Tag: Thomas Wikman

Emissions of ozone-depleting gases have fallen by 99 Percent

Super fact 41 : Largely thanks to the Montreal Protocol in 1987 the emissions of ozone-depleting gases have fallen by more than 99%, 99.7% to be exact, according to Our World in Data. This has resulted in halting the expansion of the ozone holes and the reduction in emissions of  ozone-depleting gases is saving millions of lives every year.

This is my good news for Earth Day, and it is a super fact. It is a super fact because a lot of people believe that the issue with ozone depleting gases and Montreal protocol is bunk. They take the fact that we are not talking about it much nowadays as evidence that there was nothing to it in the first place. However, they are wrong. We typically don’t talk much about environmental problems that have been addressed successfully. The Antarctic ozone hole that we used to worry about is still there, but its worrisome expansion has been halted.

The Reduction of Ozone-Depleting Gases

The ozone layer, located in the stratosphere, protects Earth from harmful UV radiation. Ozone (O3) is naturally created and destroyed in a balance, but ozone-depleting substances damage the ozone layer by releasing chlorine atoms that catalyze the destruction of ozone molecules.

This problem was discovered by Mario Molina and F. Sherwood Rowland in 1974. They were awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, along with Paul Crutzen, for their work in atmospheric chemistry. Examples of ozone depleting gases are chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), halons, methyl chloroform ,methyl bromide, carbon tetrachloride, hydrobromofluorocarbons, and chlorobromomethane.

The picture shows the sun radiating UV radiation to earth, which is protected by a blanket of ozone | By 2018 the emissions of ozone-depleting gases had fallen by 99.7 percent
Ozone layer depletion diagram. Earth’s sunscreen, shielding us from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. UV A, B, C. UVA, UVB, UVC.

Ozone depletion causes a breakdown of the ozone layer around the world, including the famous Arctic and Antarctic ozone holes. This allows more UV radiation to reach Earth surface, increasing the exposure to harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which can cause skin cancer, cataracts, and immune system damage.

It also harms plants and marine life, as well as climate. It should be noted that this is a different problem from climate change or if you call it global warming, even though ozone depletion to some degree influence climate change. You can read about climate change related super facts here, here and here.

The Reduction of Ozone-Depleting Gases

The good news is that we have been very successful in reducing ozone depleting gases. The Montreal protocol, a landmark international agreement signed in 1987 to protect the Earth’s ozone layer by phasing out ozone depleting gases, has been very successful.

As you can see in the diagram below from Our World in Data. We have had at least a 99% reduction in ozone depleting gases according to the NASA, the World Economic Forum and the UN Environment Program. More specifically, the reduction is 99.7% by 2018 according to Our World in Data.

Gases visualized in the diagram are CFCs, Halons, HCFCs, Carbon Tetrachloride, Methyl Bromide, Methyl Chloroform. The diagram shows a peak around the end of 1980’s | By 2018 the emissions of ozone-depleting gases had fallen by 99.7 percent
The phase out of six ozone depleting gases. Data source UN Environment Program (2023).

443 million Cases of Skin Cancer Prevented

The NIH estimate that the Montreal Protocol has prevented 443 million cases of skin cancer, 2.3 million skin cancer deaths, and 63 million cases of cataracts in the United States alone. Globally, it is estimated that the Protocol has saved an estimated 2 million people from dying from skin cancer each year.

Yes, you can read that again :

Worldwide the Montreal Protocol has saved an estimated 2 million people from dying from skin cancer each year.

To read more about the Montreal Protocol and the ultimate repair job click here.

The Antarctic Ozone Hole

What about the Arctic and Antarctic ozone holes? Well, they are not gone but they are retreating. When there is an environmental problem, it does not entirely disappear right away even if you remove the root cause. The same is true for global warming. If we succeeded to stop all carbon emissions tomorrow it would take decades for average temperatures to stop rising and hundreds of years for them to come down to “normal”. But remember it would have been much worse without the Montreal Protocol.

There are two graphs. The graph representing the annual mean Antarctic ozone hole is blue. The graph representing the annual maximum Antarctic ozone hole is red. Both graphs are rising initially but after the year 2000 the graphs flatten and even go down a bit.
The graph is from Our World in Data and data comes from NASA Ozone watch 2024.
To see the other Super Facts click here

The Sunshine Blogger Award Is Rising Again

I’ve been nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award a second time, this time by Pooja, from Lifesfinewhine. Thank you for the nomination, Pooja! It was a nice surprise.

