The Science Classic Made More Accessible - A Briefer History of Time

[...]

The Metaparaphysics Philosophic Theory (TMPT) Discovery, Is The Unifying Sole Theory , with its Knowledgeable Concept(s) - ever existed in Human History - towards helping man and humanity to Consciencely Comprehend The Universal Factual Realities:
May 21, 2014 at 8:29am

The well known scientist Stephen Hawking - In His Book Brief History of Time - seems has been going on and on to describe how there are four fundamental forces in nature ; as what we call gravity, the well-known electromagnetic force, the weak nuclear force that binds orbits of electrons KLMNOPQ to the nucleus in every atom, and the strong nuclear force(s) that hold(s) the sub-atomic particles ( neutrons, positrons , neutrinos , Positrinos ..etc.) within the nucleus of an atom altogether. The Relativity theory with its equations - proposed by Albert Einstein may explain only the first three. but So far, theoretical physicists have not been able to come up with a needed profound theory that unifies the strong nuclear force with the other three. As Hawking points out, the effort to do so has been the focus of theoretical physics within the last fifty years.

In Hawking’s concluding remarks, he offered his own insight(s) into what the future may be like once a ‘Unified Theory of the Universe’ is finally discovered.

The intertwined histories of scientific discovery and of religion are the story of our human trial(s) to comprehend or to simply understand our universe consciously; both Logically and Ontologically - in relation - to our knowledgeable factual reality: using our Human Conscienceness , Sub-Conscienceness and Un-Conscienceness as an existing reality and knowledge at the same time.

Surecracy - with Its (TMPT) Theory - has presented such a unifying and profound knowledgeable approach; with its dynamic , interactive and even integrated insight within Human Conscienceness involving both Human Intellect (logic) and Psycho-moral (Ontologic) in order to accommodate such an existing knowledge which represents the paradigm of the universal factual realities. Here such a fundamental conceptual subject matter might simply be comprehended - in Surecracy and its Theory - by the presence four fields of knowledge and/or dimensions including: Science , Philosophy, Religion and the belief in the sole creator being called and/or described as GOD / Allah. where Physical , Meta-physical and the Para-physical fields of knowledge are actually co-existing, overlapping with its circles and are interacting as well as reacting altogether through three scientific defined mechanisms: The Spontaneous Chain Reaction Mechanism(s) , The Negative Loop Feedback Mechanism(s) and The Competition Mechanism(s) ; all within both Material(s) and Energy of such a dynamically interactive existence(s) with its various energy levels as well as outside its relative boundaries including our Moralo-psycho- intellectual existence(s), knowledge and co-existence(s) in such an identified factual reality.

Surecracy also has also identified within its Meta-paraphysics Philosophic Theory ( TMPT) a specific role/rule of philosophy as knowledge that must act integro-dynamically - as a function of time - in between science and religion; a matter which seem more than crucial and/or important in both history of Science and Universal Descending Monotheistic Religion(s).

In Conclusion:

There is no doubt that such a Surecratic Approach and/or Knowledge which is/are presented here in Our ( TMPT) Theory , seems extremely useful, Even Practical , balanced and unifying the human understanding - in depth - to the coexisting universal factual realities; in and out of our materialistic - energetic bio-bodies as well as within our Moralo-psycho-intellectual conscienceness with its profound Psycho-moral (Soul) as both are being considered - in surecracy - interconnected , harmonized and integrally Interacting , acting and Reacting as cumulative knowledge and as an existence at the same time ..!

Untill Today both Theorists and Experimental Physicists seem still to have two conceptual / fundamental scientific problems not only regarding what Hawking has described above as a difficulty regarding a quadri-dimensional unifying an accommodating theory, explanatory to strong nuclear force(s) that hold(s) the sub-atomic particles within the nucleus of an atom altogether but also to provide us as well with a seriously needed explanation in light(s) of the relativity and the quantum physics Theories: How ENERGY (Before The Big Bang in both physics and astronomy ) - as the basis of all material(s) - CAN BE CREATED and/or BE BROUGHT and/or ORIGINATES FROM NOTHIG / NULL ..?!
...
Sherif Abdel-Kerim,
B.Sc. & M.Sc. Pharm.,
A Scientist, A Modern Philosopher and A Contemporary Political Ideologue
Founder of Surecracy
and Establisher Of The International Surecratic Movement
Calgary - Canada.

Great book. Look, this is not easy stuff to grasp, but it's worth it. No such thing as absolute motion or location or time?? Phew, the universe and its origins and makeup are complicated and counterintuitive. That's why its so much easier to posit supernatural explanations. But Einstein was right. Motion and location and time are all relative, and if GPS satellites weren't corrected for Relativity they'd be inaccurate. So gravity is not an attraction of two items, its a warping of space/time. This is better than science fiction. Its more interesting, more mind blowing and true.

then you don't understand it well enough.

Based on this idea, Professor Hawking must have the subject under control. Like many people I read this book based on its reputation. I doubt that many people wake up one day and think that a nice spot of cosmology would be in order. Happily there was no disappointment. What I got from this book was an insight into a wonderful topic that would be largely inaccessible otherwise. How could someone ask for more - a view of what makes all existence tick.

Sadly, I can't critique this book on the validity of it's substance - that is well beyond my experience and understanding. I suspect though that if you were in that position there would be no need for you to read this book anyway. Based on Professor Hawking's CV though I would be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Don't believe though that you won't find some parts of this book complicated and quite astounding. There were a number of parts that made me stop and think, and then re-read and then stop and think again - with a number of parts getting several repeats of this process. If we don't start somewhere though then we won't learn anything. With that in mind I think the lay person will be in for some great thought exercises.

This is a pretty quick read though - a good afternoon and evening will take care of it for many people but for mine it's a book I look forward to re-reading as I am sure my comprehension of many concepts presented would be superficial (at best - given the topic). Overall, I think that because a number of the concepts are presented in an almost philosophical fashion, it enables comprehension of some fantastic topics and makes for a fun and interesting read.

This is a short, easy read that gives a brief overview of the major themes found in relativity theory, quantum mechanics, big bang cosmology, and string theory. Many understandable examples and illustrations are provided to help the reader understand the difficult and lofty ideas that the author attempts to convey.

Although it is now common knowledge that the earth is round, it can sometimes be difficult to think of some reasons why this would be true that you could give to a skeptic. The author gives some good observable evidence why one might believe that the earth is round, as opposed to flat. For example, the fact that when the earth is between the moon and the sun, the shape of the earth's shadow on the sun is always a disk. If the earth was a flat disk, we would expect to sometimes see a disk, but other times to see an elongated circle or ellipse. These kinds of little observable phenomena that anyone can see I find interesting.

The author should stick to physics as opposed to metaphysics or questions concerning religion. For example, towards the beginning of the book, the author seems to admit that if all can be explained by science, then determinism is true and hence, there is no reason to think that the conclusions we come up with are the correct ones because they have all been determined. However, he tries to get out of this mess by claiming that according to Darwinian evolution, we should have developed higher congnative faculties which are good for knowledge. This is an absurd claim, as not only does it not at all address the question of determinism, but also has been shown by Plantinga's evolutionary argument against naturalism to be seriously flawed. However, the point of the author discussing this made even less sense to me when he began discussing how things work at the quantum level (can only have a probability distribution for where a particle is at any given time rather than absolute certainty) and how Laplace's idea of determinism has been disproven because of said quantum phenomena. So that whole discussion at the beginning rather confused me.

