exploded more than five billion years ago. We are stardust brought to life, then empowered by the universe to figure itself out. And we have only just begun.” Ch.1
Not one to be naturally inclined to explore the “heavens” or in the lingo of the book, the universe, AFPIAH came my way in serendipitous fashion. Every now and then I take to my public library app to see what ebooks or audiobooks are available. AFPIAH always showed up as an available audiobook, but I passed it by until last month when I decided that I should actually give the “man” a try. And I’m happy I did.
The first thing that jumped at me from this remarkable book is the narration by author Neil deGrasse Tyson himself. What might have seem like a dull subject to tackle is made impressively approachable and accessible by the sheer narratability powers that Tyson possesses. He makes the topic alive, his voice is deep and mellow at the same time, and you will want to listen because he narrates in a way that is totally engaging. Of course, astrophysics is his life’s passion so it only makes sense that this should come through, but you’d be surprised of evidence to the contrary. Which is precisely why most audiobooks are not narrated by their authors.
And yet, Tyson’s voice and/or his ability to narrate is not the most important feature of this amazing book. AFPIAH will remain with you long after your finish it because of the author’s impressive gift of making something intrinsically complex accessible. Don’t get me wrong, this book is no exception to astrophysics’ innate complexity. What Tyson does for all of us earthlings in a hurry is to take such astrophysical complexity and distill it in such a way that it makes the reader/hearer stick with it. You begin to realize as you hear/read this book that the task of the astrophysicist, daunting as it is, is not beyond grasp.
AFPIAH will make you want to learn more about astrophysics. Perhaps, it will at least make you want to read/hear it a second time which is what I did. An ironic testament to a book whose topic is complex and absorbing at the same time!
The accelerating universe, dark energy incarnate, may be driven by the action of this vacuum energy. Yes, intergalactic space is and will forever be where the action is. Ch.4
AFPIAH takes the reader/hearer on a journey of beginnings - the Big Bang - and continues through the ever expanding, cosmic chase to make sense of the observable universe and beyond. Terms like real matter, dark matter and dark energy appear sequentially, but is the latter springing from the former? Or is it the other way around? A fascinating incursion into the elements of the Periodic Table - remember that! - is presented as well as the measure many elements have in our universe, particularly in our galaxy and our planet.
Lithium is the third simplest element in the universe with three protons in its nucleus. Like hydrogen and helium, lithium was made in the Big Bang, but unlike helium which can be manufactured in stellar course, lithium is destroyed by every known nuclear reaction. Another prediction of Big Bang cosmology is that we can expect no more than one percent of the atoms in any region of the universe to be lithium. No one has yet found a galaxy with more lithium than this upper limit supplied by the Big Bang. Ch.7
And then, Neil deGrasse Tyson takes us to the climax of this galactic opus with Reflections on the Cosmic Perspective, the last chapter of AFPIAH. Here he reins in the body of astronomical knowledge he’s been explaining to us to remind us that we are intrinsically connected, neither being superior nor inferior, neither above nor below, to the fast and continually expanding cosmos that we are a part of.
It all can seem overwhelming, we’ll be inclined to think that we’re too small in light of all that lies in the beyond, but the pursuit of this knowledge, besides being the source not only of great discoveries and by extension joy and satisfaction, tempers our view of ourselves and our role in this cosmos. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry will help us broaden our perspective even to the point of touching questions of origins from a “spiritual even redemptive but not religious” approach. Is this universe all there is? Tyson even touches on the question of the multiverse! It’s a fascinating read that I hope you’re able to experience sooner rather than later even if, like me, your also in a hurry.
Again and again, across the centuries cosmic discoveries have demoted our self-image. Earth was once assumed to be astronomically unique until astronomers learned that earth was just another planet orbiting the sun. Then we presumed the sun was unique until we learned that the countless stars of the night sky are suns themselves. Then we presumed our galaxy, the Milky Way, was the entire known universe until we established that the countless fuzzy things in the sky are other galaxies dotting the landscape of our known universe. Today how easy it is to presume that one universe is all there is. Ch.12
