a brief history of time book review

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Book Review: A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking is undoubtedly one of the—if not the —best-known science books of the twentieth century. Its 2005 follow-up work, A Briefer History of Time , starts its foreword with a note on the original 1988 bestseller’s sales: “ A Brief History of Time was on the London Sunday Times best-seller list for 237 weeks and has sold about one copy for every 750 men, women, and children on earth.” From the perspective of today’s reluctance to ponder the greater questions posed to us by science (and the even greater unlikeliness that one is willing to pick up a science book at all), I’m astounded that that many people sat down and read a work like A Brief History of Time .

When a book in my genre of interest is that massive, I absolutely must read it. In addition to wanting to know what all the fuss is about, I was also curious about what Hawking would have to say about the big bang and the existence of God—especially since I know that Christian apologists love to take various Hawking quotes out of context and use them to support the Kalam Cosmological Argument . (This is the old argument that essentially boils down to the universe needing a cause to have perpetrated the big bang.)

Of course, I was hesitant to read A Brief History of Time . I know it’s dense and it’s a hard read. If it wasn’t, then A Briefer History of Time wouldn’t exist at all. My husband had suggested that I start with the abridged version, but I think it was my pride as a self-proclaimed nerd that said I had to just give A Brief History the old college try. Well, this book was way harder than anything I read in college .

A Brief History of Time being a difficult read certainly doesn’t make it bad, but I think it’s my prerogative to judge it on its readability, as Hawking states in the book’s acknowledgments,

The basic ideas about the origin and fate of the universe can be stated without mathematics in a form that people without a scientific education can understand. This is what I have attempted to do in this book. The reader must judge whether I have succeeded.

Well, I am a reader with no scientific education but with a desire to understand science better. All things considered, I don’t think that Hawking has accomplished his goal.

It feels strange to not give a book like A Brief History of Time a rave review. That’s not to say it’s not brilliant, because it is. On the other hand, everything Hawking said could be wrong. I wouldn’t know one way or the other; that’s how far over my head it was.

Throughout this book, I had the vaguest of ideas what Hawking was talking about, even when the details of his topic had far surpassed what I could comprehend. Because of this, I think that by avoiding the more technical descriptions and spending more time on simpler analogies and more familiar concepts, he could have gotten his points across more clearly without losing people.

Before starting this book, I had read a few reviews to get an idea of whether or not this was something I could accomplish. Of course, many of them contradicted each other: “I am getting my undergraduate degree in physics, and I still don’t understand this book,” and “I have no science degrees but I was more than able to comprehend this book with relative ease.” One thing that the reviews had in common, though, was that many people seem to agree that Hawking’s talent in grasping physics far outweighs his teaching ability: he often slips from simple enough concepts to very complex ideas in quantum physics, and doesn’t seem to know when he’s passed his reader’s comprehension level.

Seeing all these reviews made me even more sure that I wanted to try A Brief History of Time for myself. Would I be able to understand it as someone with a passion for, but no background in, science?

Even though in the end, the answer turned out to be “no,” I’m glad that I now have this answer in the first place. The newly-revealed (to me) complexities of the big bang just reinforce what I’ve said in the past : your everyday Christian and atheist aren’t going to understand the intricacies of the boundaries of space-time, the state of the universe, and what caused the big bang. If an apologist were to ask an atheist, “Who created the universe?” that atheist shouldn’t be ashamed to say, “I don’t know. It’s scientifically way beyond my comprehension, but knowing that there are entire fields of science who have spent the last century using mathematical equations to deduce why the big bang occurred, I can safely say that ‘God did it’ is not a satisfactory answer.”

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4 thoughts on “ book review: a brief history of time by stephen hawking ”.

It’s certainly difficult. It isn’t called the ‘unread bestseller’ for nothing!

Perhaps because my degree was in Physics and I taught high school science, I found A Brief History of Time to be very readable . Interesting to read a review by someone without a physics background. You should not consider yourself as having no scientific background since you have self taught yourself quite deeply on evolution and other quite scientific subjects.