The Sunshine Blogger Award Official Image
The Sunshine Blogger Award

Check out her blog for lots of great posts featuring blogging advice and expertise, beautiful poetry, short stories, thought provoking quotes and much more!

Without further ado, here are the rules which I’ve copied from Pooja’s blog:

  • Display the award’s official logo somewhere on your blog.
  • Thank the person who nominated you.
  • Provide a link to your nominator’s blog.
  • Answer your nominators’ questions.
  • Nominate up to 11 bloggers.
  • Ask your nominees 11 questions.
  • Notify your nominees by commenting on at least one of their blog posts.

Eleven Questions for Me

Below are my answers to Pooja’s eleven questions.

Question 1 : What’s your favorite animal?

Dogs, especially Leonberger dogs. I love dogs that are big or small. We’ve had a Labrador, a German Shepherd, a Leonberger, a Japanese Shin, a Pug and a mini-Australian Shepherd. I did not grow up with dogs. I learned to love them as an adult. Dogs are intelligent, they can understand hundreds of words, they are emotional, they are great communicators, they are loyal and loving. Dogs are the only animals capable of loving you more than they love themselves. Our Leonberger Bronco, or Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle, was a very large dog. He was brave, confident, strong, and a great family dog.

A photo of our three months old Leonberger wearing a red scarf
Our Leonberger Bronco at the age of three months. He would grow to be 140lbs, and 167lbs when he was a bit overweight.

Bronco rescued hamsters and he saved our Pug’s life by stepping in between her and an attacking dog. He likely saved our Labrador’s life too by sniffing out an oncoming insulin shock. He chased off a trespasser and peeping Tom who was harassing my wife and other women in the neighborhood thereby saving the women in the neighborhood when police couldn’t.  He was very funny and an amazing swimmer as well as a skilled counter surfer. I wrote a book about Bronco that you can find here.

The cover is light brown and featuring an old Leonberger dog. The title is The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle: Stories and Tips from Thirteen Years with a Leonberger. Author is Thomas Wikman.
The front cover of The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle: Stories and Tips from Thirteen Years with a Leonberger. Click on the picture to visit the Amazon page the book.

Question 2 : What TV show or movie do you wish you could watch for the first time again?

I think that might be Ex Machina. This was a movie about Artificial Intelligence embedded in a female robot. She displayed human feelings in many ways, but she was imprisoned, and she wanted to get out. She was a disaster in the making. The movie was very thought-provoking, scary on many levels, as well as full of social commentary. Because it featured several surprises it is the kind of movie that is difficult to watch too many times.

Question 3 : What’s one thing you love unironically?

My wife, my children, my dog, well, that’s many things.

Question 4 : What is your favorite dish to cook?

I don’t have a favorite dish to cook but I love to grill or barbecue chicken, meat, sausage, and drink a beer while I am doing it.

Question 5 : Share the one joke that always makes you laugh no matter how many times you hear it?

There are some jokes that have a thought-provoking aspect to them and those I can laugh at even if I’ve heard them before. An example, “How will Descartes feel when he finds out that people who don’t think exist too?”.

A picture of Descartes with the caption How will Descartes feel when he finds out that people who don’t think exist too? | The Sunshine Blogger Award

I also love dog jokes, even the silly simple ones. An example featuring our Pug Daisy and our mini-Australian Shepherd is shown below.

Daisy tells Rollo “Rollo do you want to hear a joke?”. Rollo says “OK”, Daisy says “Knock! Knock!”, and they both stars barking.

Question 6 : What was your favorite cartoon growing up?

I read a lot of French Belgian Bande Dessinée (in Swedish) when I was a kid. My favorite was Tintin and maybe Asterix. That goes for both the comic books as well as the animated movies.

Question 7 : You get to bring three items to a desert island. What are they?

  • A knife. A gun needs ammunition and cannot be used for a lot of practical things. However, you can use a knife for a very long time. In addition, you can turn it into a spear and use it as a tool and use it to prepare a fire.
  • A hard bottle, or another sort of vessel, for carrying water or digging.
  • A reverse osmosis filter for removing salt from sea water.

Question 8 : What’s your go-to karaoke song?

I’ve only sang Karaoke a few times and I don’t remember what songs I picked, so I don’t have a go-to karaoke song. However, if I ever do Karaoke again, I think I will sing “Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica.

Question 9 : Are you more of a “stay in and binge-watch” person or “go out and explore” person?