There were many fascinating things that the author discussed in a way that was easy for a layman to understand and which had "real world" applications. For example, the author discusses how the further you are from the center of the earth, the less of an impact gravity has on you. According to Einstein's theory of relativity, this also turns out to affect how you understand time so that you and someone much further from the earth's surface experience time differently. A very practical application that the author then mentions is that of GPS systems and how if we did not take general relativity and the time contraction into account when designing the satellites used in GPS navigation, that it would be way noticeably off. Another "popular" science phenomena that the author was able to make sense of was black holes and supernova. It was interesting to learn the relationship between gravity, mass, and black holes.

This book is based on a classic in the popular science arena, and as such, is definitely worth reading.

For as simple as Hawking was supposed to present the complicated theoretical physics concepts, at times I still found myself as confused as Adam on Mother's Day. Dr. Hawking's work is caught between a rock and a hard place in "A Brief History of Time" and the subsequent "The Universe in a Nutshell"; he provides neither the technical language to satisfy the experienced readers, nor the sufficiently simplified rhetoric to appeal to the uninitiated. Not to worry as the theories and supporting arguments in both books can still satisfy the curiosity of the inexperienced, and his celebrity status in the world of physics keeps the experienced audience engaged.

There is one update to this book not mentioned, and that is, Hawking eventually admits that he was wrong about his theory of loss of information in black holes. This idea of his had put him at odds with many theoretical physicists. Instead, he puts forth the unproven theory that information in a black hole is transferred to a parallel universe. Unfortunately, time may not permit Hawking to complete his work on the proof or supporting evidence of this important theory. His terminal illness appears to be finally catching up to him. I wish him well and thank him for his important contributions to the science of understanding the universe.

Despite its shortcomings, A Brief History of Time succeeds in shedding light on the mysteries of the creation of the universe at the point of singularity, what happened subsequently, and what may or may not transpire in the future. Hawking discusses in length Einstein's general theory of relativity, quantum mechanics and the attempt to combine these into a grand unified theory, a lofty goal that has eluded theoretical physicists to date.

Having one of the most brilliant minds in the world, Stephen Hawking continues to amaze the world with his scientific explanations of all Creation.

In this shortened, more readable/accessible version of their book, A Brief History of Time, Hawking and Mlodinow once again probe the nature of space and time. Written for the general public, this effort is a successful attempt to target pockets of interest within that market. Two such areas are "relativity" and "curved space." In the process, however, Hawking and Mlodinow have actually expanded some of their explanations in order for them to be more easily understood.

New, colorful graphics are an excellent addition and short, enticing chapter titles, like "Newton's Universe", "Wormholes and Time Travel", and "Quantum Gravity", quickly draw the reader into what the authors have to offer. But if you are a veteran student of this subject matter, you may not find anything new.

Questions about the universe have intrigued intelligent individuals throughout human existence. Luckily for our time, these questions are no longer confined to the realm of philosophy and speculation. Science has come a long way and may now provide basic answers to these questions. Unluckily, answers given by science are usually too technical to be understood by anyone but a small population of experts. This created a need for simplified texts targeted to the general population. Of course those texts can't wish to provide more than a general appreciation of modern scientific theories making many of them rather superficial. On the other hand, delving in the details would do nothing but put off most readers. Achieving balance between clarity and detail is therefore the hallmark of a good general science book.

This book by Stephen Hawking is certainly one of the most remarkable books in this category; definitely a classic! It is informative, clear, easy to follow and a whole lot of fun to read. The book sacrifices detail for simplicity making it ideal for people with little or no background. Nevertheless, there is enough detail to keep the more informed reader interested.

The authors' goal of making the book as "brief" as possible came with heavy sacrifices. First: some topics needed more explanation to make them accessible to the uninitiated reader. Second: many interesting topics related to quantum mechanics and string theory were not mentioned. I would have preferred if they opted for writing "a more detailed" history of time rather than "a briefer" one. That said, the books still accomplishes a lot for its size and the minor amount of time one has to spend to get through it.

BOTTOM LINE: If you are looking for a first book on the implications of modern physics on our understanding of the universe, I can't recommend this one more. If you have read similar books in the last five years, I can't see much that this book can offer.

This CD set takes you on a rip-roaring paced tour through the development of cosmology over the last 500 years. In four fast hours, the genius Hawking ties it all together, answering many questions, but asking about 100 more. The fascinating history of how humans have advanced theories of how the universe works is so much fun to listen to. It is awe-inpsiring how some of the early scientists figured out so much, yet it feels like as humans, we have only a grain of sand of knowledge compared to the beach that's out there. If you're old enough to remember the "Billions and billions" of Carl Sagan, and how he brought science to the masses, you need to listen to this generation's genius, Stephen Hawking.

(As far as the audio edition goes, I like this one better than the other Hawking audio programs because it is read by a human reader instead of Hawking's weird computer voice.)

Thought-provoking, mind-bending, yet 90% of it is accessible to us mere mortals.

+++++

"In this book are lucid revelations on the frontiers of physics, astronomy, cosmology [the study of the universe as a whole], and courage [Dr. Stephen Hawking has ALS, also called Lou Gehrig's disease or motor neuron disease contracted when he was young and now is wheelchair bound]. This is also a book about God...or perhaps about the absence of God. The word God fills these pages. Hawking embarks on a quest to answer Einstein's famous question about whether God had any choice in creating the universe. Hawking is attempting, as he explicitly states, to understand the mind of God. And this makes all the more unexpected the conclusion of the effort, at least so far: a universe with no edge in space, no beginning or end in time, and nothing for a Creator to do."

These are the words in the last paragraph of the introduction to Hawking's very first or original book "A Brief History of Time" (1988). These words were written by the late, great Dr. Carl Sagan. (In his introduction, Sagan calls Hawking a "legend.")

Nothing has changed with this new book with respect to what Sagan says above. But as a reader of Hawking's first book, I did notice welcome changes.

First, this new book is more concise. This does not mean this book is drastically shorter than the original. This new book is about twenty pages less than the original. Also this new book contains one more chapter than the original! What this book does is cut out extraneous technical detail from the original and focuses only on the most important concepts but still maintains the essence of the original. Thus, the book seems much more concise.

Next, and this is very important, this book is more accessible. The important concepts mentioned above, I found, are explained much more clearly thus increasing this book's readability in order to achieve Hawking's (and collaborator Leonard Mlodinow's) goal: "to share some of the excitement of...[scientific] discoveries, and the new picture of reality that is emerging as a result."

Third, this book is illustrated throughout with color illustrations. Actually, the original book was also illustrated but the new illustrations are, I feel, more easier to grasp. (I only have a complaint with the first illustration in this new book because it doesn't illustrate the point it's trying to make.)

Finally, this book is actually updated with respect to the latest theoretical and observational results! For example, this book describes recent progress that's been made in finding a complete unified theory of all the forces of physics and describes the progress made in string theory (technically called superstring theory). Observational material comes from the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite and by the Hubble Space Telescope. Thus, even though I read the original book, I still learned much from this book.

As with the original book, this book contains a helpful glossary and an appendix briefly outlining the lives of Albert Einstein (1879 to 1955), Galileo (1564 to 1642), and Sir Isaac Newton (1642 to 1727). (Notice that Newton was born in the same year Galileo died. Hawking was born in 1942, three hundred years after the death of Galileo.)

Here are the names of the chapter titles:

(1) Thinking about the universe.

(2) Our evolving picture of the universe (Discussion of Galileo starts here.)