I tried to read it several years ago, but man, it was hard. I know Errol Morris made a documentary based on the book, so perhaps I’ll give that a shot and see if it made things clearer. I almost forgot about that–time to look it up! But yeah, I tried but just couldn’t grasp it. A few equations don’t scare me, as long as you explain the parts and what each segment means. But oh well.

This book was a best seller, but it is also judged to be the most unread book of all time. In other words, many of the people who bought it never actually read it. I had no problems with it.

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A review of A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

A Brief History of Time Twentieth Anniversary Edition by Stephen Hawking Bantam Press 2008, ISBN 9780593060506, Hardcover, 242pages

Though it remains the world’s bestselling science book, A Brief History of Time has become notorious as one of the most commonly purchased but unread books. Reading it, it’s hard to see why. Hawking’s prose is as smooth and accessible as Bill Bryson’s, and the ground he covers is still groundbreakingly relevant and fascinating, twenty years on. It’s hard to believe that Hawking is not only able to elucidate some of the more complexing scientific puzzles in a way that is clear, engaging, and exciting, but that he discovered and presented these notions for the first time. Perhaps when Hawking first wrote this book, the average layman understood little of some of the more advanced hypotheses and breakthroughs of physics, but it’s partly testament to the power of this, and other similarly stunning books, that these scientific ideas have become part of how we perceive our world and ourselves. No other scientist since Einstein, who, along with Newton and Galileo, is given a chapter, has had such a massive impact on the “common person” as Stephen Hawking. This book’s penetration into the mind of the reading public, whether they’ve actually read through from start to finish or not, has been the key reason for that impact.

I’m almost ashamed to admit that this is the first time that I’ve read A Brief History of Time . Like Hamlet or The Odyssey it has become so iconic, that I feel as if I had already read it before I came to the actual text. I knew that it was important, and I knew, to an extent, that it would be accessible, but what I didn’t know was that it would be as funny and engaging as any book I’ve read. Hawking is charming and self-deprecating, and his prose is both clear and intimate. This latest edition is a neat, smallish size hardcover version of the 1996 version and contains a number of black and white diagrams, images, and figures. There are also chapters on wormholes and time travel, and discussion around a unified theory of physics, which didn’t appear in the original version. From the original book are chapters on such things as the nature of space and time, the expanding universe, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle and its implications on how we view the world, quarks and other elementary particles, black holes (and how they also emit energy), the beginning and potential end of the universe, time and how it works (and doesn’t).

In its way, A Brief History of Time is comprehensive and detailed enough to be considered a kind of bible, but at the same time, Hawking plants so many seeds that he opens the door on a welter of new notions. At no point is he ever condescending, nor does he descend into overly technical, acronym rich (linguistically poor) language. There are almost no formulas in this book. His reverence towards the great scientists who preceded him, and who support and work with, and sometimes against him is always obvious. Nor does he attempt to “dumb down” what he’s presenting. Some of the concepts are unbelievably complex. Superstring and membrane theory, with their corresponding multiverses are pretty hard to take on board, but they are presented thoughtfully, carefully, and in a way which is extremely interesting. The notion of a boundless, singularity free universe is also quite difficult to visualise. Much of what Hawking writes about in this book is still in the news, from particle accelerators to the black holes at the centre of the universe, and he addresses his concepts in a timeless way that transcends the limitations of our knowledge, moving between a poetic levity and a childlike excitement:

We already know the laws that underlie all of chemistry and biology. Yet we have certainly not reduced these subjects to the status of solved problems: we have, as yet, had little success in predicting human behaviour from mathematical equations! So even if we do find a complete set of basic laws, there will still be in the years ahead the intellectually challenging task of developing better approximation methods, so that we can make useful predictions of the probability outcomes in complicated and realistic situations. (204)

A Brief History of Time is far more than a science book. It’s one of the renaissance books that is so seminal to the notion of who we are, and where we might be in the next fifty years, that it should be required reading for every person from high school on. If that seems like a big ask you’ve got the wrong idea about this book. It’s light and easy and fun, full of subtle humour and provocative notions.

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A brief history of time, by stephen hawking, recommendations from our site.

