Neil deGrasse Tyson keeps true to the promise of the title of his latest book, “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry.”

Like the universe prior to the Big Bang, he compresses the entirety of history within a small, compact volume that runs a brisk 200 pages. OK, that’s not fully correct; as Tyson explains, the universe was smaller than a pencil dot prior to the Big Bang. Much smaller.

But Tyson takes readers by the hands and leads them on a tour of everything from the Big Bang to the expansion of the universe millisecond by millisecond all before the first second has even been completed. He introduces dark matter and dark energy, the elements of the universe, the universal concepts of gravity and Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Tyson does it all in the same style that has made him a popular television/internet personality. He makes this heady stuff understandable (mostly) for non-scientists.

It’s a marvel of a read. He reinforces ideas many readers will recall from science classes while making other concepts far more easy to understand.

Though a short, instructive narrative, some readers may feel compelled to read over some passages more than once to better understand the concepts.

The book is for people in a hurry but it’s a place worth spending some time.