(3) The nature of scientific theory.

(4) Newton's universe.

(5) Relativity. (Discussion of Einstein starts here.)

(6) Curved space.

(7) The expanding universe.

(8) The Big Bang, black holes, and the evolution of the universe. (It is thought that the Big Bang is how the universe began. A black hole is a region of space or more correctly space-time, where nothing, not even light can escape, because gravity is so strong.)

(9) Quantum Gravity. (This is a theory that merges quantum mechanics that is a theory that deals with the very small with general relativity that is a theory of the very large and that incorporates gravity.)

(10) Wormholes and time travel. (A wormhole is theoretically a thin tube of space or space-time connecting distant regions of the universe.)

(11) The forces of nature and the unification of gravity. (The forces of nature are electromagnetism, the weak force of radioactivity, the strong force that binds the atomic nucleus together, and gravity. The first three forces can be combined or unified but gravity seems to stand on its own.)

(12) Conclusion. (Last words in this chapter: "then we would know the mind of God.")

Finally, this book is not referenced. However since Hawking is Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, a post once held by Newton and Sagan witnessed his accepting this position in 1974, I think I can safely take Hawking at his word.

In conclusion, this book is a reorganized version of a science classic that is now more accessible, more concise, better illustrated, and updated with the latest research. It is not to be missed!!

(first published 2005; acknowledgements; forward; 12 chapters; main narrative 160 pages; appendix; glossary; index)

+++++

Professor Hawking's A Briefer History of Time is an updated version (yes, shorter) of his 1988 surprise best-seller A Brief History of Time. The intent is to give the reader an overview of what the top minds are thinking about the origins and future of the universe. As expected Hawking does this with great wit, explaining complicated topics without any equations, as his publisher told him that each equation used will reduce sales by 50%.

It is not really necessary to read this book, if you have read the earlier work. There is some new material, but not much. As Hawking ages, he seems to have increased his metaphysical considerations, as this new work contains his thoughts on the role of God in all of this creation.

I saw Hawking speak (he uses a computer generated voice synthesizer) at a recent event in DC and he is truly an inspiration. Keep in mind that all of his great scientific work was accomplished after he was stricken with Lou Gehrig's disease.

This is a great summary vision of modern physics, though I don't feel the Audiobook is the best possible way to capture the material. Without visual guides, many of the concepts are lost on the listener. Yes, there is information on a CD about how to access the visuals online, but this is significantly less convenient than having them on hand in the book. I recommend sticking to a hardcopy of this work. The work itself is very comprehensible: a great sketch of some very complicated material, featuring no mathematics whatsoever.

This book explains the beginning of the universe (the big bang) with even more concision and understanding (for a layman) than the original, "A Brief History of Time." "Even if there were events before the big bang, we could not use them to determine what would happen afterward, because predictability would have broken down at the big bang. Correspondingly, if as is the case, we know only what has happened since the big bang, we cannot determine what happened beforehand. As far as we are concerned, events before the big bang can have no consequences and so should not form part of a scientific model of the universe. We should therefore cut them out of the model and say that the big bang was the beginning of time."

A Briefer History of Time, by Stephen Hawking was an interesting book summarizing many of the advances and discovers that have come to be understood only by educated physicists now available to merely everyone. Difficult concepts such as time, theory of relativity, space-time, energy, quantum mechanics, time travel, etc. were discussed. The book allowed for so much of the advanced knowledge that has been gained in the last centuries to be succinctly abridged into just as the title implies a "briefer history of time".

The author of the book taught difficult concepts that astronomer's, physicists, and scientists faced then and now and he taught it in such a way that "non-science" coordinated people could grasp. The many difficult equations and figures that usually accompany physics were not used which caused the daunting task of learning about the ever-expanding universe and the way it works easier to swallow. Hawking was very good at taking deeper thought and theory and teaching it so even a struggling college physic student could better understand the world of physics.

The book itself was very well written. It made available the less understood concepts of the world of physics. A few of the concepts flew pretty far over my head. Over all, however I felt that it allowed me to gain a better understanding about how much there still to know about our universe. The little bit we do know is just so small when comparing the deep universe still unknown.

I read the earlier book, "A Brief History of Time" by Hawking and this book delivers where it states, in updating where things have advanced as well as putting the cookies on the lower shelf by writing conversationally and without the use of academic verbiage and mathmatical equations that would be lost on the general audience it targets.

What criticisms can no doubt be leveled for it's simplicity, are somewhat specious because its simplicity is the point.

The explanations offered for the creation of stars, black holes, white holes, dark energy, dark matter, parrallel dimensions and universes and the possibility of time travel are fascinating and very enlightening. Science indeed has come a long way in a relatively (pun intented) brief (second pun also intended) period of time.

I applaud Hawking and those in his field with their progress and discoveries. They are indeed exciting.

I don't tend to put the same amount of faith into Stephen Hawking's belief that Physics is on the verge of coming up with a "Grand Unified Theory" that explains every element of the beginnings, development and sustenance of the universe. I tend to believe that as more answers are found, there will be new questions raised and that we may well find ourselves in the paradox of the finite seeking to comprehend and grasp the infinite. In that regard, I find Hawking's goals and beliefs, while laudable, somewhat unrealistic. That is not unexpected because what Hawking is doing here is pushing right up on the border of Physics with Metaphysics. Science can answer "what" and "how," but it will forever be limited to answer "why".

A prime example of this is when Hawking in effect dabbles in the realm of predestination speculating as to the possibility of all biological action, development and even thought as explainable should formulas be determined for the random possibilities. Interesting. Welcome to the realm of Reformed Theology approached through a different venue but with the same mysteries for which there is no apparent satisfying answer, Mr Hawking! ;)

I do not doubt or discount the need to continue the attempt to reduce the universe to complete scientific equation and understanding. I came away from this book excited at the progress, curious as to future developments and very much better for the time and effort expended.

This is a keeper and I will reread it. Great book!

I've heard it said that Stephen Hawking's 1988 bestseller A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME is the book everybody owns but hardly anyone has read. In this 2005 book Hawking adds an "er" to the title and makes the content much more accessible to a lay audience while bringing them up to date with the latest developments in string theory and the discovery of dark energy. In 150 pages everything important in the field is discussed from the work of early astronomers to the possibility of time travel. Helpful color pictures/diagrams are included as well as a glossary of terms related to the content. The writing may be a little dry in a few places but when the book is finished the reader will have a much better understanding of the difficult but fascinating concepts addressed.

Like many people who have come to know Steve Hawking I have little to no actual academic training in physics but have found the subject quite interesting my entire life. I first read the original printing of A Brief History of Space and Time as a child and was immediately hooked on the subject. Since then I have read the rest of Dr. Hawking's works in addition to a number of others and while some may be more controversial or startling I have found few who are both as informative and well written as this one. His ability to break down advanced concepts in the study of space time and ultimately the existence of our universe allows for a broad audience to develop a better understanding of the debate which is currently raging in the halls of academia. This updated reprinting continues in that fashion while bringing in the tomes of new information and data collected since the original went on the shelves. For anyone interested in physics I would defiantly recommend it, if you're a little worried that it might be in over your head try his other book, the Universe in a Nutshell which tries to break these concepts down even further. Although ultimately not as detailed or informative it's a great stepping stone to A Briefer History of Time and Black Holes and Baby Universes.