“Everybody knows Hawking’s greatest contributions: understanding that black holes radiate light and other particles, that they contain entropy and all these things that no one imagined before him. Hawking and Roger Penrose also worked out the Big Bang singularity, the very moment of creation. To hear him describe some of these things with his own word choices, his own phrasing—not to mention his own personal biography and his disability—there’s no other book like it.” Read more...

The Best Books on the Big Bang

Dan Hooper , Physicist

“ A Brief History of Time , for example, is a book that I read when I was in high school, or maybe even before that, and it was one of the books that got me really excited about cosmology. It has held up pretty well – we have discovered a lot about how the universe works since then, but it still gives you a very good overview of what we know. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve spoken with – my generation, or even a little younger – who basically got into astrophysics and cosmology because of that book. So that is a very central one.” Read more...

The best books on Cosmology

David Goldberg , Physicist

“It is a lovely book. It is very hard because he is trying to describe very complicated things, but he has actually done a very good job…… When Stephen Hawking wrote A Brief History of Time.. his publisher told him that every equation he left in would halve the number of readers” Read more...

The best books on Popular Science

Adam Hart-Davis , Broadcaster

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A Book Review Website

A Brief History of Time book review

In this “ A Brief History of Time ” book review, we will try to get a glimpse of Stephen Hawking’s ideas about the Universe. Science for all!

One of the most prominent minds of our time, the author explores serious questions that bother most of us, even if in shallow reflections.

Gracefully covered, in this book, we find topics such as:

• The beginning of the Universe
• What made its start possible?
• Are there boundaries?
• Are there other dimensions in space?
• Will it come to an end?
• Does time always flow forward?
• How does time work?
• What will happen when it all ends?
• Black holes.
• The quest for a general theory of everything.

And much more.

These concepts are so vast that can make some people dizzy, but, on the other hand, nobody can deny the author’s marvelous ability to synthesize such wondrous and challenging subjects for people that are not used to think about things they don’t usually think about.

Hawking attempts to reveal these questions using a minimum of technical jargon is told in a language we all can understand. He attempts to communicate complex science in a clear and quite elementary way that makes it comfortable to start reading the book.

Published over 20 years ago with compelling images and imagination, the book,  A Brief History of Time  jumps into the exotic sphere where possibilities are wondrous and unexpected.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest minds of our time, Stephen Hawking, one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists in history.

Hawking’s talent to make science natural and compelling is outstanding. He has authored or influenced numerous popular science books.

In the book A Brief History of Time,  he has helped many layman ordinary people understand the scientific (and some existential) questions that people usually ask nowadays.

Possibly not to everyone’s taste, Professor Hawking is a fascinating man who is refreshingly straightforward about his life and limitations. If not for anything else, this books is worth reading so we can learn much about Stephen Hawking’s view of his personal condition.

A most interesting man, the author has profound perceptions of the Universe that explain in better detail most of the questions listed above.

My Book Review

This work is deep science.

I say this book is not for everyone because I know people that, either don’t bother or are kind of afraid to ask those types of profound questions. Thinking about life and existence can be frightening to some.

However, to those fresh young minds, even on elder people, Stephen Hawkings is a delightful curtain opener.

He reveals his insights and ideas brilliantly and shows that his field (theoretical physics) is vast, deep, and emotional, but also quite easy to understand, given the right words.

I have gifted this book to both my children (grown ups), and they loved it as much as I did.

A landmark in science writing where Stephen Hawking brings us closer to the ultimate secrets of our existence, the book is certainly a journey worth taking; As he states, the reward of understanding the universe may be a glimpse of God’s mind.

Please leave a comment about this  A Brief History of Time book review.

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2 thoughts on “ A Brief History of Time book review ”

Hello there!

First off, you have an amazing website and great honest reviews.

I was considering A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking and was not sure if it was right for me, and even though I do think it is going to be very deep, I still can not wait to order one and get to reading. You provide so much detail about the books you review yet some how do not give away too much. Thanks again I will certainly be bookmarking this website Livia

Hello, Livia,

Don’t worry too much about the book being too deep. The writing is pretty accessible to most readers, considering the science topics. I’m pretty sure you will enjoy it.

Thanks for sharing your opinion and kind words. Cheers!

