Two excellent science writers collaborated on this book. The title describes the overall theme quite well; the origin of the universe, galaxies, stars, elements, solar systems, planets, and life. The last chapter discusses the search for extra-terrestrial life.Some of the chapters are imbued with a fun sense of humor--while others are lacking in humor, though still well-written. I wonder if the reason is that and each author tackled entire chapters, so each chapter represents the style of its au...

“However, every advance in our knowledge of the cosmos has revealed that we live on a cosmic speck of dust, orbiting a mediocre star in the far suburbs of a common sort of galaxy, among a hundred billion galaxies in the universe. The news of our cosmic unimportance triggers impressive defense mechanisms in the human psyche.” A short personal note: Forget hot actors and actresses, singers, models. If I had the chance to meet a famous person I'd totally go for Neil deGrasse Tyson. Or Michio Ka

I’m buying this on audible!!!! I love science, if I was reborn I’d definitely be some form of scientist. Not that I know all the terminology, far from it! However, I feel like the repetitiveness of listening to these types of books will one day make it stick to my brain!

Ah, this reminds me of this Gemini Syndrome song ~"Look at the wakeFrom the stardust pouring from your eyesIt's no mistakeYou are perfectYou are perfect in my mindAnd you won't fade away"However, the fact is you might be just as insignificant as anything else out there. And you might wonder why there had to be all these bigbang, formation of stars, planetary systems, galaxies, why the simplest of atoms had to come into being and fuse themselves into others, and why after all there is this Earth

Origins was a surprisingly easy and enjoyable read. I think that Neil deGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith chose an excellent theme in deciding to write this book through the lens of beginnings. This focus allowed them to cover the basics of everything from the origins of the universe to the beginning of life on earth and beyond in a concise and coherent narrative that expertly shifts the reader's focus between the everyday sensory world, the unimaginably large scale of the galaxies, and the infi...

'Origins' is the best explanatory introduction to the formation and evolution of the Cosmos I have read! Co-author Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist and co-author Donald Goldsmith is an astronomy writer, and in my opinion, they make a good team. The book is the most coherently arranged science book on this subject I have ever tried.It has five parts:Part I: The Origin of the UniversePart II: The Origin of Galaxies and Cosmic StructurePart III: The Origin of StarsPart IV: The Origin of Pla...

Me when I finished the book---Part 1: Origin of the universeIf you ever saw our earth -the complete photo- or the the Milky Way and wonderd how it became like this? why it look like this? HOW we reached this point? THEN this book will answer you, it may not answer you fully since there are questions until now scientist couldn't answer."knowing where you came from is no less important than knowing where you are going"---Part 2,3,4: The origin of the GalaxiesStarsPlanets---The final parts: Life o...

I'm not actually finishing this book. I refuse. The way it's written is so off-putting. It's redundant and smarmy. The authors explained the "photon fog" condition of the early universe fully three times on one page and then again in the next chapter. They also managed to take shots at religion, sci-fi, and non-scientists all within the first 50 pages. And the info that they're writing about isn't even that ground-breaking; they appear to be covering theories that have been around for at least t...

In the beginning, something something something happened. Here is something that sort of resembles math describing it. Here are some Greek letters, you remember those, right? Here is a confusing analogy for it. And finally, here is an attempt at a joke that makes you cringe.That's how I'm afraid I will remember "Origins", which I think is a shame. I like NDT, I enjoyed the PBS Nova special, and I've always been fascinated by astronomy, physics, and cosmology. The book, however, is a bit of a dis...

Astrophysics for people with way too much time on their hands.Tyson’s passion for science is contagious, but after reading “Origins” I feel as though I just audited Astronomy 101 at Princeton. This might be deeper academic water than anyone with a mere passing interest in planetary science would like to tread. Still, the chapters on Dark Matter and Dark Energy are the most clear, most concise explanations of cosmic theory that I have ever read. This is my sixth NdGT book, he hasn’t disappointed

In a book that is supposed to be about origins, Tyson gets on the bus at the first stop rather than at the beginning. He says that in the beginning there was physics. Okay. Where did the laws and constants found in physics come from? What a cop out!

I wish that I could rate this book higher. I really like Neil deGrasse Tyson, and I really like this subject, but this book was... not great for me. Maybe it was the fact that I did the audio rather than reading it with my own eyeballs, but it just didn't work for me. I found the technicality off-putting. It was hard for me to focus on this book when there are just random facts and figures being thrown at my ears. I've read quite a few science books this year, and they were all interesting and e...

We shall not cease from explorationAnd the end of all our exploringWill be to arrive where we startedAnd know the place for the first time . . . -- T. S. Eliot, 1942Hardly any scientific discoveries of the past century have flowed from the direct application of our senses. They came instead from the direct application of the sense-transcendent mathematics and hardware. This simple fact explains why, to the average person, relativity, particle physics, and eleven-dimensional string theory make no...

Almost all of my stars on this one is for the ease for which Tyson explains the cosmos, the clarity, and the breadth of astrophysics itself.The one star that's missing is just because it's all stuff I've read before. :) In other words, it's great if you're looking for an introductory and nearly math-less course on everything from the Big Bang to the formation of the planets to the building blocks and observed results of our search for extra-terrestrial life.That's it. It's a great refresher, too...

Excellent just as I expected. Simple writing and fascinating - briefly about all the main issues concerning space, possibility of an extraterrestrial life and our place in the universe + the cherry on top - funny ironical comments.

DeGrasse Tyson and Goldsmith give us a wide ranging look at the beginning of everything: The universe, galaxies, stars, planets, even life itself. They discuss a myriad of topics such as: The Big Bang and cosmic inflation; how the elements are made; the structure and composition of the universe; the likelihood of alien life. With this extensive scope in a relatively short book nothing is covered in depth. For the science enthusiast who has read similar books there isn’t much new. Still I enjoyed...

When a book with the title Origins: 14 Billion Yeas of Cosmic Evolution, starts with an opening line “In the beginning, there was physics”, and is written by NDT the man himself, you cant go wrong with it. An extraordinary story needs an extraordinary story-teller, and NDT is no ordinary human - does an exceptional job translating the modern understanding of astrophysics to normal language. Its the ultimate origins story told - from origin of the universe at the moment of creation (10^-43 second...

So, this is the book that got me obsessed with the possibility of life in our own solar system, being Jupiters moons - and most importantly, Europa. It goes into detail about how the moons of Jupiter have a liquid, salty ocean that have all the ingredients for life, we just need to get there! This is a GREAT book about the history of everything. I would put it on par and along the same lines of Short History of Nearly Everything, and A Brief History of Time. All of these are great books, but I'd...

It takes a lot for me to read nonfiction, I just don’t find it as enjoyable unless it’s a subject that I’m really interested in. I’ve always liked science, and Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Astrophysics For People in a Hurry was pretty good so I decided to pick this one up. It was also good, though still a very dry read. It was interesting to read about the the makeup of the universe, as well as it’s creation. And if you’re interested in this subject, you’ll probably really enjoy this book. But it’s usu...

Full review: http://wp.me/p7a9pe-4VNeil deGrasse Tyson is one of my favorite smart people in the whole world. He has written numerous books on astrophysics and science in general, narrated the incredible science documentary TV show "Cosmos," leads the "StarTalk Radio" podcast, and does a million other things that help and enrich our world.