I read most of the chapters at night in bed. The chapters are only about 20 minutes long, so this book really lends itself to bedtime reading—at least it does if you’re a science geek like me!
I think the biggest thing I took away from this book is the vast SIZE of the universe. I knew the universe was big. I knew Earth was a precious dot in the universe. But my brain is still trying to process just how large the universe is!!!
So, we live on our planet—Earth—in our solar system. Our sun is just one star in this universe. Our solar system is in a galaxy: The Milky Way Galaxy. There are approximately 100 BILLION stars in the Milky Way.
I can’t wrap my brain around what 100 billion looks like.
It’s a LOT.
That’s just in ONE galaxy.
100 billion stars.
But there are more galaxies than just the Milky Way. A LOT more.
In the grand tally of cosmic constituents, galaxies are what typically get counted. Latest estimates show that the observable universe may contain a hundred billion of them.
That’s 100 billion galaxies!
ONE galaxy, the Milky Way, has 100 billion stars.
So yeah… Some galaxies are bigger or smaller than ours, but you do the math. That’s a LOT of stars in the universe.
It’s pure ego to think that we humans are the center of all of this.
Latest estimates, extrapolating from the current catalogs, suggests as many as forty billion Earth-like planets in the Milky Way alone.
—Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
If that doesn’t blow your mind…I don’t know what will!
This book covers more than just the size of the universe. It’s not a book of philosophy or religion, just science. I think this would be a FANTASTIC book for students to read as it explains difficult concepts like “dark matter” in layman’s terms.
I really enjoyed this book! I’m a science geek, so this was a great read for me. I’m not sure if it’s for everyone, but I liked it and would recommend it.
xo Juli
JULI HOFFMAN 