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A Brief History of Time

Stephen Hawking | 4.39 | 627,249 ratings and reviews

Ranked #1 in Cosmology , Ranked #1 in General Relativity — see more rankings .

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Richard Branson Founder/Virgin Group Today is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. (Source)

Dan Hooper Everybody knows Hawking’s greatest contributions: understanding that black holes radiate light and other particles, that they contain entropy and all these things that no one imagined before him. Hawking and Roger Penrose also worked out the Big Bang singularity, the very moment of creation. To hear him describe some of these things with his own word choices, his own phrasing—not to mention his own personal biography and his disability—there’s no other book like it. (Source)

Adam Hart-Davis When Stephen Hawking wrote A Brief History of Time..his publisher told him that every equation he left in would halve the number of readers (Source)

David Goldberg I can’t tell you how many people I’ve spoken with – my generation, or even a little younger – who basically got into astrophysics and cosmology because of that book. (Source)

Anurag Ramdasan My first intro into the world of physics and this got me completely hooked!

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Book Review: A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes

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Book review of "A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes" written by physicist Stephen W. Hawking, with a discussion about how the content relates to near-death experience topics.

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123-131 p. ; 23 cm.

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Serdahely, William J. Winter 1990.

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Book review: A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

Published: 2021.03.07 · 1 minute read

Many times in my life, I have thought about abstract things like space travel, the size of a universe, the importance of time, gravitational force, and other stuff like that. Do you sometimes contemplate anti earthly subjects like that, or is it just me? I had no idea where to seek answers for my questions, but luckily, I came across “A Brief History of Time” by Stephen Hawking" .

In this three-decades-old publication, Stephen Hawking demystified modern theoretical physics in an understandable way for ordinary people. From the basic definitions of space and time through big bang theory, expansion of the universe, black holes, time travel, and everything else that connects general relativity and quantum mechanics. I love that Hawking doesn’t battle between religion and science like many books on that subject tend to do.

Even tho it’s only around 250 pages, it takes a while to digest all the abstract-sounding concepts in this book, so don’t expect to smash it in one evening. The copy that I have is full of beautiful illustrations that I found helpful in grasping some of the concepts. I would recommend this publication to every curious one out there. I will catch you next time but until then, stay curious 👩‍🏫 👨‍🏫

Did you like it? Please share it with your friends. Thanks!

Those illustrations in the book look amazing. A few years ago I created a website for the Briefer History of Time that works as an offline copy of the book once you visit it. I've always wanted to add better illustrations, this makes me want to revisit that project.

👆 you can use Markdown here

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A Brief History of Time Paperback – January 1, 1990

• Print length 211 pages
• Language English
• Publisher RANDOM HOUSE UK
• Publication date January 1, 1990
• Dimensions 4.33 x 0.71 x 7.05 inches
• ISBN-10 0553176986
• ISBN-13 978-0553176988
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Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ RANDOM HOUSE UK; First Edition (January 1, 1990)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 211 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0553176986
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0553176988
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.33 x 0.71 x 7.05 inches
• #29 in Relativity Physics (Books)
• #48 in Quantum Theory (Books)
• #66 in Astrophysics & Space Science (Books)

About the author

Stephen hawking.

Stephen Hawking's ability to make science understandable and compelling to a lay audience was established with the publication of his first book, A Brief History of Time, which has sold nearly 10 million copies in 40 languages. Hawking has authored or participated in the creation of numerous other popular science books, including The Universe in a Nutshell, A Briefer History of Time, On the Shoulders of Giants, The Illustrated On the Shoulders of Giants, and George's Secret Key to the Universe.

(Stephen William Hawking; Oxford, Reino Unido, 8 de Enero de 1942 - Cambridge, 14 de marzo de 2018) Físico teórico británico. A pesar de sus discapacidades físicas y de las progresivas limitaciones impuestas por la enfermedad degenerativa que padecía, Stephen William Hawking es probablemente el físico más conocido entre el gran público desde los tiempos de Einstein. Luchador y triunfador, a lo largo de toda su vida logró sortear la inmensidad de impedimentos que le planteó el mal de Lou Gehrig, una esclerosis lateral amiotrófica que le aquejaba desde que tenía 20 años. Hawking es, sin duda, un ejemplo particular de vitalidad y resistencia frente al infortunio del destino.