Stephen Hawking's A Briefer History of Time was written for people who wanted a simpler version of A Brief History of Time with main key concepts. In this book, Hawking goes through topics such as the shape and orbit of earth (Aristotle, Ptolemy, Copernicus), Newton and his views on the universe, relativity (Einstein), curved space, how the universe is expanding, the Big Bang and blackholes, gravity, time travel, dimensions, unification of physics, and God. His writing was somewhat simple for those who have not been introduced in depth to time, the expanding universe, and those kind of things before (ex. Hawking referring to the tension in a string as a thousand million million million million million million tons as a 1 with thirty-nine zeros after it).
I feel like this book really stretched my mind. It was a hard read, no doubt, but I liked contemplating things Hawking wrote and realizing that I had grown smarter for it. The most interesting section to me was about time being faster closer to the earth. Apparently, if you sent a twin up in space and kept one on earth and the twin in space came back, he would have aged less than the one on earth. Hawking could have been more clear when he wrote about dimensions and curves. It confused me, but with some careful rereading, I bet I could derive more from it.
All in all, good read and recommended if you want to do some deep thinking.

The universe is truly an amazing and mind boggling place. The laws and theories that humanity has discovered over time are sometimes equally mind boggling. In this book, one of the most brilliant minds of our time has managed to make otherwise incomprehensible theories and facts relatively accessible to a mass audience. The book starts with a review of everything I learned in high school and college science classes, but then quickly moves on to explain relativity, quarks, various models of the universe, string theory, force carrying particle, wormholes, dark matter, and time travel. At times I felt like I was drinking from a fire hose, but when I was done I had a better appreciation for the world in which I live.

A great introduction to the history of modern science, focusing on the "metaphysical" aspects of quantum physics and relativity, this book is an engaging read. I like Hawking's ability to explain with simple examples the complex proofs he discusses; it's reminiscent of Douglas R. Hofstadter (Godel, Escher, Bach) if he had a vigorous editor. I like the overall narrative voice and how, through the tumult of ideas he describes, Hawking keeps focus on the most important aspects of each question. However, the book seems unfinished, in that it presents some basic ideas, then goes over recent scientific history and demonstrates why it has not found a conclusion, then trails off into biographical data. Hawking's most salient comment is that art and philosophy have abandoned science in their pursuit of truth, but perhaps it's time to re-inject some philosophy into the science, and pick a theoretical basis even if we're not sure of its mechanics. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to any diligent reader.

Most of the theories are simplified and well explained. The discussion of the evolution of important theories is coherent yet mesmerizing. The description of latter theories after Einstein's general relativity is a bit technical and hard to follow. However, it's still a great book for novice readers to get a glimpse of how our universe works ( in theory I must say)

Like many people who have come to know Steve Hawking I have little to no actual academic training in physics but have found the subject quite interesting my entire life. I first read the original printing of A Brief History of Space and Time as a child and was immediately hooked on the subject. Since then I have read the rest of Dr. Hawking's works in addition to a number of others and while some may be more controversial or startling I have found few who are both as informative and well written as this one. His ability to break down advanced concepts in the study of space time and ultimately the existence of our universe allows for a broad audience to develop a better understanding of the debate which is currently raging in the halls of academia. This updated reprinting continues in that fashion while bringing in the tomes of new information and data collected since the original went on the shelves. For anyone interested in physics I would defiantly recommend it, if you're a little worried that it might be in over your head try his other book, the Universe in a Nutshell which tries to break these concepts down even further. Although ultimately not as detailed or informative it's a great stepping stone to A Briefer History of Time and Black Holes and Baby Universes.

Stephen Hawking's A Briefer History of Time was written for people who wanted a simpler version of A Brief History of Time with main key concepts. In this book, Hawking goes through topics such as the shape and orbit of earth (Aristotle, Ptolemy, Copernicus), Newton and his views on the universe, relativity (Einstein), curved space, how the universe is expanding, the Big Bang and blackholes, gravity, time travel, dimensions, unification of physics, and God. His writing was somewhat simple for those who have not been introduced in depth to time, the expanding universe, and those kind of things before (ex. Hawking referring to the tension in a string as a thousand million million million million million million tons as a 1 with thirty-nine zeros after it).
I feel like this book really stretched my mind. It was a hard read, no doubt, but I liked contemplating things Hawking wrote and realizing that I had grown smarter for it. The most interesting section to me was about time being faster closer to the earth. Apparently, if you sent a twin up in space and kept one on earth and the twin in space came back, he would have aged less than the one on earth. Hawking could have been more clear when he wrote about dimensions and curves. It confused me, but with some careful rereading, I bet I could derive more from it.
All in all, good read and recommended if you want to do some deep thinking.

The universe is truly an amazing and mind boggling place. The laws and theories that humanity has discovered over time are sometimes equally mind boggling. In this book, one of the most brilliant minds of our time has managed to make otherwise incomprehensible theories and facts relatively accessible to a mass audience. The book starts with a review of everything I learned in high school and college science classes, but then quickly moves on to explain relativity, quarks, various models of the universe, string theory, force carrying particle, wormholes, dark matter, and time travel. At times I felt like I was drinking from a fire hose, but when I was done I had a better appreciation for the world in which I live.

A great introduction to the history of modern science, focusing on the "metaphysical" aspects of quantum physics and relativity, this book is an engaging read. I like Hawking's ability to explain with simple examples the complex proofs he discusses; it's reminiscent of Douglas R. Hofstadter (Godel, Escher, Bach) if he had a vigorous editor. I like the overall narrative voice and how, through the tumult of ideas he describes, Hawking keeps focus on the most important aspects of each question. However, the book seems unfinished, in that it presents some basic ideas, then goes over recent scientific history and demonstrates why it has not found a conclusion, then trails off into biographical data. Hawking's most salient comment is that art and philosophy have abandoned science in their pursuit of truth, but perhaps it's time to re-inject some philosophy into the science, and pick a theoretical basis even if we're not sure of its mechanics. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to any diligent reader.

Most of the theories are simplified and well explained. The discussion of the evolution of important theories is coherent yet mesmerizing. The description of latter theories after Einstein's general relativity is a bit technical and hard to follow. However, it's still a great book for novice readers to get a glimpse of how our universe works ( in theory I must say)

I directly read this version and haven’t gone through the original one but I would expect them to be similar. This is an amazing book. This briefly explains the evolution of various theories in physics and how they improved/fit in with the existing theories. It felt like life story of Physics. It’s a must read for everyone who seeks to know more about universe and physics.

No need to leave this lying around on the coffee table to impress your guests, like many did with the first book: you should actually read Stephen Hawking's new book because you will learn quite a lot from it.

He keeps his promise to strip things down to the essentials, though some may argue that he goes too far in that regard. In the part where Edwin Hubble discovers how to measure the distance to other galaxies, proving that they are in fact separate, distant galaxies, Hawking does not get into the details of how Hubble used the discovery of variable Cepheid stars to accomplish this. And in the part where he talks about paired particles and their curious interaction with black holes, he perhaps modestly does not identify the name of this phenomenon: Hawking radiation.

This is a good three-evening read for most educated laymen. A science popularizer like Timothy Ferris actually writes meatier books than this. But there is a certain undeniable appeal to having this greatest living cosmologist (so we're told by those who know) spell things out for us personally.

Of all of Hawking's books, and I believe I own and have read them all, this one is by far the easiest to read and understand. Difficult topics to comprehend are taken step by step, mostly in laymen's terms, from the beginnings of astronomy thru current efforts to find a unified theory for everything. If you really want to begin to understand our place in the universe this is a good place to start, followed by earlier books written by Dr. Hawking. You can knock this book out on a Saturday morning a dazzle your friends with your newfound knowledge on Saturday night.

