Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

Across 12 short chapters drawn from essays Neil deGrasse Tyson wrote for Natural History magazine between 1997 and 2007, this 2017 popular science book takes up the basic questions of modern astrophysics. Tyson explains how the universe began and how it is structured, and covers gravity, light, dark matter and dark energy. His range runs from the Big Bang and black holes to quarks, quantum mechanics and the search for planets and for life elsewhere in the universe. He uses plain language and vivid analogies instead of formulas, for general readers who want an overview of the field. Published by W. W. Norton, it spent more than a year on the New York Times best-seller list.

Vinod Khosla called it a very quick and easily accessible overview of astrophysics in his 2017 book recommendations.