Fue miembro de la Real Sociedad de Londres, de la Academia Pontificia de las Ciencias y de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Estados Unidos. Fue titular de la Cátedra Lucasiana de Matemáticas (Lucasian Chair of Mathematics) de la Universidad de Cambridge desde 1979 hasta su jubilación en 2009. Entre las numerosas distinciones que le han sido concedidas, Hawking ha sido honrado con doce doctorados honoris causa y ha sido galardonado con la Orden del Imperio Británico (grado CBE) en 1982, el Premio Príncipe de Asturias de la Concordia en 1989, la Medalla Copley en 2006, la Medalla de la Libertad en 2009 y el Premio Fundación BBVA Fronteras del Conocimiento en 2015.

Alcanzó éxitos de ventas con sus trabajos divulgativos sobre Ciencia, en los que discute sobre sus propias teorías y la cosmología en general; estos incluyen A Brief History of Time, que estuvo en la lista de best-sellers del The Sunday Times británico durante 237 semanas.

La Editorial Alvi Books le dedicó, como tributo y reconocimiento, este espacio en Amazon en 2016.

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• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 5 star 71% 20% 7% 1% 1% 71%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 4 star 71% 20% 7% 1% 1% 20%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 3 star 71% 20% 7% 1% 1% 7%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 2 star 71% 20% 7% 1% 1% 1%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 1 star 71% 20% 7% 1% 1% 1%

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Customers say

Customers find the book easy to read with enough brief explanations to explain the subject matter well. They also say the content is informative, explanatory, and passionate about the field. Readers also mention that the book has interesting chapters on worm holes, black holes, and time travel. They find the humor considerable.

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Customers find the book written with enough brief explanations to explain the subject matter quite well. They also say it's worth a quick read, and that the author is brilliant. Readers also say the book effortlessly walks them through theories of relativity, quantum mechanics, black holes, and the Big Bang. They say it’s a good eye-opener into how the universe works, and say the author has profound observations about the universe.

"...attempt to communicate complex science to the general public is written in a clear , almost elementary style, at least initially...." Read more

"...The book effortlessly walks you through theories of relativity , quantum mechanics, black holes, and the Big Bang Theory, among others...." Read more

" Fantastic read in ever respect . Had to take my time and think page my page." Read more

"...More than that, the book contains interesting stories of some Nobel Prize winners in physics with their results related to the mentioned fundamental..." Read more

Customers find the book informative, explanatory, and fascinating. They also say it's critical for understanding science fiction novels, and the most understandable description of the physics of time and matter. Readers also appreciate the detailed discussion of cosmology, quantum mechanics, and even religion. They say the author is a terrific teacher, and his passion for the field is evident.

"...Thus far, it seems like the perfect scientific book to read – it’s light, clever, and even funny at times...." Read more

"...: 8.5/10 - A riveting journey through the cosmos that challenges, enlightens , and awakens the star-gazer in us all...." Read more

"... Very interesting chapters on worm holes , black holes, and time travel and the impossibility of a spaceship going faster than light speed...." Read more

"...He is a terrific teacher !..." Read more

Customers find the book has considerable humor and is an easy read. They also say the author is very witty and has an excellent sense of humor.

"...the perfect scientific book to read – it’s light, clever, and even funny at times ...." Read more

"...What I liked most was Hawking's writing style where he inserts both humour where required ..." Read more

"...to be, I nevertheless found this classic book fascinating and genuinely funny in parts ...." Read more

"...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..." Read more

Customers find the historical context of the book interesting, frustrating, and timeless. They also say the theoretical treatment of time is well balanced, and the conclusion chapters are simple and enjoyable for the average person to understand.

"...The end of the book is great with short bibliographies on the big 3 scientists Albert Einstein, Galileo Galilei, and Issac Newton...." Read more

"...Hawking provides an entertaining and structured summary of the (then-current) understanding of the cosmos with a non-mathematical approach directed..." Read more

"...Author has done an excellent job for those chapters and I enjoyed reading them...." Read more

"...These are great reasons to reread this classic work , which has to be one of the finest in the history of science." Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the math in the book. Some find it not too cerebral, with no knowledge of math needed. They also say a small portion of the book was interesting, while others say it's boring and an authoritative study of time and space.