I love nature and I love the outside world. However, Dallas, where I live, does not offer a lot of opportunities for that so I might stay inside and watch TV. When I am in the countryside, or where there is a forest, mountains, or beeches, or in a beautiful city like Paris, Stockholm, or Copenhagen, I go out and explore.

Question 10 : What’s your useless superpower?

My most useless superpower is pointing out to people when they are getting their facts wrong. You would think they would appreciate the learning opportunity, but no, they often get annoyed.

Question 11 : What’s the weirdest compliment you’ve ever received?

My dog gives me an implicit compliment when he sits outside the bathroom door and waits for me. He shows that he wants to be with me, but it is a little weird.

Our dog Rollo’s dark brown hair is visible under the white bathroom door | The Sunshine Blogger Award
Rollo’s fur sticking out underneath the bathroom door. He is waiting for me to come back out.

Here are my questions for my nominees:

Question 1 : What’s your favorite book?

Question 2 : What’s your ultimate comfort food?

Question 3 : What’s your favorite season and why?

Question 4 : Do you recharge better alone or with others?

Question 5 : What’s one adventure or trip that changed you?

Question 6 : What’s something you used to believe that you’ve changed your mind about?

Question 7 : What’s something you’ve learned about yourself in the past year?

Question 8 : What’s the weirdest or most random fact you know?

Question 9 : What’s a risk you’re glad you took?

Question 10 : What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Question 11 : What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?

Eleven New Victims

Below are my nominees. Naturally, whether you participate or not is entirely up to you. I do not have any expectations, and I fully understand if you are not up to it.

Susana Cabaço, Spiritual Insights & Personal Empowerment

John Howell, Fiction Favorites

Pete Springer, teacher and author

Violet Lentz from Thru Violet’s Lentz

Jan Sikes, Award winning Texas author

Laura Stamps from Dog Dazed

Ada Jenkins from The Introverted Bookworm

Joanne Macco, Anything is Possible with Love, Hope, and Perseverance

Darlene Foster from Darlene Foster’s Blog

Carol Ann Taylor from Carol Cooks2

The Mindful Mystic from the Wild Pomegranate Tree

To see the Super Facts click here

Time Dilation Goes Both Ways

Super fact 38 : If two observers are moving compared to each other both will observe the other’s time as being slower. In other words, both observers will observe the other’s clocks as ticking slower. Time slowing down is referred to as Time Dilation. And this post is about how time dilation goes both ways.

A lot of people know that if someone moves very fast his clocks will run slower. That’s relativity. If someone speeds through space in a rocket ship, close to the speed of light his time will slow down. When one hour passes on earth only half an hour may pass in the rocket. What comes as a shock to many people is when they find out that the converse is also true. When one hour passes in the rocket only half an hour will pass on earth.

Clearly that looks like a contradiction, but there is an explanation. I consider this a super fact because it is so strange and almost impossible for people to believe, and yet it is true.

The image shows two clocks side by side. On the left is a wall clock and on the right a wristwatch | Time Dilation Goes Both Ways
The guy on earth says my clock (left) is ticking double as fast as the rocket man’s clock (right). The rocket man say’s my clock (right) is ticking double as fast as the clock on earth (left). Who is right? Surprisingly both of them.

Postulates of Special Relativity

The two postulates of special relativity are:

  • The laws of physics are the same in all inertial frames of reference. An inertial frame is a system that moves at a constant velocity.
  • The speed of light in a vacuum is constant for all observers, regardless of the motion of the light source.

The first postulate is called the principle of relativity and goes all the way back to Galileo Galilei. It means that no experiment can determine whether you are at rest or moving at a constant velocity. The reciprocity of time dilation follows from this postulate. If the time for the rocket man in the example above was ticking at half the speed compared to the time for the guy on earth and they both agreed, then you could tell who was standing still and who was moving from that fact.

The first postulate demands that they disagree. The guy on earth thinks the rocket man’s clock is ticking at half the speed of his own clock, whilst the rocket man think it is earth man’s clock that is going slow. Therefore, you can’t tell who is standing still, which is what the first postulate requires.

The second postulate is the more shocking one and is special to relativity. It was discovered experimentally at the end of the 19th century but was too difficult for scientists to accept at first so various ad hoc explanations were put forth to explain it away, until the theories of relativity were created. I designated this postulate as my super fact #4 and you can read about it here.

The picture shows two people Alan and Amy. Alan is on the ground. Amy is flying by Alan in a rocket speeding left. Both Alan and Amy are pointing lasers to the left | Time Dilation Goes Both Ways
In this picture Amy is traveling past Alan in a rocket. Both have a laser. Both measure the speed of both laser beams to be c = 299,792,458 meters per second. The speed of light is a universal constant.

