I finished listening to Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson, narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson on my Audible app.
It was both interesting and humbling for this non-mathematician! I have surely forgotten more of its details than I absorbed. I think two more listens would help me feel a smidge smarter.
Try Audible and get it free: [audible.com]
I enjoy Tyson’s enthusiasm but don’t accept the opening paragraph in his Cosmology for People in a Hurry:
In the beginning, nearly fourteen billion years ago, all the space and all the matter and all the energy of the known universe was contained in a volume less than one-trillionth the size of the period that ends this sentence.
Using the biggest hammer you have, try crushing a piece of gravel into so small a volume. Then, with another hammer, try crushing your first hammer into that same small volume.
Did he intend readers to accept it?
I don't begin to understand how anyone believes thay can calculate such mass and dimensions, but aside from that, the general idea is intriguing, as matter as we know it was not even formed. Your analogy of the hammers is off, it seems, because we would still be contending with trying to compress fully formed molecules. And the scope of gravitational pressure involved is unfathobable.
Is there a youtube for it?
Apparently so, though I paid for it through my monthly audiobook subscription.
I borrowed this book from my daughter who has a degree in microbiology and went to law school, and now works as an IT person. She bought it to read on a business trip with a couple of airport layovers. I enjoyed it, I can't say I understood all of it, but it laid things out very simply and logically. When I returned it to my daughter she says, "Oh yeah, I was wondering where that got to!"
Felt the same way after reading Hawking's book, A Brief History of Time. Completely frazzled brain.
I have that on in my Kindle que but haven't gotten around to it.
It took me 2 attempts to get through the Hawking book. Tyson's is easier to digest.