"...However, I found that getting to the actual information was a boring and tedious process...." Read more

"...Not sure how to put all three thoughts together! The book is brief if compared to War and Peace!..." Read more

"...I found the book hard to hold my attention at times" Read more

"...beginning, but right in the middle it becomes very boring and frustrating . Why?..." Read more

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A Brief History Of Time: From Big Bang To Black Holes [Paperback] Hawking, Stephen Paperback – 1 January 2015

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Was there a beginning of time? Could time run backwards? Is the universe infinite or does it have boundaries? These are just some of the questions considered in an internationally acclaimed masterpiece which begins by reviewing the great theories of the cosmos from Newton to Einstein, before delving into the secrets which still lie at the heart of space and time.

• Print length 240 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Bantam
• Publication date 1 January 2015
• Dimensions 19.8 x 12.9 x 1.46 cm
• ISBN-10 0553175211
• ISBN-13 978-0553175219
• See all details

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About the author.

STEPHEN HAWKING was a brilliant theoretical physicist and is generally considered to have been one of the world's greatest thinkers. He held the position of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge for thirty years and is the author of A Brief History of Time which was an international bestseller. His other books for the general reader include A Briefer History of Time, the essay collection Black Holes and Baby Universe, The Universe in a Nutshell, The Grand Design , and Black Holes: The BBC Reith Lectures. He died on 14 March, 2018.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bantam; Latest Edition (1 January 2015)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0553175211
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0553175219
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 170 g
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 19.8 x 12.9 x 1.46 cm
• Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ United Kingdom
• #3 in Astronomy (Books)
• #13 in Science & Mathematics
• #28 in Crafts, Hobbies & Home

About the author

Stephen hawking.

Stephen Hawking's ability to make science understandable and compelling to a lay audience was established with the publication of his first book, A Brief History of Time, which has sold nearly 10 million copies in 40 languages. Hawking has authored or participated in the creation of numerous other popular science books, including The Universe in a Nutshell, A Briefer History of Time, On the Shoulders of Giants, The Illustrated On the Shoulders of Giants, and George's Secret Key to the Universe.

(Stephen William Hawking; Oxford, Reino Unido, 8 de Enero de 1942 - Cambridge, 14 de marzo de 2018) Físico teórico británico. A pesar de sus discapacidades físicas y de las progresivas limitaciones impuestas por la enfermedad degenerativa que padecía, Stephen William Hawking es probablemente el físico más conocido entre el gran público desde los tiempos de Einstein. Luchador y triunfador, a lo largo de toda su vida logró sortear la inmensidad de impedimentos que le planteó el mal de Lou Gehrig, una esclerosis lateral amiotrófica que le aquejaba desde que tenía 20 años. Hawking es, sin duda, un ejemplo particular de vitalidad y resistencia frente al infortunio del destino.

Fue miembro de la Real Sociedad de Londres, de la Academia Pontificia de las Ciencias y de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Estados Unidos. Fue titular de la Cátedra Lucasiana de Matemáticas (Lucasian Chair of Mathematics) de la Universidad de Cambridge desde 1979 hasta su jubilación en 2009. Entre las numerosas distinciones que le han sido concedidas, Hawking ha sido honrado con doce doctorados honoris causa y ha sido galardonado con la Orden del Imperio Británico (grado CBE) en 1982, el Premio Príncipe de Asturias de la Concordia en 1989, la Medalla Copley en 2006, la Medalla de la Libertad en 2009 y el Premio Fundación BBVA Fronteras del Conocimiento en 2015.

Alcanzó éxitos de ventas con sus trabajos divulgativos sobre Ciencia, en los que discute sobre sus propias teorías y la cosmología en general; estos incluyen A Brief History of Time, que estuvo en la lista de best-sellers del The Sunday Times británico durante 237 semanas.

La Editorial Alvi Books le dedicó, como tributo y reconocimiento, este espacio en Amazon en 2016.