Time Dilation

In the pictures below I am showing two rocket systems in space, Amy’s rocket and Alan’s rocket. They are travelling at a high speed compared to each other. Each rocket has a light clock that consists of a light beam bouncing up and down between a mirror in the ceiling and a mirror on the floor. The two light clocks are identical, and each bounce corresponds to a microsecond.

Amy is passing Alan at a high speed, and therefore Alan will see Amy’s light clock running slower than his because Amy’s light beam must travel further. Remember, the speed of light is identical for both light clocks (light speed is a universal constant). For those interested I am also deriving the formula for time dilation.

The picture shows two systems, each with a clock consisting of light beams bouncing between mirrors. In this set up Alan is stationary compared to us and therefore his light beam only moves vertically.
Alan and Amy have identical light clocks. We call the time it takes for the light beam to go from the floor to the ceiling (one clock tick) Dt in Amy’s case and Dt’ (reference frame) for Alan. Amy is speeding past Alan towards the left. From Alan’s perspective Amy’s clock is running slower. Using Pythagoras theorem, it is possible to derive the formula for time dilation shown in the lower left corner.

Since Amy moving left is the same as Amy standing still and Alan moving right you can say that Alan is the one moving fast. In this case it is Alan’s light clock that is ticking slower because from this viewpoint it is his light beam that has to travel further. From Amy’s perspective it is Alan’s clock that is going slower.

The picture shows two systems, each with a clock consisting of light beams bouncing between mirrors. In this set up Amy is stationary compared to us and therefore her light beam only moves vertically | Time Dilation Goes Both Ways
It is equally correct to say that Amy is standing still and that it is Alan that is moving fast to the right. This time (pun not intended) it is Alan’s clock that is ticking slower. Dt corresponds to Alan’s clock ticks and Amy’s clock ticks are Dt’.

This seemingly contradictory situation is resolved by the fact that Amy’s and Alan’s perspectives will drift apart as they continue their journey. They will increasingly disagree on whether events are simultaneous or not, and they will disagree in which order events occur. This is another shocking fact, or as I refer to it, super fact. It is strange but it resolves the apparent contradiction of reciprocal time dilation. I am explaining this in greater detail in this post.

The Twin Paradox

But what happens if one of Amy or Alan decides to turn around so that they meet up again. If Amy’s clock runs slower from Alan’s perspective and Alan’s clock runs slower from Amy’s perspective, how can you reconcile that when they meet up again? It turns out that whoever is turning around or accelerating or decelerating to turn back is the one who will have the least time pass. If Amy is the one turning back, then she will age less than Alan. During her acceleration she will see Alan’s clock starting to run faster and faster until he is older her.

Let say Alan’s clock is running half the speed of Amy’s clock from Amy’s perspective and Amy’s clock is running half the speed of Alan’s clock from Alan’s perspective. Let’s also say that Amy traveled to the left for 10 years before turning around.

From Alan’s perspective she would have traveled 20 years before turning around. However, from Amy’s perspective 5 years would have passed on Alan’s clock. As she turns around Alan’s clock will run faster and catch up so that when they meet up again Amy will be aged 20 years, while Alan will be aged 40 years. That is 35 years of catching up for Alan’s clock from Amy’s perspective. Alan’s clock advanced 35 years from Amy’s perspective after Amy turned around. In the end Amy will be the younger one.

The picture shows Amy on the left turning around and Alan on the right. Text explains what happens | Time Dilation Goes Both Ways
Observe that the fast-forward advancement of Alan’s clock from Amy’s perspective happens only while Amy is in the process of turning around (accelerating / decelerating). Further, how fast the fast forward happens depends on the distance as well. Once Amy is traveling at a constant speed again (inertial frame) Alan’s clock will run slower again from Amy’s perspective.

A somewhat halting but OK analogy for the 35 years of catching up that happens on Alan’s clock from Amy’s perspective is when you turn a boat around on a wavy sea. As you are moving in the direction of the waves the waves will hit you much less often (if at all) but after you turn around and move against them the waves will hit your boat very frequently. Alan’s clock will run faster for Amy whilst she is turning around.

Book Recommendations on Relativity

To see the other Super Facts click here

ERCOT Fuel Mix

This is not a super fact but just interesting information about ERCOT. ERCOT or the Electric Reliability Council of Texas is the organization that manages the state’s electricity grid, ensuring reliability and it operates the competitive wholesale electricity market for 90% of Texas’s electric load. There are a few things that are important to remember about ERCOT.

