Astrophysics has always fascinated me because it is the branch of science that deals with subjects that straddle scientific reality and science fiction. What is the origin of the universe? Is time travel possible? What are wormholes and black holes? What are dark matter and dark energy? Does the earth exist in a universe or is there something bigger like a multiverse?

But every time I read a scientific book on astrophysics, I have to spend most of my time consulting a dictionary and googling all those scientific terms I could never understand. Astrophysics is a branch of astronomy that uses a heavy dosage of chemistry and physics. For someone like me with whose educational background was focused on business and the social sciences, topics like quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, electromagnetism and nuclear physics are as alien as ancient languages. Finally, I discovered the first book on astrophysics that I was able to read from cover to cover.

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry By Neil Grasse Tysonis the best guide ever written for exploring these mind-expanding questions. In the books blurb the publishers wrote: While you wait for your morning coffee to brew, for the bus, the train, or a plane to arrive [the book] will reveal just what you need to be fluent and ready for the next cosmic headlines: from the Big Bang to black holes, from quarks to quantum mechanics, and from the search for planets to the search for life in the universe.

Neil Tyson, is an astrophysicist with the American Museum of Natural History , director of its world famous Hayden Planetarium, host of the hit radio and TV showStarTalk, and an award-winning author. In his preface, the author writes: If youre too busy to absorb the cosmos via classes, textbooks, or documentaries, and you nonetheless seek a brief but meaningful introduction to the field I offer you...In this slim volume you will earn a foundational fluency in all the major ideas and discoveries that drive our modern understanding of the universe. If Ive succeeded, youll be culturally conversant in my field of expertise and you just may be hungry for more.

The book is divided into 12 short chapters with intriguing titles. The first chapter is on the origin of the universe: TheGreatest Story Ever Told. After explaining the big bang as the beginning of the universe, Tyson asks: What happened before all this? What happened before the beginning?

The second chapter is on the universality of physical laws: On Earth as in the Heavens. One example is that no one can build a time machine ...that will enable you to go back to kill your mother before you were born it violates causality law. Chapter 3: Let There be Light is about the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and the speed of light.

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How empty is the countryside between cities?How void is the void in space? Chapter 4 Between the Galaxies is about hard-to-detect things that exist between the galaxies. Gravity is caused by something called dark matter. In Chapter 5 Tyson notes: At odds in the universe were two competing effects gravity wants to make stuff coagulate but the expansion wants to dilute it. Gravity from ordinary matter would not be enough for a perfect balance between the two forces. It needed the help of dark matter without which we would be living actually not living-in a universe with no structures, no clusters, no galaxies, no stars, no planets no people.

Chapter 6 is onDark Energy; and, Chapter 7 is called: The Cosmos on the Table which is about chemical elements in the universe. Apart from crystals and broken rocks, not much else in the cosmos naturally comes with sharp angles. In Chapter 8: On Being Round, Tyson notes that; While many objects have peculiar shapes, the list of round things is practically endless and ranges from simple soap bubbles to the entire observable universe...spheres are favoured by the action of simple physical laws.

Chapter 9: Invisible Light is about a form of light invisible to the human eye which led to the invention of Ultraviolet, gamma ray and X-ray telescopes empowering us to explore the universe for what it is rather than for what it seems to be. Chapter 10: Between the Planets examines all manner of chunky rocks, pebbles, ice balls, dust, streams of charged particles and far flung probes that exist in the space between the planets. Think of asteroids.

Chapter 11: Exoplanet Earth is about planets in the universe that circle the sun like the earth. Our galaxy the Milky Way contains a hundred billion stars and the known universe harbours some hundred billion galaxies. Like a scene from Star Trek, Tyson writes: Our search for life in the universe drives the search for exoplanets, some of which resembles Earth...Latest estimates extrapolating from the current catalogues, suggest as many as forty billion Earth-like planets in the Milky Way alone. Those are planets our descendants might want to visit someday day, by choice, if not by necessity.

In his final chapter 12: Reflections on the Cosmic Perspective, Tyson becomes more philosophical than scientific. He enumerates the eleven attributes of the cosmic perspective including one statement: The cosmic perspective is spiritual even redemptive but not religious.

Neil Tyson says that the universe is under no obligation to make sense to anybody. But for all those who are too busy to read fat books; yet, nonetheless seek a conduit to the cosmos,Astrophysics for People in a Hurryis a must read.

Young Writers Hangout for Kids & TeensonJuly 22, August 5 and August 19 (1:30-3pm/independent sessions).All sessions are at Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street. For registration and fee details text 0917-6240196 or emailwritethingsph@gmail.com.

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Astrophysics for People in a Hurry - Philippine Star