Customer reviews

• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 5 star 71% 20% 5% 1% 2% 71%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 4 star 71% 20% 5% 1% 2% 20%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 3 star 71% 20% 5% 1% 2% 5%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 2 star 71% 20% 5% 1% 2% 1%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 1 star 71% 20% 5% 1% 2% 2%

Customers say

Customers find the book very insightful and written in a simple manner. They also appreciate the vivid exposition and exciting exposition. However, some customers report good quality of papers and printing, while others find it poor.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the book very insightful, complex, and useful. They also say it explains the concept of astronomy in easy language, contains the history of universe, and provides frank insight on Isaac Newton. Readers say the author is an excellent teacher who knows how to explain science in easy to understand language. They say the book keeps them engaged and is the best book from a legendary author.

"...of the science vs theology debate, this book is one of the most intellectually exhilarating (and challenging) ones you can hope to read." Read more

"...is no denial of the fact that this is an excellent, didactic book for the inquisitive minds , eager to learn about the different, unexplored..." Read more

"...A Brief History of Time is not an easy book to read. The concepts it discusses are complex and require a certain level of mathematical knowledge...." Read more

" Very insightful book ." Read more

Customers find the book written in a simple manner so that everyone can understand the basic outlook of time. They also appreciate the explanations and diagrams. Customers also say it's a great book for beginners, with ironical simplicity and lucid exposition.

"...That is not true. Although the book is written in a simple language , it is a book on science and some of the concepts are difficult to understand...." Read more

"This book is easy to understand as Stephen Hawking mention there is no equation in this book so the the reader can understand easily you also does..." Read more

"... Good for beginners who want the gist of universe" Read more

"...The book is written in simple English which is understandable to every reader...." Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the printing quality of the book. Some find the papers good and the printing good, while others say the quality is not up to the mark and there is no genuineness.

"...It’s authentic, not a copy, which I appreciate. However, the page quality is a bit poor , and the price seems high for the size of the book...." Read more

"The book that I received was all good without any damage with a good quality of papers and also nothing was missing at all...." Read more

" page quality was bad . but it doesn't matter to me. not a bad deal." Read more

"...The diagrams are visible, and the pages are of good quality . There is no instance where the contents of one page is visible on the other...." Read more

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Aesthetic Blasphemy

A million little things..., book review: a brief history of time by stephen hawking.

A Brief History of Time

Stephen hawking

ISBN: 978-0-553-17698-8

By a matter of sheer luck or by divine providence, we, humans have landed in a place from where we can either look out at the cosmos and be humbled by its perceived endlessness, or we can look in, deeper into the structure of which we are made of and be in awe of how the same elements can produce so much diversity from grains of sand to massive stars, and of course, us. Some people choose to look through the telescope, a few through the microscope while another few sit back in their armchairs and observe the world as it unfolds. First came the armchair thinkers, and they brought with them many insightful ideas, some good and some bad. While a few were too uncomfortable with the idea of an ever pervading omnipotent force, God, others, the ones whose ideas then appealed more to masses, readily accepted this concept. But when all three coalesce into a personality who strives to unify them into one cogent theory, we find one of a kind person -Stephen Hawking. It has been an endeavor of science to find that single theory which could explain everything, where every partial theory that we’ve read so far (in school) is explained as a case of the unified theory within some special circumstances.

Stephen Hawking has tried to explain the nature of our universe, from the smallest particles which cannot be seen to the biggest entities, the black holes, which (ironically) also cannot be seen, in a simpleton’s language. Barring one mathematical equation, the famous mass energy equivalence relation by Einstein, Hawking has done away with all mathematics and made accessible to a layman the treasures of science and the knowledge of the universe that we have acquired so far (more correctly till the time the book was written) while conjecturing what might be the ingredients of that unified theory.