I do not have a science background, and I did not read a Brief History of Time when it was originally published or thereafter. So this review is written to a fairly small category of potential readers -- those like me with an interest in modern physics but without much background.

I thought the book was exceptionally well written, and it was outstanding in places. It was certainly a very fun read, and I think it achieves a very lofty goal -- making liberal arts grads like me understand both the desirability and potential implications of reconciling general relativity and quantum physics. But, overall, I thought it tried to walk too fine a tightrope between discussing complex subjects and at the same time attempting to be as conversational and accessible as possible. That is a lofty goal -- hard to achieve I think. The reality is that some of these concepts are very very difficult to the uninitiated, so the cursory treatment the authors sometimes give them, in their attempt to make the book accessible and to live up to the "briefER" in the title, actually at times makes the book harder to understand, not easier. It is most acute in the book's introduction to uncertainty, quantum physics, and understanding the implications of interference experiments. More detail, not less, was needed here to reach the authors' goal of accessibility. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't seeking a text heavily laden with mathematics or equations. I just think the overriding editorial doctrine with this book was to condense wherever possible, and that is just not always possible or desirable.

All that said, the book achieves it purpose: To take some of the amazing intelligence and insight of one of the world's most important thinkers, squeeze it into understandable packets, and give us ordinary folk some insight into the exciting times in which anyone interested in the Universe and its fundamental questions live. But to steal a little from Einstein, I thought the authors didn't quite follow the second half of his famous exhortation to make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler.

Stephen Hawking's book, A Briefer History of Time, is a very well written teaching on the basics of the universe that deserves a 4 star rating. It does an excellent job of teaching about the basics of physics and the universe in a very clear, simple, and enjoyable way. Those with little or no previous knowledge of either subject will not only gain a greater understanding of the world around them, but will also find it rather enjoyable. Too often scientists bore their audience with big words or try to make everyone else excited about some strange detail that no one other than the author cares about. Hawking never makes you feel uncomfortable or stupid. He avoids using any math or equations to explain the principles.
In the introduction, Hawking says that the purpose of the book is to answer the questions, "What do we really know about the universe? How do we know it? Where did the universe come from, and where is it going?" He answers these questions by showing the history of universal thought by many different astronomers and physicists. He shows how subsequent discoveries changed and built upon the discoveries of yesterday. Although he never makes you feel really stupid he never really makes you feel really smart either. After reading in the book, I felt like I had to know more than I did originally but I couldn't always remember everything I had learned. There weren't a ton of lightbulbs going off in my head that made this book particularly memorable. Anyone interested in learning a lot may want to look at another boo
There were a few parts of the book that were a little boring. I thought the discussion on relativity was really dry and seemed really long. He might have done better by sharing more information. By making it so simple, sometimes I was left with questions about how it worked. The topics such as time travel and black holes were a lot more interesting. Some other topics covered include quantum mechanics, scientific theory, and the basics of Newton's Gravity theory.
If you want to learn a lot about physics, you may want to look for a more complete source, but if you want to feel like you understand a little more about what's going on the universe, then you've found the right book.

I am almost done with this book, and I liked it very much, he seems like he would have been a great teacher, the kind who would have made class interesting. I read it, and I can almost get how the universe works. Obviously, it is too simple for those with a physics background, but for those who merely have an interest, without the background it can be helpful-I would almost recommend it as a supplimental textbook for an intro to physics book, makes me wish I had had this type of book when i was in college.

This book takes on a nearly impossible task: explaining some of the most challenging questions facing theoretical physics--not to mention philosophers and theologians--today in a manner that everyone can understand. I'll admit that as a "non-science" type, some of this book went over my head. But it wasn't due to a lack of effort by the authors to keep things clear. In fact, the concepts that I found most difficult to follow were the most recent, least developed theories

What I found most interesting about this book is that it leaves you thinking about how small a part of this universe we are and how improbable our existence is. This book inspires many more questions about our universe than it tries to answer. This is a great book to read and discuss with others as a result.

This book is slightly better than the “ A Brief History of Time.” It was rendered “better” by removing all the nonsense about time written in the “Brief History of Time.” What remains is a book which is almost totally irrelevant to either time or its history.

Amazingly Hawking and Mlodinaw discuss the concepts of energy, time, relativity, space, time travel, black holes, quantum gravity, wormholes and string theory using almost no equations, excepting Einstein's famous E=mc2. They use common sense and mundane examples to explain some of the most complex ideas ever pondered by humankind. Mlodinaw's famous humor rears its head at appropriate times, while the writing style is straightforward and easily comprehended. However, there are several sentences for which one has to go back and reread and think about before proceeding. But overall it's a fun book and leaves the layman with a rudimentary understanding of a very complex subject.

Here's a new version of "Stephen Hawking's worldwide bestseller classic, A Brief History of Time. This new version was written with Leonard Mlodinow and is titled A Briefer History of Time (Bantam Dell, 2005), and it was written to make the content of the original work more accessible to nonscientists and to bring it up-to-date with the latest scientific observations and findings. Although this book is somewhat "briefer" than the original, it actually expands on the great subjects of the original while leaving out some advanced technical matter (the mathematics of chaotic boundary conditions, for example!)." (South TX Library System summary)

The book is a great read for those interested in a brief history and overview of modern physics. Hawking uses simple language and basic metaphors to help any level of reader understand most difficult concepts. The book chronicles the study of the stars beginning with the Greeks and every major scientific discovery in the field of physics. Hawking also spends several chapters on the current models and theories of the universe. He answers loads of difficult questions and helps the lay-man understand the Big Bang. The last chapter talks about physicists' goal of finding a "Grand Unified Theory" which will reconcile the discrepancies between the quantum model and general relativity. It was a quick read-only a couple of hours but very interesting and worthwhile.

The several attempts at humor were witty and acceptable, albeit dry or predictable. The main fault I found with the book was Hawking's inability to "change gears" from rudimentary, Newtonian physics to modern, multi-dimensional theories. It feels like the superficial concepts were given unnecessary metaphors and paragraphs while the more interesting and complex aspects were too brief. It seemed that on one page I could easily have skipped paragraphs because the point had already been made, processed and further metaphors were superfluous. While on other pages I felt that every sentence was an encyclopedia of unexplained words and concepts.

Overall, the book is a fantastic read and the 4 star rating is well deserved. I wouldn't spend time on it if you were moderately familiar with quantum theory and relativity. There are many more books written by Hawking and others that will satisfy your curiosity to a greater extent. I would certainly recommend the work to those unfamiliar with our universe and to those looking for a summary of current models and theories. This book is welcome instruction from a true genius of our day.

I really enjoyed the book entitled A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking. I would rate this book as a 4 out of 5 stars. Stephen was able to expound on the technical concepts of the physics in nature throughout time. He explains things from the beginning starting with why people thought the Earth was at first flat and then ends with more up-to-date scientific studies and observations. The main theme of this book is the search for a new theory that will incorporate both relativity and the quantum theory of gravity.
This book really helped me understand what people's understanding of the universe was from the very beginning. It helped me visualize the big picture of the physics of the universe. I thought that this was a pretty easy book to follow especially because it reflected a lot of the concepts learned in class. However, if I did not take this class, the book would have been more confusing. However, I think someone who is interested in the science of the world would enjoy reading it. Something I really enjoyed from the book was all the examples he used to explain the viewpoints and principles. These examples helped me visualize exactly what was going on and helped me understand specific principles better.
One of my favorite chapters was when he talked about the stars in the solar system and why we are able to see what we see here on Earth. (Chapter 7) It's really neat that you can find out how far the star is just by measuring the luminosity. Also it was interesting for me to hear that if a star were a grain of salt, then the amount we would be able to see can fill a teaspoon! This is only one specific part I enjoyed while reading this book. There were some confusing parts in the book, but overall, I enjoyed reading it.