  • The ERCOT grid is located solely within the state of Texas and is not interconnected to the rest of the United States. In addition to Texans being independent, this is a way of avoiding federal regulation. ERCOT is regulated by the Texas Public Utility Commission while the rest of the country is regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
  • ERCOT is an ISO (independent system operator), meaning it’s a non-profit organization that manages the electricity grid independently of any single utility company.
  • When companies sell their energy (to ERCOT) it works like a continuous auction. The one with the lowest price is picked first and allowed to contribute with whatever they are able to and also, of course, considering what the grid-powerlines can carry safely.
A power grid. The sun is setting in the background | ERCOT Fuel Mix
The power grid carries the power and if not sufficient it can be a major bottle neck. Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Renewables are successful in Texas

One thing that surprises many people is that renewable energy, for example, wind and solar, is quite successful in Texas. Fossil fuels is important in Texas, and there are many powerful oil and gas billionaires in Texas who fight the expansion of renewables. Texas politicians work hard to create laws that punish renewables with discriminatory permitting requirements.

For example, a recent bill in the Texas Senate SB819 adds a lot of requirements on renewables and battery storage that does not apply to fossil fuel-based energy sources. An example is the requirement in SB819 that wind turbines must be at least half a mile away from the property line of any neighboring property whilst, for example, oil rigs can be built up to the property line. There are a lot more regulations in SB819 that are discriminatory, contrary to free market principes, and even violations of private property rights.

Despite all the obstacles set up against renewable energy in Texas renewable energy is on the march in Texas. The reason is that ERCOT is ultimately a price competitive free market-based system and renewables are cheap. Solar and wind are the cheapest even considering subsidies and the cost of construction, land rent, disposal, and other costs not directly caused by electricity generation are taken into consideration disposal. Click here for details. The graph below shows the evolution of different energy sources in Texas. The graph is taken from this link provided by Dr. Joshua Rhodes, a research scientist at UT Austin.

The graph shows the average annual mix for natural gas, coal, wind, nuclear, solar, and other sources. Natural has roughly remained around 40-50%, coal has shrunk from 37% to 13%, wind has grown from 2% to 24%, nuclear has shrunk from 14% to 8%, and solar has grown from nothing to 10% over the last five years | ERCOT Fuel Mix
The ERCOT fuel mix from 2006 to 2024. Notice the expansion of wind power and notice that solar has gone from nothing to 10% of the average fuel mix in five years. The graph is taken from this link.

You can read more about the evolution of renewable energy in Texas by clicking here.

Watching the ERCOT Fuel Mix in Real Time

Finally, what I think is the most interesting portion of this post, the real-time ERCOT Fuel Mix. It includes a couple of energy sources not mentioned earlier in this post, hydro and power storage.

Hydro is very small in Texas and power storage is a new item that is not a true energy source but a feature that can be called upon when energy is suddenly needed somewhere. It is still not widely used but it reached 10% of the mix at one point in 2024. It is likely an energy source that will keep growing as it is instant and scalable. It is the most dispatchable energy source of all. I can add that there is a lot of misinformation spread about renewable energy, especially about wind power. To read more about that click here.

Last evening and today I took several screen shots of the real time ERCOT fuel mix (see below). A couple of things to note are that solar does not contribute at night and wind contributes more at night. It was a very cloudy and rainy day today so solar contributed less than normal during daytime, but not a lot less. It is not much less than the typical sunny day of 20%. It is true that wind and solar are intermittent, but it does not matter a whole lot because wind contributes more at night when solar does not contribute and battery storage, the most dispatchable energy source of all, is growing in importance.

Click here to watch the real-time ERCOT Fuel Mix minute by minute anytime you like. (highly recommended).