He has made an honorable attempt at bridging the divide between what the common man knows and what feats science has come to achieve. He explains the reason for this divide as: ‘Up to now, most scientists have been too occupied with the development of new theories that describe what the universe is, to ask the question why . On the other hand, the people whose business it is to ask why , the philosophers, have not been able to keep up with the advances of scientific theories.’ He ascribes this lagging to the mathematics and science becoming ‘too technical and mathematical for the philosophers, or anyone else except a few specialists. Philosophers reduced the scope of their inquiries so much that Wittgenstein, the most famous philosopher of this century, said “The sole remaining task for philosophy is the analysis of language.” What a comedown from the great tradition of philosophy from Aristotle to Kant!’ He has tried to fill in what the general audience has been lacking.

In this brief history of time and science as we know it today, he takes us on a journey from the time when Aristotle and the world of that era believed that Earth was the center of the universe and supported on the back of a giant tortoise to our contemporary age when we know better. It is a brief and enjoyable story of science, the painstaking efforts on the part of scientists and philosophers to explain the world as we see it or as they saw it, the mistakes they committed, and the profound truths that they unraveled.

First, he starts to look out into space. He explain the nature of the stars, their life and their sizes. The various efforts that have helped us understand them better, and in a way, understand our own power house, the sun. We now know, with certain confidence what will become of our sun, and when. From the old tradition of watching the night skies and forming stories and superstitions about them to concepts of heaven and hell to Newton’s law of gravity and to Einstein’s General theory of relativity, we discover how it works and how we’ve come this far. He breaks our notions of absolutes, of how, first, as Newton discovered, space is relative and then nearly 250 years later, Einstein shook the world by showing that time isn’t absolute either and how everything in the world is altering this space time-fabric. One thing leads to another, and then comes a peculiar case of singularity which cannot be explained or surpassed by classical theories - what happens inside the black holes, and what happened during the Big Bang. Incidentally, singularities are usually best avoided by mathematicians (and quantum theory propounds that these two cases might not lead to singularities after all).

Then, he diverts the gaze from the stars to smaller things, searching for answers on the microscopic level - on how things are made, and what they are made of. A new science, Quantum Theory evolves and seems to answer every phenomenon on the microscopic level. Yet, it does not offer answers on the cosmic scale, until attempts are made to unify the two major theories – The Quantum theory of electrodynamics which seems to govern everything small, and the general theory of relativity which dominates large things– into a single unified ‘Quantum theory of gravity’. However, we still hold that ‘Gravity is not the reason why people fall in love’ . If you follow close, as exasperating as it might get sometimes - like the unimaginable idea of imaginary time which could hold answers of how it all began and how it will all end, of the existence of God and why the things are the way they are, the Weak Anthropic principle - you will be asking questions all along, and will be rewarded in kind. I for one, quite lost it after Quarks, and had to go through it again before I encountered a picturesque detail of the particle interpretation of gravitons and the weirdness of spin. Can you imagine a particle which if given one rotation would not look like it was before, but if you rotated it twice, would end up looking like it was initially? No? Neither can I, but they are mathematically proven to exist, and much experimental evidence also exists.

Stephen Hawking, as he himself says, has tried to find the nature of God, or later as he corrects, the mind of God in this grand design. He does not disappoint the meta-physicist who is appeased by the idea of divine intervention. In numerous places, he argues with himself over the universe being a work of God, and how did he go about doing it? ‘ What did God do before he created the universe? Augustine didn’t reply: He was preparing Hell for people who asked such questions. Instead, he said that time was a property of the universe that God created, and that time did not exist before the beginning of the universe.’ But, as I mentioned earlier, if we can get comfortable with the idea of imaginary time, it could hold the answers of why were are here asking these questions and with some certainty (but not absolutely) what would have happened if this were not the case, which leaves God pretty much on the bench for a long, long time.

The book is beautiful in a way that it is presented. It is a fun read, but be wary that the jump into the quantum domain can turn the best of believers into agnostic worriers, so give some allowance to doubt. It might all be an illusion after all, with us living in the imaginary while thinking that the real is imaginary, something like living inside a mirror and thinking that the real person is our mirror image. It might all lead to zero, everything coming out of nothing, and yet amounting to nothing (which would be very frustrating to find out after going through all this). As is often quoted in the religious books – Seek, and Ye shall find!

P.S.: There is a little thought trail that I managed to record while it was escaping me after reading some part of this book. You can read it here.

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A brief history of time.

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