"So it goes."

As much as I liked this and learned from this, I can't imagine I'll remember much in even a week or two unless I buy a copy and decide to study astrophysics, which I don't plan on doing. So while I was promised a "foundational fluency," I don't really think I got the fluency part of it from one listen followed by one read of this short book.

I was easily able to keep up with things I already had some basis for, which turned out to be more of the mathematical side than the cosmology side. I learned some interesting facts about naming, history, some theories that I thought had more foundation than they do (multiverse.) I like the idea of just being a computer simulation. That would explain a lot.

Once we got into the Department of (more) Exotic Happenings, despite listening then reading intently, I was not really able to hold tightly to the concepts. I was once more impressed with Einstein for somehow knowing about the cosmological constant, despite jettisoning it and calling it the biggest blunder of his life. I really did stop to think about how smart he was to figure out, then put aside for lack of proof, something that would only have more evidence in 1998.

So while this was interesting, and it was told like a story (some of which is drawn from other Tyson essays or speeches I'd heard before,) it's not going to be easy to remember, and without careful study, I still lack that foundational fluency in astrophysics and cosmology.