This is Hawking's attempt to write about complicated physics for those of us who did not do well in math and therefore did not take the advanced sciences requiring ability in math. While still not an easy read, it it much easier than the BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME that he wrote for laypeople before this. A person who wants to know what the current scientific thinking is about the nature of the universe will find it worth spending the time it takes to read and digest this book, as they will be reading about it from one of the leading scientists in this field. Older teens who have some interest in sciences may also find this to be a helpful introduction to the concepts they think they want to study in depth.

I came upon this book because I recall the bestseller has a similar name, "A Brief History of Time". According to the flap, this is a concised version of the original, which is so much the better since in any piece of non-fiction, we just want to extract the knowledge from it as fast as possible, yes? This is also an updated version of the bestseller since it has been some time since the original was published.

All in all, it was a very good summary of the major findings in physics and astronomy. A good review of what you learned in high school or college. It is probably a little bit dry for normal readers and at times may be hard for the average reader to understand such technical concepts. But on the same light, there is no way to really explain in layman's terms. So kind of a dilemma here. Sometimes I would have to reread portions of the book to better understand it, other times I just skimmed through it and hope my subconscious got it...ha. Again, the beginning documents the history of physics and astronomy so it may be boring for some who have learned it in school or if you are in school already it would not be anything new. The last two chapers are quite interesting though, especially the chapter on Wormholes and Time Travel. It is hard not to think about movies that are based on the logic presented in the book. I would recommend it to anyone thinking of writing something creative like a screenplay. This book has potential for many interesting ideas for a good sci-fi story. On the whole, it is a good read, however I still find it a little bit too technical and hard to digest at the same time. Have fun.

When I mentioned to my friend Carver Yu that I was reading this book, he scrunched up his face in the way that only a man who knows the field well can do and commented, `Well, of course, that book contains a fair bit of metaphysical speculation.'

Precisely.

That is what makes Hawking's attempt to simplify his original one-syllable-less A Brief History of Time such a beguiling reader for a non-specialist like me. Call it metaphysical speculation or call it a daring attempt to translate the astrophysicists' language into yours and mine without losing the power of asking us to imagine a world nearly completely different than the one we thought we lived in. Call it what you want, it's still a read well worth the effort it requires.

Don't shy away from finishing this book if you don't understand it all. Allow it the chance to paint an impressionistic portrait of what physicists--many of them justly awe-struck by the object of their inquiry--believe that they see `out there' when some of humanity's best minds ask the fundamental questions and follow the theories (theirs is a theory-rich pursuit) where they lead. Many of those theories, as Hawking describes them, will sound like nonsense. Unless sense is different than we thought.

When I was at Cambridge, I used to bicycle past the severely disabled Stephen Hawking in his wheelchair, followed by his personal nurse, as he wheeled between home and office, his mind no doubt drifting far from the concrete course of his wheelchair across the Commons. One wonders whether paragraphs of Briefer History and other of his works were taking shape as our paths crossed.

Metaphysical speculation for those who dare to imagine things they may not fully understand. Things like wormholes, peabrains, and a universe curved so severely that words almost fail in the explaing of it.

If that sounds provocative enough to justify the effort, this book is for you.

I found that this book was easy to read and came to the subject from a different perceptive. I choose to read this book because I was hoping for a different perceptive of relativity, which I did find. If you are looking for a book to explain Relativity I would suggest "Relativity Simply Explained" by Martin Gardner. I did find that the last portions of the book to be harder to understand. But I would not find blame in the author, because they were new and tough subjects for me.

The only problem I found in the book was that every frontier of science or unexplained scientific results, the author choose to fill the gaps with God. Throughout the whole book every topic that was explained had scientific references, but then when one thing was not fully explained with science the author would take it upon himself to explain with the use of God. I did not think that the use of God in this book was appropriate.

This simple and lucidly written book is an update to the original a Brief History of Time. This one is simplified and very easy to understand. It is very fluid and it was a pleasure to read, which I finished in a few hours! This is the Scientific book for the layman to be sure.

Seldom you will find a book on cosmic physics which will cover creation of universe and world around us and is still readable. Leonard is an excellent teacher and when you couple this with smartest brain of our time Hawking you know you are in for a treat.

Hawking does a great job of breaking down complex concepts for someone with no science background. I picked up this book because I was interested in quantum theory and time travel, and I was not disappointed. Toward the end of the book I got a little bored, but overall I enjoyed it and was able to understand what he was talking about.

This would be one of the best books I could recommend especially for someone who's interested in learning the basic concepts of modern theoretical physics, but doesn't have any sort of background in physics.

Most of the the book was written a way that made understanding the more basic theories easy and entertaining. However the more complex theories were harder to wrap my head around, even through basic example. Overall, the book was great and informative, and a must read for everyone who wants to know the why and how of the complex world we live in

This book explains the physical concepts in very understandable fashion. It can be understood by any person. You do not have to be a scientist or physicists to read the book. There are also wonderful examples explaining the scientific phenomenon underlying our universe and black hole or other galaxies.

This is an interesting book in that it explains basically all that a person WITHOUT A SCIENCE DEGREE would need to know about the current state of the theories of the universe. So, if you are interested in physics and want to attain a basic understanding of the current theories and how they evolved to be, or if you know someone who does, then this is probably the right book.

I bought this book at a great deal, and it arrived and was in wonderful condition. Perfect.
nothing wrong with it. A great book, and a great price! Thank you! a late review, but it was a great savings and I would buy again!
and since its a re-edit version ("briefer history of time") it's a whole lot easier to understand for those that don't hold a doctorate degree in physics! Like me!

While Stephen Hawking is not the most prominent cosmologist he is certaintly one of the most popular and by reading "A Briefer History of Time," you'll understand why. The book is relatively short and a quick read, surveying the history of the universe and how we have come to understand it in about 160 pages. A must for those who have the slightest inclination to learn more about the world we live in.

While this book is shorter and more entertaining than its not-as-brief predecessor, I found it still unable to make the very esoteric subjects of space-time curvature, quantum mechanics and the behavior of sub-atomic particles understandable to me (MS Computer Science). Hawking clearly has a great sense of humor, and his effort to explain some of the results of his life's work to the general public is laudable, but this book failed to do that, at least for this reader.

It is not as amazing as time being relative, but the authors did manage to explain things still more clearly, in an even smaller book. I spent much less time reading this second book but this time more light bulbs seemed to come on.

Hawking's classic text really comes alive and is revitalized in this audio version. I listened to the audio book of Brian Greene's "Fabric of the Cosmos" a couple of months ago, and funny enough, I ended up getting Hawking's "Briefer History" on audio CD and its the same narrator, Erik Davies. As anyone knows who listens to audio books alot, you had better REALLY like the narrator's style and voice, otherwise no matter how good the original text is, its just going to annoy you. Davies' voice and style keep up the energy and tempo of the text that keeps the reader engaged, which is a challange when listening to audio books than are non-narrative. I certainly recommend this audio version - it won't bore. I see also that Davies' has narrated novels like Tami Hoag's "Kill the messenger." Those types of novels are not usually my thing, but I am thinking of getting it just because I like Erik Davies' voice!

