Welcome to the Universe: An Astrophysical Tour

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars | 1,240 ratings

Price: 29.95

Last update: 02-03-2025


About this item

Welcome to the Universe is a personal guided tour of the cosmos by three of today's leading astrophysicists. Inspired by the enormously popular introductory astronomy course that Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michael A. Strauss, and J. Richard Gott taught together at Princeton, this book covers it all - from planets, stars, and galaxies to black holes, wormholes, and time travel.

Describing the latest discoveries in astrophysics, the informative and entertaining narrative propels you from our home solar system to the outermost frontiers of space. How do stars live and die? Why did Pluto lose its planetary status? What are the prospects of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe? How did the universe begin? Why is it expanding, and why is its expansion accelerating? Is our universe alone or part of an infinite multiverse? Answering these and many other questions, the authors open your eyes to the wonders of the cosmos, sharing their knowledge of how the universe works.

Breathtaking in scope, Welcome to the Universe is for those who hunger for insights into our evolving universe that only world-class astrophysicists can provide.


Top reviews from the United States

  • Linda
    5.0 out of 5 stars 470 Pages of Astrophysics for the Layman!
    Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2021
    This is a wonderfully written book for someone who is interested in astrophysics, but does not have the knowledge to understand more technical books that are written for physicists. Three authors have contributed to this book, all prominent astrophysicists. I just received my copy, with its beautiful dust jacket, and couldn’t wait to start reading it! The first section of the book is written by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, who offers us a humorous approach to the vast subject of the universe. I only started reading the book yesterday, so I can’t as yet review the other authors, but from what I can tell by gleaning over the pages, it is impressive!
    I had originally been considering buying the audiobook version, but after reading comments that it was very difficult to understand “mathematical equations read out loud”, I decided to go for the printed version instead. I am so glad I did! As you can tell by my photos of a few sections of the book, there are color illustrations and diagrams, math equations, etc, that simply could not be relayed by words. Even if some pdf files are included with the audiobook version, I doubt that you would receive the quantity and quality of the illustrations in the actual physical book. I bought a “Used, Very Good” copy from Amazon Prime, but I would label it “Used, Like New.” It’s a pristine copy, dust jacket in mint condition! At $10.49, it was a bargain, considering that the book originally sold for $39.95, as shown on the inside of the cover!
    This book will offer you hours of fascinating information about the universe!
    Customer image
    Linda
    5.0 out of 5 stars 470 Pages of Astrophysics for the Layman!
    Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2021
    This is a wonderfully written book for someone who is interested in astrophysics, but does not have the knowledge to understand more technical books that are written for physicists. Three authors have contributed to this book, all prominent astrophysicists. I just received my copy, with its beautiful dust jacket, and couldn’t wait to start reading it! The first section of the book is written by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, who offers us a humorous approach to the vast subject of the universe. I only started reading the book yesterday, so I can’t as yet review the other authors, but from what I can tell by gleaning over the pages, it is impressive!
    I had originally been considering buying the audiobook version, but after reading comments that it was very difficult to understand “mathematical equations read out loud”, I decided to go for the printed version instead. I am so glad I did! As you can tell by my photos of a few sections of the book, there are color illustrations and diagrams, math equations, etc, that simply could not be relayed by words. Even if some pdf files are included with the audiobook version, I doubt that you would receive the quantity and quality of the illustrations in the actual physical book. I bought a “Used, Very Good” copy from Amazon Prime, but I would label it “Used, Like New.” It’s a pristine copy, dust jacket in mint condition! At $10.49, it was a bargain, considering that the book originally sold for $39.95, as shown on the inside of the cover!
    This book will offer you hours of fascinating information about the universe!
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  • weston
    5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome to the Universe
    Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2017
    This is an interesting book, both in its content and in its concept. Three prominent astrophysicists have written a textbook on the subject of astrophysics for students at Princeton with little or no prior training in the physics and math upon which the subject is based. Based on the success of the course, the book is now being marketed to the general reading public, which is a noble experiment. I have a lifetime of prior experience in the type of math and physics upon which astrophysics is based, but no experience of applying that math and physics to the problems discussed in this book. I can imagine that a Princeton student, given some examples and some exercises (not included in the book), could work through most of the math at the level discussed, and the subject is sufficiently interesting to motivate them to do so (I found myself wanting to do this.) With my background, I could understand how it should be possible to work through the calculations that they described to “measure” the composition and temperatures of stars, the distances to distant galaxies, etc. However, I suspect that readers without at least a BS in Physics sort of background will feel that they are being asked to take a lot on faith, despite the authors’ efforts to the contrary. However, this is a breathtaking and profusely illustrated story of how stars and planets and galaxies are formed, evolve and die, of how the (perhaps multiple) universe is expanding, of the necessity of “dark” matter/energy, of the implications of relativity, the geometry of space-time and of how we have determined all of this.
  • Jack Terpstra
    4.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable book, fizzles at the end.
    Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2024
    A wonderful and challenging read for non-scientists (such as myself). Getting just slightly dated, but that’s print media vs a rapidly developing field. Tyson, Strauss, and Gott achieve making this material digestible if you have just a little background reading in the subjects and are willing to put in the work.
    My only complaint is the end, in which Gott goes off on a bit of a tangent of opinions and conjecture, including a bit of Elon worship. I wonder if he would still back these statements today. Opinions are fine, but ending a textbook (which this is) like this is a real let down; like running a marathon to spend the last .2 miles in a swamp. Still, the journey is worth it and the rest of the book is certainly worth your time if you’re looking for a firmer grasp on things.
    Customer image
    Jack Terpstra
    4.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable book, fizzles at the end.
    Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2024
    A wonderful and challenging read for non-scientists (such as myself). Getting just slightly dated, but that’s print media vs a rapidly developing field. Tyson, Strauss, and Gott achieve making this material digestible if you have just a little background reading in the subjects and are willing to put in the work.
    My only complaint is the end, in which Gott goes off on a bit of a tangent of opinions and conjecture, including a bit of Elon worship. I wonder if he would still back these statements today. Opinions are fine, but ending a textbook (which this is) like this is a real let down; like running a marathon to spend the last .2 miles in a swamp. Still, the journey is worth it and the rest of the book is certainly worth your time if you’re looking for a firmer grasp on things.
    Images in this review
    Customer image
  • Chris
    5.0 out of 5 stars Astrophysics for the uninitiated ... not to be missed.
    Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2016
    This is an extremely well done book. The authors are to be particularly commended for excellent coordination between topics, referencing each other across chapters. Given the breadth of the topics, the effort to insure integration and coherence is notable.

    Starting with "astronomy 101", recounting history and discoveries to provide understanding of 'how we got to the present', the book moves from the solar system outward ... finally to the cosmology of the universe. At the start concepts are elemental, imparting knowledge many with interest in astronomy learned in early years. As the story grows more complicated, astronomy becomes astrophysics with authors incorporating necessary physics background. There are extensive discussions on aspects of galactic structure, star types, stellar evolution. Later, in the book there are select chapters on special relativity, general relativity, black holes, time travel. It is a seemingly whirlwind tour, but one well designed and described. The authors have taken great pains (and succeeded) in helping us understand what they have learned about the universe and associated complex physics.

    As a grade school child, I became fascinated with astronomy, encouraged by a Cal Tech aeronautical engineer neighbor who was similarly attracted. Not having joined the astrophysics family, reading this book rekindled the old interest. On a higher level anyone pondering the core existential questions lacks adequate knowledge without a grasp of the nature of our universe. This is a good volume from which to find that knowledge. Bravo!

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