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The Universe in a Nutshell

The Universe in a Nutshell

List Price: $35.00
Your Price: $23.10
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Be Careful
Review: Prospective buyers should be aware that Stephen Hawking is trying legal action to have this book removed from sales. As I understand it, he says that it's a collection of his recorded comments from recent years, and he never intended it to be published and sold in book form.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great work, maybe not for everybody
Review: The Universe in a Nutshell is an excellent and fascinating work, though I'm not sure I'd recommend it for everybody. It isn't an easy read, and if you don't have some background in math and physics it may seem insurmountable. That being said, I would recommend that everyone at least check it out of the library and give it a shot. If you enjoy science, are truly curious about the universe, or intend to take any college level physics courses, this book is absolutely invaluable. I found the discussions of M-Theory, P-Branes and various theories about multi-dimensional space particularly fascinating. While the work is heavy on mathematical concepts, Hawking's sense of humor and lack of scholarly pretension make the book a wonderful read for those willing to exert the effort.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Think the Unthinkable With Hawking as Your Guide
Review: Let your thinking expand to the outer reaches of the Universe, and experience the unthinkable with today's greatest living genius, Stephen Hawking. His explanation of the inexplicable is brilliant yet easy to understand. You may even ask yourself "Why Didn't I Think of That?" As Hawking demonstrates in this wonderful book, and Einstein repeatedly observed, great complexities most often reduce to surprising simplicities, which only an active imagination reveals in the first instance. Hawking's book, like others such as "Why Didn't I Think of That? - Think the Unthinkable" show you that the unthinkable is indeed thinkable by the ordinary mind, and often what you consider unknowable is in fact within reach of your curious mind and its powerful imagination.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Nice Pictures, not sure I agree with/understand the rest...
Review: Very nice illustrations. The pictures in this book are very nice to look at. The text that goes along with them is very readable. The only problem is that there is no reason whatsoever given for why I should believe even half of it. I think this sort of thing appeals mainly to science fiction fans who would like to see some sort of validation of their hopes regarding how the universe works. Making SWAGs (which accounts for 75% of the material in the book) is fine, as long as you state that is what you are doing.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: ANOTHER LEFTOVER REHASH
Review: BESIDES THE RECENTLLY RELEASED "THEORY OF EVERYTHING" PROFFESSOR HAWKINS RECENT BOOKS HAVE ALL BEEN REHASHES OF HIS EARLIER WORKS PUFFED UP SO THEY COULD BE SOLD AS A BOOK.MANY OF THE SAME PIECES ARE BETTER AND MORE SIMPLY TOLD IN "THEORY" WHICH EVEN THOUGH FAR LESS EXPENSIVE IS CLEARLY HIS MASTERWORK.NUTSHELL IS PROFFESSOR HAWKINS LEAST IMPORTANT WORK AND IN FACT IS AN EMBARRASSMENT TO HIS GREAT LEGACY.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A concise introduction to complex ideas
Review: This book introduces today's leading topics about what we (humans) currently know and speculate about the universe. Hawking is careful to make proven theories clearly distinguishable from conjectures.

Throughout the book, Hawking portrays himself as a follower of the positivist philosophical current, which is important to understand his interpretation of the many topics he discusses.

The computer-generated illustrations are absolutely fabulous. There is at least one illustration for every concept that he talks about, and all of them are carefully designed to help him get the message across. If this wasn't enough, in addition to Hawking's own flow of ideas, there are alternate explanations attached to most illustrations (which were written by someone else) so, whenever a concept might sound a bit too complex in Hawking's words, you always have the option of reading "a second opinion".

Don't expect to gain a deep understanding of the topics discussed in the book. The intended audience of this book is, after all, a general one without any specific background (except perhaps for highschool physics).

The space in most pages of the book is dominated by the illustrations, so the length of the actual text written by Hawking is a lot shorter than you would imagine by looking at the thickness of the book. This makes it a very quick reading.

There are a few specks of Hawking's big ego every now and then throughout the book, but that doesn't detract from the book's overall quality at all.

Most readers will be satisfied by learning just what is discussed in this book. However, for those that might want to dig deeper, there is a list of references for further reading at the end of the book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: IT IS MORE THAN IT IS CRACKED UP TO BE
Review: This a most interesting and thought-provoking text. Whether it is NON-fiction or FICTION, only time will tell. I believe it would better be titled, "OUR Universe In A Nutshell." Hawking seems to ignore that our universe could be part of a universe of multiple universes. He illustrates Black Holes as quasi-3-dimensionals showing space-time as a flat sheet bent downward when, if space-time were truly bent,it would seem to flow around it like a ball dropped into the ocean. Hawking has a penchant for being able to take a very complex subject and describe it into relatively common concepts and terminology understandable to anyone with at least a high-school education. I could hardly put it down until after I had read it all, but I DID have to slow down on some parts because they were just so profound.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I suggest Mr. Hawking to read "The Way Of The Wizard"
Review: I suggest Mr. Hawking to read "The Way Of The Wizard" to better understand the UNIVERSE. Once he realizes what the heck is this universe, he will not try to write anything like this.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Absolutely the best book ever purchased
Review: To all who which to read this book, I can only say you cant go wrong.
Professors will find it interesting while the average man can also read it and find it facinating.
I never write reviews but this one is different, great book thank you Steven Hawking.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Don't waste your time
Review: Anyone who has high expectations of Hawking after reading _A Brief History of Time_ will be sorely disappointed.

This book is filled with pseudoscience and science fiction, and Hawking makes no attempt to separate them from the accepted "facts" of modern theoretical physics.

If you are looking for new discoveries in science, read a magazine. If you like whitty anecdotes about scientists, read Feynman. If you want to read about the power of the scientific method, read Sagan. And if you want to read science fiction, read Asimov. (If you want to read someone who is still alive, read Gleick).

Don't waste your time with this garbage. This book was a major disappointment, probably more so because of how good his first book was.


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