Rating: 
Summary: The best book I've ever read on the subject of cosmology!
Review: The book is loaded with great pictures & diagrams, making even the most complicated matters of cutting-edge science in the fields of cosmology & astrophysics easy to understand. This new expanded & updated version even contains a new chapter of wormholes & time travel. My favorite book related to science!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Audio Book Reader Ruins Hawking's Great Astrophysics Primer
Review: This review pertains to the Michael Jackson (no, not that Michael Jackson) reading of A Brief History of Time. Judged on the material alone, I would have given this audio book a 9. However, the reader takes Stephen Hawking's primer on astrophysics and turns it into a laughably bad presentation. He flubs words, puts "umm" and "err" everywhere trying to put forth some "natural" style of reading. Instead, it becomes truly annoying. I have noticed that there are 2 other audio book readings of the same work with later release dates. I would be willing to bet that the reaction to the Michael Jackson reading was so negative that Dove went back and re-recorded it.
Rating:
Summary: Time Travel
Review: I loved how Professor Hawking's purpose in writing this book was to allow the general public to understand complex theories of theoretical physics. My only wish is to share my ideas with this ingenious man on Time Travel, a subject which I have studied in detail over the last few years. Who knows? Perhaps my mediochre mind could add something to the immense knowledge of this Professor
Rating:
Summary: The simplest summary ever of complex scientific theory.
Review: As a student, I have always loved physics and scientific theory, but many of the cosmological ideas (such as the fourth dimension) have always escaped my comprehension. In this book, Stephen Hawking manages to explain all of these in great detail, but still in a way that one can understand, especially so because of the detailed photographs and diagrams. I greatly reccomend this book to anyone with an interest in science and cosmological theory
Rating:
Summary: The best book about the Universe for the general public
Review: This is an updated version of Hawking's 1988 bestseller: A Brief History of Time. Stephen Hawking, the greatest physicist since Albert Einstein, introduces the laws and ideas describing the Universe to the general public. Beautiful pictures (absent from the 1988 version of the book) help the reader in understanding the key topics covered by the author. This very well written book is a must reference for your home/office/public/school library
Rating:
Summary: Great Introduction to Modern Physics
Review: Not only is Stephen Hawking a brilliant theoretical physicist, he's
also a wonderful and easily-understood science writer, as this book
shows. The well-executed and informative graphics help to explain
the material, as well as visually breaking up the pages into smaller, more digestible pieces. The text is an excellent mix of
theory, history, and personal anecdotes. If you've ever found physics
interesting but a bit too complicated, this would be a great book to cut your metaphorical scientific teeth on.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome! Easy to understand!
Review: Stephen Hawking's, who is considered by many to be the most brilliant theoretical physicist since Albert Eistein, presents the material from his bestselling work "A Brief History of Time" in a format that non-brilliant people can easily comprehend. Hawking's says that just flipping through the book and looking at the pictures will help anyone to grasp many of the fundamental concepts of physics. This is a testament to the wonderful illustrations and diagrams throughout the book that truly help the reader understand the principles outlined. But I would strongly recommend that everyone read this book in its entirety, as it is an important work that will most likely influence one's thinking about the universe. The beginning of the book is spent outlining the ideas and people that have brought the science theories to where they are today. Material includes information on the theories of gravity, mechanics, relativity. Next, Hawking spends time discussing black holes and the big bang theory. I found both of these chapters fascinating and very easy to understand. The chapter about the big bang, entitled "The Origin and Fate of the Universe," really supported my belief that God created the universe, i.e. "In the beginning..." From the start, Hawking explains that all of science is merely theory and cannot be proven. This has as of late been my problem with science; how do we actually know anything that happened in the past when we can't and never will be able to observe it? Towards the end of the book I found Hawking's "theories" farfetched and unbelievable, although they were interesting. The information on wormholes and time travel seemed absurd to me -- how can time travel be possible when it is impossible to travel at speeds faster than light? Wormholes are not a reasonable explanation. Hawking's suggestion of a ten-dimensional world also went a little beyond science. In any event, these chapters did not take away from the book.
An interesting added feature of the book outlines the personal lives of three great scientists -- Einstein, Galileo, and Newton. I found this short section very insightful.
Throughout, Hawking weaves the concept of the quest for the "unification of physics," or combining the theory of relativity with the theory of quantum mechanics. Hawking's closing words in my opinion imply how futile our attempts to fully understand the world we live in are. "If we find the answer to [the unification of physics,] it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason -- for then we would know the mind of God." Perhaps this is the strongest message Hawking delivers, and ironically it has nothing to do with science, rather the vast greatness of God.
Rating:
Summary: a marvel of a book
Review: This book is truly a gem.. small volume but packed with a density of information..
Explore fascinating topics you could not think about in your wildest DREAMS.. topics are Black holes, Entropy, Origins of universe, Time Travel. Hawkings is truly a genius among geniuses.
(...) If you can finish the book, the knowledge is well worth it.
Rating:
Summary: A classical predecessor of the Elegant Universe
Review: Stephen Hawking is the first physicist who was able to combine the laws of the small - quantum mechanics - with the laws of the large - general relativity - to find out something fascinating: black holes evaporate. He was also the first man who published a book on theoretical physics that has become popular world-wide (about 9 million copies have been sold). Many readers have learned a lot of exciting things about our universe from this book. So did I - even though I was a student of theoretical physics. Although this book is not as perfect as Brian Greene's "The Elegant Universe", the successor of the Hawking's book in the position of the book on theoretical physics causing such a stir, "A Brief History of Time" will remain a tour de force, a pioneering work which began a new interest in physics among masses of people. That is why do I recommend you to read this book about the big bang, black holes, the quest for the ultimate theory and many other issues.
Rating:
Summary: HARD ON THE GENERAL PUBLIC
Review: Given the fact that professor Hawking possesses a prodigious mind, we cannot conclude that everybody can easily read and comprehend the concepts of time, wormholes, black holes, string theory and quantum gravity that the author purports to explain. But maybe one should expect a clearer understanding to stem from a book which was written for, and is specifically addressed, to the general public. So, in spite of the fact that this book has achieved the status of a best seller, and it is well written, I give it 3 stars because it does not really achieve its primary goal. Without assuming that we are all ignorant, but also discarding the contrary, one can doubt if more than 30% of those who bought it (except people that do not recognize the concept of humbleness) truly understands the subject matter. On the other hand, this is an interesting book for people versed in physics, engineering, mathematics and the like, but not for real operators in physics. So, if you are after a book from Hawking that can really help you to better understand universe, time and other complex issues, go after THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING. It is more like reading Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy.
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