Astrophysics for People in a Hurry is such a disappointment. This book is a complete slogfest to get through, mainly because of the writing style. I feel like Tyson violates the one of the most important principles of writing, which is you need to show the reader, not tell the reader. Tyson tells the reader one fact after another, with hardly any explanation or even definition of the concepts that are talked about. I had to read every sentence and every paragraph at least three times in order to get a glimmer of understanding, enough to even go on. At times, I gave up and just wiki-ed whatever word or concept mentioned so that I can move on.
It doesn't help that Tyson's writing style is convoluted and grandiose, which having heard him speak in person, is not like this! The book frequently uses words like "thus" and "henceforth" to connect concepts, but no matter how many times I read them, I don't see how the second phrase logically falls from the first. The topics covered in here are a random hodgepodge. The only two topics I found interesting are dark matter and dark energy, but you're better off just googling them rather than trying to understand them from the book.
At times, it seems like Tyson ran out of things to talk about, and so starts rambling about how elements on the periodic table share names with planets, for example. In the end, I feel like I got nothing out of this book that I didn't already know. My suggestion: read this book if you already know astrophysics and just want a summary. Otherwise, don't bother. You won't learn anything new from this book.
Readaroo Rating: 1 star
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