2018 Beyond the Classics discussion

“Astrophysics for People in a Hurry” by Neil DeGrasse Tyson is an interesting nonfiction about astronomy and physics. Although a little difficult at times, it is incredibly interesting. I find astrophysics fascinating but complicated, Tyson is able to describe the subject in a very simple, concise, and organized manner that is easy to follow. Each chapter describes a different subject of astrophysics briefly, there is a ton of information on just one page so I found i had to sometimes reread a whole chapter to get a grasp on the topic. These topics range from light and the sun, to the beginning of the universe but the author barely scratches the surface, leaving tons of information out but that was probably to keep the book short and simple, though sometimes the amount of information in one chapter was overwhelming. It felt like a dumbed down textbook, bringing in the main idea and a few pointers, but not going crazy. Contrary to the title of this novel, I wouldn't recommend it if you were in a hurry. You have to sit down and comprehend the topic if you really want to understand what Tyson is trying to say, which is a mouthful. Every chapter had an overwhelming amount of information. The difficulty varies depending on the chapter, I found the pre Big Bang chapter especially challenging but the chapter on Earth was more easy to understand than previous topics. I also found it difficult to read the book chronologically, some chapters I had no interest in, so I would keep feeling the urge to skip around to read the next chapter I thought would be more interesting. Although the book was short, it took a while to read. The writing felt natural, how it was written sounds like it came exactly from the author’s mouth. It was witty and human, so it did not feel like reading a textbook in this case. I usually don't read nonfiction but my mom recommended this book to me and I decided to try it out. Even though there were boring spots and there was a level of difficulty, I really enjoyed “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry”. I think it was really informative and I liked challenging myself to something I haven't read before. However I believe this book has a niche audience, I think you have to be interested in the subject to enjoy the book. After a chapter or two it can be tiring to read, so I suggest having something else to read as well. Overall, I really liked this book and I would definitely read it again. Because O think I need to go over the beginning of the universe for the fifteenth time.