Stephen Hawking is a brilliant writer. Why is the universe the way it is? As a reader, such a vivid comparison makes the discussion of “sufficient gravitational attraction” seem a whole lot simpler and manageable to wrap your head around. Okay, so you still have no idea how any of it works, but that's alright. Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2019. I wish it was a little longer. ). It was first published in 1988. You, too, can become an accidental physicist! Was there the beginning of time? And the science stuff too. Mathematics was not available at University College, so he did Physics instead. Book Review. This is an absolutely magical book, both objectively and for me specifically. For the first time I think I "understand" why absolute time is not consistent with relativity theory or that space-time curvature supplants the notion of gravity, and for that I thank the author. A Brief History of Time › Customer reviews; Customer reviews. I remembered a huge number of the explanations, and the book resonated with the way I've thought about physics. By the time you reach quantum mechanics and string theory you almost feel like you know what's happening. It's great because it's simplistic and you don't need a scientific background to enjoy it. This book is so simple that even a lay person with basic knowledge of science can understand it. I first read it when I was about 9 or 10, and ever since I've assumed that I didn't understand a thing, and read it as a childish boast. When it was first released back in the early 1990s, Errol Morris’ A Brief History of Time was highly successful for a documentary, riding on the wave of popularity generated by Stephen Hawking’s book of the same name. This book, intended for an audience of general readers, provides an overview of physics from the astronomical to the subatomic level. The beauty of the book is that, though physics has evolved to such an extent that even physicists cannot completely grasp the concepts of physics, this book explains these highly complex principles in a simple manner. There are a few other things I believe I have a glimpse of having (finally) slogged through the book. I start to grasp the concepts and then they start slipping away. It boggles the mind. 4.4 out of 5 stars. Andrew Chrzanowski’s review published on Letterboxd: Where did the universe come from, and where is it going?" Stephen Hawking's goal in writing A Brief History of Time (first published in 1988) was to write an easily accessible book for layman with little or no prior scientific knowledge. I wasn't impressed. A Briefer History of Time is an updated version of Stephen’s A Brief History of Time. Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?”, Royal Society Science Book Prize Nominee for General Prize (1989). His parents' house was in north London, but during the second world war Oxford was considered a safer place to have babies. A brief history of time... What a fascinating book! It is not clear to me who is in the target audience for this book. Its author's engaging voice is one reason, and the compelling subjects he addresses is another; the nature of space and time, the role of God in creation, the history and future of the universe. His explanations of concepts in Astrophysics that I had found inexplicable were a lot clearer by the time I finished reading "A Brief History of Time. Tweet. In the ten years since its publication in 1988, Stephen Hawking's classic work has become a landmark volume in scientific writing, with more than nine million copies in forty languages sold worldwide. This page works best with JavaScript. 9,516 reviews. A Briefer History of Time is not only updated to include new material such as new developments in string theory, and new indications about a unified theory of physics, but it also attempts to simplify the concepts by shortening the length of the book and adding more illustrations. This is one of those "must read" books on physics for the average citizen that they can use to keep somewhat "in touch" with the science. However, I found that getting to the actual information was a boring and tedious process. ever wondered why time runs forwards instead of backwards or how the universe began, then this is a very accessible introduction to these complex concepts. Was there the beginning of time? I can see why it was a best seller worldwide because Stephen was a very entertaining and humorous writer. Cosmology is not an easy subject neither can everyone understand its deep connotations. Feb 17, 2019. Physics where we've been and where we're going. The passage before this comment became complicated and very confusing to follow, however, after reading that joke, I couldn’t help myself but to turn a few pages back and reread his theory – all of this to understand his clever remark. He has a good since of humor as he presents the constant struggles of the great thinkers of their time to correct the misconceptions of the status quo. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published Overall, if you're really interested in what Steven Hawking had to say, or what almost every scientist has had to say about the universe, buy this book! A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes is a book on theoretical cosmology by English physicist Stephen Hawking. Beginning with the relative basics of discoveries in the past centuries, Stephen Hawking explains in great detail the logic and reasoning behind the evolution of the human understanding of the universe. Not really; it's easier to write a brief history of time – all 14bn years – and Harari also spends many pages on our present and possible future rather than our past. As renowned physicist Stephen Hawking once described in A Brief History of Time, the ultimate goal of science is essentially a quest for establishing a single unifying theory of everything.It is an objective but also deeply personal journey for the best possible explanation of the entire universe. Physicist Stephen Hawking wrote a wonderful book on cosmology in 1988, A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes. Watched Jan 01, 2020. Like many of the books I pick up, I read a bit of the beginning and tacked the title onto my never-ending ‘to-read’ list (too many books, too little time! Supposedly his editor told him that “each equation [he included] in the book would cut the sales in half.” True to form, the book is filled with plain English explanations of theoretical concepts, but very few equations. This book puts me in mind of the story about how a Harvard number theorist, through some malfunction of the scheduling computer, got assigned to teach an introductory course in pre-calculus. So comprehensive, yet written in laymens terms and cranking up the technical information with each chapter, so you don't feel completely lost. Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time was originally published in 1988, but I am reviewing the 2017 ebook edition, which includes an updated afterword. Its aim is not just listing some topics, but introducing modern physics by examining current scientific answers, although not complete, to fundamental questions like: Where did we come from? That edition was on the cutting edge of what was then known about the origins and nature of the universe. Highly readable and even comical, it is a superb read. 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