Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

How it reads

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry is narrative nonfiction (popular science, specifically), and its dominant mood is hopeful. Whatever it puts its people through, it believes things can get better. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in several locations, in the present day, told in the first person by a single narrator. Its central concerns are nature, identity and art and creativity. In weight it's light and escapist — easy to fall into.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending resolves happily. At 223 pages it's a quick read. It's a mega-bestseller — the book everyone seems to have read.