astrophysics

Neil deGrasse Tyson, who really doesn’t need an introduction, is a great educator, and a thoughtful and polite man. But let’s face it, this little marvel of a book is not for people in a hurry, it is for people who are bad at science but ashamed to admit it. I assure you, I’m not being mean, I’m one of those. Who wants to read a 500 pages book on astrophysics with a lot of equations and graphs?

Here, with his usual wit, Tyson gives us an overview of the cosmos and the laws that govern it. And right from the start, he tells us how it is:

“The Universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.”

Humbled, and a bit anxious, you start on this short journey full of questions and you really do get answers that you can actually process without getting a headache. Tyson has a gift: he can break down the most complex ideas and theories, and make them understandable and fun. Is the universe expending or collapsing, and even better, has it always existed or did it have a starting point? What are we made of? What are protons, neutrons, and what in heaven’s name is a quark (no, it’s not a type of cheese)? What’s in a black hole? And what is dark matter? Where are the aliens and are they avoiding us (do we suck at interstellar parties)?

It’s not that I didn’t know some of the basic answers to these questions, but Tyson really makes it come together and you get a unified picture of what it means to be us, alone on that pale blue dot. And this being an American book, I was expecting some really over-the-top hopefulness and grand, emotional conclusions (yes, I’m a French cynic like that) but no, his closing chapter is strangely freeing. Tyson rids you of some of that existential dread by simply showing you how amazing it is that we exist at all. Biology and physics conspired to make every single one of us (yes, I’m a French atheist too), and we last just a short while. We might as well enjoy it while we can.

A read that will make you feel a bit better in these difficult times.