This is a series of related essays about astrophysics. The author, Neil deGrasse Tyson, does a really great job taking an immensely complicated subject and conveying a distillation of that subject in layman terms. I still ended up looking up several terms, persons, and concepts to buttress my comprehension of the information discussed.It would be difficult to exaggerate how much I enjoyed this work. I purchased and read this book on Kindle while listening to the audiobook simultaneously. The audiobook was narrated by the author. I enjoyed that tremendously. Neil deGrasse Tyson comes across as an extremely intelligent, but very benevolent instructor / lecturer. I love that mixture.Some time ago I read another book, "A Universe From Nothing" by Lawrence M. Krausse. I felt there is a lot of overlap between these two fine works. Personally, I liked this book under review more than the book by Mr. Krausse. Another reader might enjoy reading that book for purposes of comparison and contrast.In summary, I completely enjoyed this reading experience. I intend to look for another book by Neil deGrasse Tyson. Thank You...

It has some good content, however it is filled with a lot of unnecessary questions and puns. Tough to stay focused while reading.I would compare it to someone that has prepared a 15 minute speech, then is asked to speak for an hour.

Perhaps the target audience is in more of a hurry than I am. But some of the topics were too summary and brushed over some explanations that could have been given in pretty short form, so may be confusing if you have not already done a fair amount of reading. Was interesting to see how many things were addressed as "we don't know". Still, if you only want a smattering to impress your grandkids, the explanations are pretty clear to the extent they exist.The irritating, to me, part was that the author was very needlessly dismissive of anyone with a Christian approach to any of this. Present your facts and let them speak for themselves. Don't go out of your way to dismiss anyone who thinks there may be something more than random chance at work as a deluded or even ignorant Luddite. Those who agree with the author on that point will probably rate this 5 stars. I believe we can have a civilized discourse but the author is clearly not interested.

In this book you can tell that Dr. Neil Tyson put his heart and intellect into this book. I've learned more reading this book than I have in all of my science classes throughout the years altogether. I'm so happy that I purchased this book and the narration(narrated by Dr. Tyson)on my Kindle Fire because the narration just adds so much more. This book gives you the facts that are the most interesting, informative, and important, this book doesn't "dumb-down" any of the topics mentioned either. Neil Degrasse Tyson is my role model because I myself want to be an astrophysicist, or aerospace engineer, and reading this book just inspired me even more to go to college and major in one of the two when I get out of High School. I mean who isn't interested in the big questions of the universe? Please buy this book if you're at all interested in the universe and want to support Dr. Tyson too. Sorry for any grammatical mistakes I may have overlooked, this is my first written review.- Aiden A.

I needed to “cleanse my palate” after binge reading a fantasy series. I decided to step as far from fantasy as possible, so I ventured into the far more complex realm of…Fact.Astrophysics, to be precise.What’d I learn?I learned the universe is much bigger than I can comprehend, and we puny humans are much less significant to the universe than we imagine.I learned I’m glad there are people who are good at Astrophysics, because I’m notMostly, I learned that Astrophysics is really (Really, REALLY) complicated. Even having Neil deGrasse Tyson spell it out for me couldn’t get topics like quantum mechanics, prolate spheroids, dark matter, or E=MC2 to be more than curiosities beyond my reach.Getting through the book was worth it just to get to the last chapter, where Neil deGrasse Tyson brings the “our universe is so big and we are so insignificant” talk to a climax with some great comparisons. For example…Did you know there are more molecules in a cup of water than there are cups of water on Earth?Of course you didn’t. Because you’re not an Astrophysicist.Instead of feeling small, however, I was left feeling part of something very, very grand.Some call it science. Some call it God. I call it both.Interested in Astrophysics but clueless about Astrophysics? This is the book for you. You’ll still be clueless, but you’ll feel okay being clueless once you get a sense for the overwhelming complexity involved in with the physics of the universe.It’s a big place.Happy Reading.