Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

"Yes, although it’s probably not as quick a read as Tyson would like it to be. Where Sean Carroll shows you the nuts and bolts, how they fit together and how they make gravity work, Neil deGrasse Tyson, steps back and says, ‘This is what gravity does.’ It’s like learning how to drive the car, as opposed to building it. Tyson offers a view of the cosmos from the very small to the very big. It’s not just about gravity. The book shows how we fit in the universe, from our place here on the Earth to our place in the wider cosmos. He starts out at the personal level, then zooms out and out and out until, at the end, you have what he calls ‘the cosmic view.’ Tyson shows that we are insignificant specs in the enormous universe. To some people, it could be depressing. We’re tiny little things in this grand cosmic machine. His view is more joyful—and he really is very convincing about this—it’s a sort of celebration of our place in this amazing universe. That makes us amazing too. We’re part of this huge continuum that spans from the very small to very large, from the very beginning of time to the very end. Tyson doesn’t get into any of the math, but he gives you this elegant, and reasonably complete, picture of the entire span of the cosmos, both in time and in space. When he puts it that way, his cosmic view isn’t depressing. It’s inspiring."