Wind is 40.5%, Natural Gas 38.8%, Power Storage 2.5% | ERCOT Fuel Mix
Fuel Mix on April 3rd 2025 at 8:00PM
Wind is 38.4%, Natural Gas 40.3%, Power Storage 0.7%
Fuel Mix on April 3rd 2025 at 10:00PM
Wind is 41.9%, Natural Gas 34.2%, Power Storage 0.4%
Fuel Mix on April 4th 2025, at 1:15AM
Wind is 43.7%, Natural Gas 32.7%, Power Storage 0.8% | ERCOT Fuel Mix
Fuel Mix on April 4th 2025, at 3:00AM
Wind is 31.5%, Natural Gas 31.0%, Power Storage 0.2%
Fuel Mix on April 4th 2025, at 12:35PM
Wind is 31.7%, Natural Gas 31.2%, Power Storage 0.2%
Fuel Mix on April 4th 2025, at 2:00PM
Wind is 32.7%, Natural Gas 34.3%, Power Storage 1.1%
Fuel Mix on April 4th 2025, at 4:00PM
Wind is 32.6%, Natural Gas 36.8%, Power Storage 0.8% | ERCOT Fuel Mix
Fuel Mix on April 4th 2025, at 5:30PM
Wind is 41.1%, Natural Gas 37.4%, Power Storage 0.2% | ERCOT Fuel Mix
Fuel Mix on April 4th 2025, at 9:30PM
Wind is 49.9%, Natural Gas 29.0%, Power Storage 0.0% | ERCOT Fuel Mix
Fuel Mix on April 4th 2025, at midnight
To see the Super Facts click here

Quick Easy Introduction to Astrophysics

The goal of this blog is to create a list of what I call super facts. Important facts that are known to be true and yet they are surprising, shocking or disputed among non-experts. In a sense it is myth busting. However, it is not the only type of posts I do. This is a review for a popular book on Astrophysics called “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry” by Neil De Grasse Tyson. It is a New York Times best seller and the #1 best seller in Astronomy & Astrophysics on Amazon. It has almost 37,000 ratings/reviews on Amazon and more 194,000 reviews/ratings on Goodreads.

Below is a list of the four formats in which it comes on Amazon.

  • Hardcover –  Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company; First Edition (May 2, 2017), ASIN : 0393609391, ISBN-10 : 9780393609394, ISBN-13 : 978-0393609394, 224 pages, item weight : 2.31 pounds, dimensions : ‎ 7.3 x 4.8 x 0.9 inches, it costs $6.21 – $13.26 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Kindle –  Publisher – W. W. Norton & Company (May 2, 2017), ASIN : B01MAWT2MO, 222 pages, it costs $9.00 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Audiobook –  Publisher : Blackstone Audio Inc (May 2, 2017), ASIN : B06XB2PX7G, it costs $10.20 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Audio CD –  Publisher : Blackstone Publishing; Unabridged edition (May 2, 2017), ISBN-10 : 1538408015, ISBN-13 : 978-1538408018, it costs $24.95 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
“Astrophysics for People in a Hurry” by Neil De Grasse Tyson front cover | Quick Easy Introduction to Astrophysics
Front cover of the book Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the hardcover version of the book.

Amazon’s Description of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

Over a year on the New York Times bestseller list and more than a million copies sold.

The essential universe, from our most celebrated and beloved astrophysicist.

What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There’s no better guide through these mind-expanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and best-selling author Neil deGrasse Tyson.

But today, few of us have time to contemplate the cosmos. So Tyson brings the universe down to Earth succinctly and clearly, with sparkling wit, in tasty chapters consumable anytime and anywhere in your busy day.

While you wait for your morning coffee to brew, for the bus, the train, or a plane to arrive, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry 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.

This is my four-star review for Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

The reason I gave the book four stars instead of five is because I felt that if you have an interest in the topic, you will have heard it all before. However, in retrospect that might not be a good reason to deduct a star. After all, the book seems to be targeting people who do not know much about the subject and thus will not have heard it all before.

Quick and Entertaining Overview of Astrophysics

I’ve read a number of Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s books and I love them. This book is a compressed version of what he has been explaining in other books. If you’ve already read a number of Neil De Grasse books, or perhaps other popular science Astrophysics books such as those by Stephen Hawking, you will not find much new in this book. However, I think it is a brief but good summary of Astrophysics written for a layman. It is 208 pages, each page having about half as much text per page as a typical popular science book. It is an easy and fairly quick read.

He briefly explains the Big Bang, physical laws, spectra, nebulae, the speed of light, very briefly relativity and quantum physics, the cosmic background radiation, galaxies, gravitational lensing, dark matter, dark energy, neutron stars, the composition of the solar system and exoplanets. He covers a lot of ground quickly and he makes it easy to understand without simplifying so much that it becomes misleading. This book is exactly what the title says. However, as I mentioned, if you’ve read a lot on the topic already, especially if it is Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s books, you’ve seen it before. I still think it was very enjoyable though and I still learned something new. He is a very entertaining author.

“Astrophysics for People in a Hurry” by Neil De Grasse Tyson back cover
Front cover of the book Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the hardcover version of the book.
To see the Super Facts click here