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A Brief History of Time
Stephen Hawking Average Rating: 
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| Customer Reviews 1-5 of 355 | NEXT >> |
2008-12-12Very informative and fun to read. Gets a little hard to understand at times because what Hawking is trying to explain is not trivial at all, but he does a great job at explaining it.
2008-12-04This book provides an excelllent description of the history of physics and the current status of physics. Hawking is quite good at making extremly complicated subjects (such as quantum theory) comprehensible for the average person, although some topics could have been explained a bit better. It is also quite intresting to be reading it from Hawking's perspective because he adds a personel touch to the subject and often includes details about his own research in certain areas of physics. The book often talks about God / a creator and how it might tie in with the beggining of the universe and other aspects of physics, but Hawking never shows any bias towards or against religion; he only talks about it in a purely scientific manner (for example, he explains why some scientific theories about the beggining of the universe actualy need a creator in order for them to make sense).
Overall it was a very intresting read and I highly recomend it.
2008-12-02This is a popular science classic that cannot be left outside any general astronomy/physics bookshelf.
Dr. Hawking explains, with the mastery of an able writer, the history and stucture of the known universe, non-euclidean geometry, the laws of the small and of the large, the laws and fate of stars, black holes and singularities, and the very matter that builds us. It finishes with an argumentation about time, following the second law of thermodynamics, and mixing it with information theory (though not explicitly stated).
I personelly love this book and, in my oppinion, its a star (of the popular science books), as the material it is built from used to be.
2008-10-16This book absolutely recreates the wonder I felt looking at the stars as a child. Stephen Hawking has a knack like no other I have read in the science world of transporting the reader to a realm of humbling amazement and possibilty. Pure genius bubbling over with dry humor that will never fail to raise a smile as your senses burn with curiosity for our elegant and beautiful universe. I've had this book for years but it is still a favorite that I can't wait to share with my own son.
2008-10-14Stephen Hawking, one of the greatest contamporary physicists explores in a very intresting and informative way the unresolved riddles about the universe and the stucture of particals, energy, time, gravity, various forces in the universe, god and their relationship with one another. His approach is both scientific and philisophical raising questions about the meaning of human existance in the universe. Although quite detailled the questions raised and alternative explanations offered are appealing both to the amateur and the professional. Stephen Hawking approachs the fundametal issues from many aspects including Newtonian physics, Special and General Relativity of Einstein, Quantum physics, string theory etc. He compares the diffrent approachs, explains how they arose historically and the quest for a unified theory of the universe. Of course he devotes a lot of time to the primary issue of the creation and possable end of the universe. His treatment of matter and antimatter are especially intresting. I had read the book many years ago, recently I listened to the audio CD. I recomend both as a rich source of knowlege about these topics from a leading scientist on these issues.
I also recomend The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Green which is also a very intresting exploration of the same issues.
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| Editorial Review |
A Brief History of Time, published in 1988, was a landmark volume in science writing and in world-wide acclaim and popularity, with more than 9 million copies in print globally. The original edition was on the cutting edge of what was then known about the origins and nature of the universe. But the ensuing years have seen extraordinary advances in the technology of observing both the micro- and the macrocosmic world--observations that have confirmed many of Hawking's theoretical predictions in the first edition of his book.
Now a decade later, this edition updates the chapters throughout to document those advances, and also includes an entirely new chapter on Wormholes and Time Travel and a new introduction. It make vividly clear why A Brief History of Time has transformed our view of the universe.
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