Rating: 
Summary: Very Enjoyable!
Review: I especially liked that the name the "Hairless Black Hole" stuck and how this pissed off the French. Cool! We sure have evolved.
Rating:
Summary: Worth 6 stars
Review: An expanding universe and its physics and mystery fluently imparted. An easy read under the circumstances of the subject matter.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Dumb Enough
Review: The first part of this book that reviews classical physics is dumbed down enough for the layman. But the latter half that talks about time travel and black holes is not simplified enough for the average reader. A great amount of effort is put into making the state of current theoretical physics accessible to the largely ignorant public. But despite the abundance of (ugly) illustrations and references to Star Trek, this book is not quite dumb enough.
Rating:
Summary: Already been done.
Review: Professor Hawkings did much to improve on his previous book, A Brief History of Time.Being an owner of A Brief History of Time, and its illustrated counterpart, I found this book to be satisfying in covering the confusing parts of the former book. However, this means there are quite some repetition or things that you have already read if you had already read the previous book. By itself, it is a great book, and it's a must-read for anyone of all ages that wants to know how physics evolved to these days. However, if you already own the previous books by Professor Hawkings, the price tag might be a little steep. Nonetheless, it's a book that adds greatly to any science freak's collection.
Rating:
Summary: A Genius Explains It All
Review: A number of years ago Stephen Hawking wrote a book that became, it is said, one of the bestselling, unread books of all time--A Brief History of Time. Now, I, being a physicist and teacher myself, actually read the book when it came out and enjoyed it immensely, though I admit it has its flaws. His new book has many of the same strengths and flaws. There is no doubt that Hawking loves his work and it is always fun to read someone who gets that love across in their writing. He covers a number of inherently fascinating topics--the birth of the universe, black holes, time travel, etc.--and offers reasonable explanations of these phenomena. This book also has the advantage of being beautifully made and offering much more in the way of illustrations than A Brief History of Time does to help visualize the difficult concepts he is describing. It is in some ways a coffee table book of cutting edge physics. On the other hand, the concepts described are difficult and no number of illustrations is going to change that. Hawking himself says he tried to write a simpler book this time but he only partially succeeds. Most of the world has a difficult time grasping Einstein's four dimensional spacetime let alone higher dimensional spaces, flexible time and branes. Additionally, though Hawking always gives credit where credit is due, he's not above tooting his own horn and a current of arrogance runs through his text. The explanations he offers are his own and he often seems close-minded to other ideas. Not that I'm against this, per se. As I tell my students, confidence in the fact that you can get the right answer is a main ingredient of genius. It keeps someone like Hawking working through his unique ideas to their conclusion. Without that confidence, no new and world-changing thoughts would find their way to us. Still, it can be off-putting and some readers might not realize there are other theories out there. Ultimately, however, this is a book worth reading. Particularly if you like science and you can open your mind to multi-dimensional spaces. Hawking's ideas fire the mind and get you wondering about what the universe is really like whether or not you understand him or believe him.
Rating:
Summary: The Universe misunderstood
Review: While I appreciate a cogent theory as much as anyone, I see that there is a certain paralysis through analysis. If you look closely at what is in 1 square foot of any temporal space, you can become enamored by a sequence of inducted knowledge. Can you convert it to a language and a syntax understandable to the layman. Yes/no. The feeling of knowledge is a mood. A mood that allows no cognitive conversion. When in the aura of knowledge perception is sparked into exponential conscious understanding. As one attempts to deliver this mood via sequential language method, one notices the cascading failure of the mood. But one continues as if the knowledge was endemic to oneself. It is there surrounding all entities. Prevalent and hard to ignore. Yet we accomplish ignorance at great expense. We choose to think and organize, rather than just Feel. Our mentors have convinced us,as well as themselves, that to feel the whole thing at once and experience time/space as a convenient tool to be left in its holster, is too simple. To that end Prof Hawking is the one to travel with. However the Universe is best experienced alone. Shut of the self dialogue and interesting aspects of one's self will surface. Consciousness is best in its comprehensive form rather than the linear form.
Rating:
Summary: Physics for Poets
Review: I majored in English in college, and barely passed my Physics 105 class, so I think the fact that I found this book more than an easy read says a lot. Gliding through this book was like being the first person on the ice after the zamboni had resurfaced it. I have known about the idea of time as the fourth dimension, but until I read this book, I never understood it. I now also understand the difference between Newtonian and Einsteinian physics and relativity. The book is an education. But it is so much more; it's not a textbook, it's a journey. Somehow Hawking has managed to write a scientific odyssey of the type that was previously the domain of writers of Natural, rather than Mathematical sciences. The book contains copious color illustrations, but it scarcely needs to, because Hawking's language paints a canvas in the reader's mind. The reader is swept up in Hawking's enthusiasm, and like Alice following the White Rabbit down the hole, follows Hawking into a wonderland of curves and contours where time and space are inextricably tangled up, and time has shape. Particles, sheets, and strings travel through eleven dimensions; black holes appear and disappear, and superstring theory and p-branes may hold the final clue to the puzzle of this place where there is no up or down. No science fiction novel could ever compete with this adventure.
Rating:
Summary: Not being critical, just the truth
Review: Mr Hawking experiences what most of us do not since most of us experience what he does not. For this, and his personal reasons, he has devoted his life to the wonderment of existence and how it works. This is a lesson for all of us, at how much we could advance and achieve if we put a little more effort into the serious life rather than indulging in the joyable. Mr Hawkings has had to find enjoyment in this search for reality, and indeed in fact has found enjoyment. Searching is what this book is, I especially enjoyed the parts on time travel, maybe Mr Hawking would be in hope that the people of the future could discover how to travel back in time and save him and us. Views of god suddenly shift to us being god, if we were smart enough to get that far without destroying it all first. Karl Mark Maddox has a book that expands on that greatly, it is called SB 1 or God.
Rating:
Summary: Hawking's brilliance in relatively simplistic terms.
Review: In literary circles, Stephen Hawking is either revered for his brilliance or denounced for his inability to reach the common man (this is no different than the cross borne by any physicist). "The Universe in a Nutshell" has something for both camps, a very solid offering describing scientific breakthroughs of our mysterious universe and incredible illustrations providing the reader with a picture for the mind's eye. Those with a background in physics will find this enjoyable while those lacking any background in this arcane science will find it breathtakingly informative (that is a promise). As one of the preeminent scientists and thinkers alive, Dr. Hawking has presented this current work with the wit and candor that most of his contemporaries know him for. Moreover, the content of this offering is explained and articulated with the utmost clarity and lucidity. Dr. Hawking takes on the Theory of Everything in "The Universe in a Nutshell." He provides us a view and explanation of many of our mysteries including Black holes, M-theory, P-branes, Superstrings, Quantum mechanics, general relativity and much more. Sound daunting? It can be however, Dr. Hawking provides us neophytes a view into the scientific world not seen before by discussing each of these theories/mysteries in simple intellectual terms comparing and contrasting the theoretical perspective to evidential matter. While Dr. Hawking's exuberance shines through, the incredible four-color illustrations clarify the theories presented. For those wishing to understand OR gain an understanding of the universe including its many theories and mysteries, this book is a must read.
Rating:
Summary: Stephen Hawking is THE genius
Review: Simply amazing! Those who've read A Brief History Of Time and got the background knowledge will surely get astonished and amazed by this masterpiece. This is a one-of-a-kind scientific philosophical extremely illustrated and fun book. A MUST READ! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
| 