I enjoyed this book greatly, but I felt it didn't expand on some of the theories as much as I would have liked.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in expanding their knowledge on this subject, as the book puts forward many questions and ideas on the advancement of physics.

Excellent presentation of complex scientific theories. Stephen Hawking knows how to extract core principals and shape them into digestible morsels for his readers to consume and enjoy. The material is an update from his earlier Brief History of Time, and has the same cast of characters.

If only he wrote fiction!

Stephen Hawking is one of the few truly brilliant men who also has the ability to speak in a concise and meaningful way to people who are not experts. The book offers the absolute best overview of modern physics covering theories of both the past and present. Specifically, Hawking provides one of the best overviews of modern quantum theory that I have read.

Book arrived in timely fashion, excellent condition, well packaged to protect it during shipment. I'd read it in the library and thought it excellent. I'm a logical person but not a physicist or a mathematician yet the material was understandable, well presented and the illustrations very helpful. The absence of long proofs/equations not only shortened the book but made the descriptions and illustrations easier to follow and not so intimidating. The large print version was especially helpful even though my eye sight is good. I'll read it a number of times and I'm sure my understanding will increase with each reading.

"A Briefer History of Time" is a graceful summary of spacetime physics, written entirely for non-scientific readers; it contains no formulas, and can be understood by any bright teenager. Before you run out and buy a copy, though, you should know that - due to the book's very short length and intended readership for a general audience - it is very elementary and covers its field in only the briefest of ways. If the reader has read any other popular treatment of this subject in the last few years, there will not be anything new in the "Briefer History."

Given Hawking's stature in the field, most readers would hope to get some kind of unique perspective or approach from this book. Unfortunately, as it is, the book offers little more than an incomplete run-through of a few basic ideas.

Yeah, there is some interesting things in here. It is quite accessible to the lay reader like me. By the end though it is either too simplified or it is just a bunch of gobbleligook. I was left wondering, do people really believe this stuff? P-branes and super strings. Yeah, baby.

I read this book as an extra credit option in my physics class. I was not expecting much but was well pleased. The book is written very well and is extremely intriguing and interesting. Difficult concepts are explained clearly and the visuals are great. I recommend this book to everyone. Awesome!

Hawking's new book "The Briefest History of Time" should be read by all intelligent Americans. Every book of this quality and with a similar contents may help to stop the tide of idiocy proposed by supporters of creationism in America.Only by spreading real science we will escape becoming the richest but also the most primitive intellectually nation in the world. We need a heavy counterweight to the evangelic snake oil peddlers who can gather tousands sing along automata and preach bible which offenses every educated and intelligent mind. Hawking's book can help to be such a counterbalance.

A phenomenal description of the basics in physics and science. Hawkings new version is a tell all for Science beginners such as myself. After years of not understanding or not putting effort into understanding science I now have an excellent overview of why and how we exist. Definitely a great read!

This is an excellent book. It is easy to understand with good illustrations. I liked the first book, A Brief History of Time, and this one was even better with more illustrations and updated information including information on the string theory.

I haven't read "A Brief History of Time", but this book is written in a style that is easily understandable, even though the concepts discussed may be far beyond anything you might think about in your day-to-day life.
Definitely a five star read!

The Kindle version seems to have many typos - looks like the book has been OCR'ed and not even reviewed. I am not sure why this would be the case, the process should just be a direct conversion from a text document.

I have the utmost respect for Mr Hawking's theory's and his ability to question his own theory's, this book was a great read and I would recommend it to anyone interested in time and stuff.

Time for instance it was years ago that I was taught how to use firearms by my father and Grandfather. They were both very strict and would often yell obscenities when I would aim the gun towards any where but the ground away from them. My Grandfather was a wildlife protector (game warden) back in the early thirties at Lake Mattamuskeet in North Carolina. Game wardens were not well received back then, they being a new branch of government control and what right did they have to make them buy a license to hunt for waterfowl? LakeMattamuskeet to this day is a very remote and rural area, so new ideas are not snapped up like in New York or Kokomo. As I was saying whenever I was holding a rifle, my grandfather would chastise me regularly, he had been shot by accident in his life so he took firearms seriously, people are careless he was careless so he bore a scare on his leg and shoulder from mistakes. He instilled in me a deep respect that makes me a nervous wreck when I am around people who have a firearm and handle it with little caution. This reminds me of the old saying ... You can give and infinite number of monkeys an infinite number of firearms and eventually one of them will not shoot himself or colleague.

Well I have a few problems with this theory....

1. Who counts the monkeys to make sure they are infinite in numbers.

2. Where does on keep an infinite number of monkeys with firearms. Earth would pile up with them pretty fast, the final frontier would have to be utilized. Space suits would be required and modified firearms that would fire in a vacuum not to mention without the benefit of oxygen to ignite the gunpowder.

3.You would need and infinite number of banana trees to feed the monkeys, which would require an infinite amount of arable land and workers to cultivate and ship to the monkeys their dietary needs.

4. Where are the monkeys to throw their scat, a really advanced sanitary system would be needed to deal with all the monkey pitching.

5.So we need an infinite number of space suits, referees to document whether a monkey is injured, an infinite number of rifles for the monkeys and lanyards so they would not loose them in space while they slept.

6. There would need to be an infinite number of begetting monkeys to produce the infinite number of monkeys..

7. I have nearly an infinite number of question regarding this theory, but do not have the time or space...

In conclusion I still respect Mr Hawkings theory's , but I do wonder if he has avoided the Spiraling Monkey Theory in Infinite Space. These are questions that need to be asked, which I just did so now these are questions I would like to be answered.

This explanation of the universe utilizes great pictorials and carefully chosed words to explain items that are very difficult to conceive. Hawkins is a master at bringing mysteries down to the layman's level.

This book shows the deep confusion in the current understanding of the cosmos. Entities like dark matter, dark energy, strings and many other oddities of modern science are discussed in one incomplete picture of the universe. Nature cannot be that whimsical and complicated. It has to be counterintuitive and simple in its basic terms. If you are looking for an elegant and complete picture of the universe then you may read Eugene Savov's Theory of Interaction the Simplest Explanation of Everything. Theory of interaction reveals the origin of the universe, space bodies and mind in terms of found patterns of unifying interaction.

This book tackles the difficult task of trying to synthesize all that is known about physics into something that can be read on the beach. While it does this surprisingly well (at the expense of any in-depth discussions of any of the topics), there was an error in something very minor that tainted my ability to appreciate the book overall -- because in the back of my mind I kept thinking if something so minor was incorrect, what about the major statements?

The problem? While discussing time travel, the book credits Steven Spielberg with the movie "Back to the Future", which was in fact directed by Robert Zemeckis. While Spielberg was indeed the executive producer for the movie, this would be the same as referring to "The Godfather" as being a film by Ruddy (instead of Francis Ford Coppola), or more ironically thinking of Spielbergs' "Jaws" as being done by Zanuck and Brown.

And in writing this review, I used the index to look up the Spielberg reference in the book -- and the index points to the wrong page. I guess this points up the fact that no matter the caliber of the author, good editors are still in short supply...

I greatly enjoyed this newer edition of Hawking's classic, and was impressed with how clear the writing was. The illustrations were beautiful as well. The sections on Aristotle, Newton, and the expanding universe were breathtaking.

