Imagine you are standing with your face up and your mouth wide open underneath a waterfall of Skittles. At first, a few Skittles get into your mouth and you can taste them. Awesome, you think. I love Skittles.Then, the Skittles become overwhelming, as more and more try to force themselves in, and millions and millions puddle around your feet, piling up past your knees.That's kind of how this was.I'm all about learning new things, but there were SO MANY FACTS IN SUCH A SMALL SPAN. By the time I hit page twenty, I realized I was mentally absent as my eyes and mind processed words but failed to commit those words to actual thought. I wanted to love this book. I want you to love this book. Alas, I just felt overwhelmed.I recommend this book, but read it slowly and in small sittings. As a person in a hurry, I tried to plow through it all at once and became lost.received via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.decafjess.blogspot.com

I guess Im not in that much of a hurry! Or Im just not very bright. This book is not accessible for the average person, in a hurry or otherwise. I was lost really early on and trust me, things didnt get clearer with time. It felt like a convoluted textbook to me. I will accept all the blame for my totally honest take on this book: I hated it. My biggest takeaway was that Im not interested in astrophysics at all...and Im okay with that!

I have always been more of a words person than a numbers person. I stopped enjoying science in school when numbers got involved, somewhere around Honors Chemistry. This book was perfect for me. Written in an engaging, approachable style, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry has reignited my interest in science, particularly in astronomy. I learned a lot, only by rereading passages several times and then putting the book down to think for a few minutes before continuing, but mostly I came away with a sense of amazement and humility in the face of the universe and the people so much smarter than me that study it.The last thirty pages were so profound, just so shockingly profound and inspiring, that I actually feel differently about the world and my place in it. And now Im off to watch Cosmos and probably order another NDT book to read once my brain recovers from this one.

I had different expectations about this book, and the problem is likely me and not the book. The book explains astrophysics, or what we know to date about this subject from the beginning (the Big Bang) to today and also the possible future. Everything is explained theoretically and clarified as that.I love reading about science facts and that's what I expected but the subject is astrophysics which is defined as:"the branch of astronomy concerned with the physical nature of stars and other celestial bodies, and the application of the laws and theories of physics to the interpretation of astronomical observations." (source)So clearly I didn't have an idea of what I was getting into. However, the definition of astrophysics was clarified while reading this book. Neil deGrasse Tyson does an excellent job of explaining these complex ideas and putting it in simple, understandable terms. A lot of the concepts went over my head and require abstract thinking from the part of the reader.I listened to the audiobook which is narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson, he did a wonderful job at that.Overall I liked it but did not love it. I recommend it to all those interested in the cosmos, astrophysics, dark matter and other theoretical subjects.Review posted on blog.FINAL NOTE: The author is very charismatic and if you follow him on twitter you probably have realized this by now. His tweets are poignant, interesting and funny.

What a fun science book!I have always been a science nut and had to get this book! The library was backed up so I know I wasn't the only one. I truly love the way he teaches the reader science on the reader's level without talking down to us. So many fun, witty remarks that stick the info in your head helps. He makes science fun! No wonder the kids these days know him, besides the fact he 'killed Pluto'. LOL. Wonderful book and I learned and laughed.