However, the explanations of string theory and Richard Feynman's theories of particles and antiparticles were a bit murky for the layperson and needed more explanation.

While admirable, Hawking's attempt to find a "unified theory of everything" strikes me as a bit arrogant and absurd, especially as science and philosophy are both becoming much more specialized. As Hawking notes, Wittgenstein, reduced philosophy to mere questions of language. Yes, I know, they poo-poohed man's attempts to fly and to land a man on the moon, but Hawking's desire, though admirable, to know "the mind of God" through a unified theory of science seems silly.

Why can't we, as Iris Dement says, "let the mystery be"?

There are a lot of theories in this book and no imagination. Because Mr. Hawking has a lot of complex math equations that make little sense to any one but his fellow math buddies why dose that make him an authority on anything.
Secondly I would argue that black holes are givers of life not takers they make room in the limited amount of space in the galaxy for other solar systems to exist. The ultimate predator, scavenger they kill indiscriminately just like any lion or wolf and slowly evaporate that energy back into the universe. Think about it for a second most of your really big black holes are in the center of the galaxy and that is where all the action in the galaxy is. Without Black holes the galaxy would be nothing but big bodies slamming into each other even all the way out here on the edge of the galaxy where we are. Not only that but it has been proven for a long time that if your at a correct angle you can easily survive very close to a black hole. This would be a huge benefit for any solar system you would not have to worry about stray comets and asteroids like we do. But it takes imagination to see things like this something Mr. Hawking and his math club lack.
There are other, how in the world would he know these things in this book. For instance the theory that man can not travel faster than the speed of light if Mr. Hawking was as much a student of history as he claims. He would know that in the history of automobile travel it was once believed that of you went too fast in a car you would die. And this was a widely accepted scientific theory at the time. Theoretical Physics and Math will only get you so far the only way to find out is to do. This book should have been called "A Short History of Sometimes Useful Theories" sense that is what it is and these theories hold no more weight than anyone else's theories including yours.

Eric

It's very easy getting carried away by our modern day `scientific' priesthood and by the latest `scientific' theories but one must stand still for a moment and see science and its limitations for what it is and see evolution for what it is, an intricate and subtle lie from our scientific dictatorship. For a complete refutation of the big bang model Buy Dr John Hartnett's [PhD] book, "Dismantling the big bang". Dawkins says his science is like poetry. Now poetry and art has to do with ones imagination, true science has to do with cold facts, not imagination. You see how the `brilliant' "scientist" of our day fuses imagination and `science' together to form the religion of evolution. It's so easy to get swept away in the propaganda of billions of years described in beautifully decorated artistic diagrams filled with mathematical formulas. But stand back a bit and ask yourself if their artistic diagrams truly fit the facts, or does Creation Science fit the facts. If the universe was billions of years old, why do we still see comets around for comets only lasts thousands, not millions of years? Dr Hawking's mind is a gift from God, but instead of making his gift subject to God's Word, he has used His mind to discredit God's Word, which is indeed a dangerous path to take. In his new book Stephen writes a philosophical book telling us philosophy is dead. That is indeed the outcome when we stray from true science and God's wisdom, we become as fools! Brilliant intellectual fools, but fools none the less.

[Atheism as a worldview cannot even get off the ground for it cannot account for the laws of logic, love, human dignity etc. The atheist as can be seen has made up his mind that God does not exist. The atheist throws his toys out of the cot because he is angry with God. Deep down inside every atheist knows there is a God but he suppresses the truth in unrighteousness! Then he lashes out with ad homonym arguments against the Christian because he hates the Christian God .
Let God have the final say, in Psalm 19 God says: `The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handy work. 2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.'
The atheist's fallen corrupt heart cannot apprehend the simplicity of God's creation for he has a hardened heart, but that does not excuse him from giving an account of his life before God one day!]

This is a clear and easy read especially for a science book. It has a lot of full colored illustrations which simplify complex topics. That being said, i am not implying that the concepts are simple; they are just made easy to the general audience.
The book presents the history of physics and its evolution from the time when the earth was considered flat and the center of the universe to modern theories of relativity, quantum mechanics and an ever expanding universe.
I would recommend this illustrated "Briefer history of time" to the general readers who want to have an idea about Physics in a simplified way and to those who are are interested in the philosophy behind the universe from its creation to its death.

There are a lot of theories in this book and no imagination. Because Mr. Hawking has a lot of complex math equations that make little sense to any one but his fellow math buddies why dose that make him an authority on anything.
Secondly I would argue that black holes are givers of life not takers they make room in the limited amount of space in the galaxy for other solar systems to exist. The ultimate predator, scavenger they kill indiscriminately just like any lion or wolf and slowly evaporate that energy back into the universe. Think about it for a second most of your really big black holes are in the center of the galaxy and that is where all the action in the galaxy is. Without Black holes the galaxy would be nothing but big bodies slamming into each other even all the way out here on the edge of the galaxy where we are. Not only that but it has been proven for a long time that if your at a correct angle you can easily survive very close to a black hole. This would be a huge benefit for any solar system you would not have to worry about stray comets and asteroids like we do. But it takes imagination to see things like this something Mr. Hawking and his math club lack.
There are other, how in the world would he know these things in this book. For instance the theory that man can not travel faster than the speed of light if Mr. Hawking was as much a student of history as he claims. He would know that in the history of automobile travel it was once believed that of you went too fast in a car you would die. And this was a widely accepted scientific theory at the time. Theoretical Physics and Math will only get you so far the only way to find out is to do. This book should have been called "A Short History of Sometimes Useful Theories" sense that is what it is and these theories hold no more weight than anyone else's theories including yours.

Eric

It's very easy getting carried away by our modern day `scientific' priesthood and by the latest `scientific' theories but one must stand still for a moment and see science and its limitations for what it is and see evolution for what it is, an intricate and subtle lie from our scientific dictatorship. For a complete refutation of the big bang model Buy Dr John Hartnett's [PhD] book, "Dismantling the big bang". Dawkins says his science is like poetry. Now poetry and art has to do with ones imagination, true science has to do with cold facts, not imagination. You see how the `brilliant' "scientist" of our day fuses imagination and `science' together to form the religion of evolution. It's so easy to get swept away in the propaganda of billions of years described in beautifully decorated artistic diagrams filled with mathematical formulas. But stand back a bit and ask yourself if their artistic diagrams truly fit the facts, or does Creation Science fit the facts. If the universe was billions of years old, why do we still see comets around for comets only lasts thousands, not millions of years? Dr Hawking's mind is a gift from God, but instead of making his gift subject to God's Word, he has used His mind to discredit God's Word, which is indeed a dangerous path to take. In his new book Stephen writes a philosophical book telling us philosophy is dead. That is indeed the outcome when we stray from true science and God's wisdom, we become as fools! Brilliant intellectual fools, but fools none the less.

[Atheism as a worldview cannot even get off the ground for it cannot account for the laws of logic, love, human dignity etc. The atheist as can be seen has made up his mind that God does not exist. The atheist throws his toys out of the cot because he is angry with God. Deep down inside every atheist knows there is a God but he suppresses the truth in unrighteousness! Then he lashes out with ad homonym arguments against the Christian because he hates the Christian God .
Let God have the final say, in Psalm 19 God says: `The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handy work. 2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.'
The atheist's fallen corrupt heart cannot apprehend the simplicity of God's creation for he has a hardened heart, but that does not excuse him from giving an account of his life before God one day!]