Rating: 
Summary: The Joy of Science
Review: The remarkable Stephen Hawking has done it again - another soaring, searching work that is also a textbook to those not familiar with the scientific world and its latest thoughts. In this original work, he traces the "history" of time from both human and cosmic viewpoints. Our psychology and manner of thinking affects our own outlook on the subject as much (or more) than the subject itself. FOr what he states is that time is not a flowing stream but an entity - an actual thing - that ticks in a steady beat. It's almost as if time were the heartbeat of the Universe and we simply dwell in its streams. He also brings in relativity, time travel and other curious notions that we have all thought about but then discarded as too arcane for general discussion. Reading Steven Hawking reminds me of those Isaac Asimov novels where robots, to save manking, disable our motor functions and we simply sit ("With Folded Hands"). But this act somehow jump starts our minds into being able to transmit thoughts; it was aptly titled "And Searching Minds" This is what I feel whenever I think of this man.
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Summary: Fascinating story of cosmology, relativity & quantum mechnx
Review: Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time was originally published in 1988 and helped thousands of lay-people keep up with the latest ideas about the nature of the universe. This 10th anniversary edition adds the latest advances in science and technology in the last decade and adds a new chapter on the subject of time travel and wormholes. (This is my rehash.) Since the beginning of history, mankind has pondered the origins of the universe. In ancient civilization, humans believed the earth was flat. Aristotle was perhaps one of the first people to postulate that the earth was not flat, but spherical. However, prior to Copernicus, it was believed that the earth was the center of the universe. Now we know that our sun is just one in millions of stars in a vast array of galaxies. It was Edwin Hubble that demonstrated that the universe was expanding. The idea that the universe is expanding means that there must have been a beginning, and a beginning of time. This was the first time that the origin of the universe had become a matter of science. Newton's theory of gravity was always assumed to be accurate, until Einstein came along with the general theory of relativity. Einstein came up with the theory that no mass can travel faster than the speed of light. In his formula, E=mc², the more energy an object has, the more mass it has, and thus the more resistance. The only constant that can be really sure is speed, or rate, while time and distance can be relative. Time, is another dimension of our universe. Because of the distance of the stars and galaxies away from us, we are seeing what happened in the past. Prior to the uncertainty principle, scientists held a very deterministic view of the universe that reflected the modernistic Enlightenment era. The uncertainty principle shows that you cannot predict the future state of a particle. This showed that there is a limit to which science can predict future events based on the laws of physics. As a result of the uncertainty principle, quantum mechanics was formulated to deal with the limitations arising from the uncertainty principle. Rather than trying to define the exact locations of particles, they had a quantum state which factored position and velocity. Democritus, the Greek philosopher who coined the term atom, was perhaps the first philosopher who thought that there was an indivisible element of matter. It was not until the past century that it was discovered that an atom itself had an internal structure. According to quantum mechanics, an atom's particles move in waves because of the nature of its wave/particle duality. The exclusion principle says that a particle cannot exist in the same state or location at the same time. The exclusion principle explains why matter does not collapse into a very high density. Hawkings describes how force-carrying particles can be grouped into four categories based on varying strength: gravitational force, electromagnetic force, weak nuclear force, and a strong nuclear force. There have been attempts to combine these forces into a grand unified theory. However, grand unified theories do not include the force of gravity, which has been the subject of general relativity. A future quantum theory of gravity would hopefully unite quantum mechanics with general relativity. The affect of gravity on light was not clarified until after the theory of general relativity. It was hypothesized that a star could have such a large gravitational force that light could not escape-that would be a black hole. Black holes are difficult to detect. There currently is evidence for a number of black holes, and even some hints that there are black holes at the center of galaxies. At the big bang, the universe was infinitely small. Hawking notes something interesting in that if the rate of expansion was any slower, then the universe would have recollapsed under its own gravitational forces. Hawking suggests that it is possible that God might have picked the initial configuration of the universe, but that the weak anthropic principle states that we see the universe the way it is because if it was not that way, then we would not be here to see it. The strong anthropic principle says that there may be many different universes (multiverse) or many different regions in the universe so that the odds are that intelligent life may form somewhere. I believe that the universe appears to be so finely tuned for life because it was created that way, not because we happened to have lucky odds. The strong anthropic principle was developed as a way to avoid the idea of an intelligent designer. If there was a Creator, then we can believe that the universe was created this way on purpose. The "inflationary" model of the beginning of the universe has been formulated in order to show that many different initial configurations of the universe could have been possible so that life could be sustained. This means that the universe once expanded at an increasing rate, faster than today. Nevertheless, even if we discover all of the laws of the universe, we still would not know why the universe was here to begin with. As Hawking asks, "Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?"
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, elegant, concise!
Review: This perhaps the masterpiece of all science books aimed at general readers. I highly recommend everyone reads it at some point of their lives. Stephen hawking is one of the most brilliant scientists of our time, and in this book he demonstrates how he is equally one of the best science writers. At first I was so intimidated by the reputation of Hawking as a leading physicist I dared not open the book, expecting to find bulky equations and unintelligible discussions of exotica. I couldn't have been further from the truth. "A Brief History of Time" defies the majority of science books in how easily it is accessible to the general readers. Instead of equations, one finds very simple diagrams beautifully explaining some of the strangest physical phenomena: space-time, relativity, black holes, the Big Bang. It is all in here, and a glossary is provided to remind readers of the meaning of some of the more exotic terms. Best of all, Hawking himself has played major roles in discovering and understanding some of those phenomena, so this book is an autobiography of sorts from one of the people who actually founded modern cosmology. One of the best things about this book is its brevity, making it possible for one to finish this book in an amount of time such that one remembers the beginning and does not lose sight of the big picture throughout. This is a major advantage over some of the other books like the thick "Black Holes" book by Kip Thorne. What this book lacks, though, is a bibliography to direct interested readers to other books on the topic. Perhaps this is a product of this book being a pioneer - very few other introductory books on science existed when it first appeared.
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Summary: Wondrous Nature Of The Universe Explained To Laymen!
Review: For those of us who were actually curious enough to actually open the covers of this remarkable exposition of very sophisticated scientific concepts laid simpler and comprehensible in Professor Stephen Hawking's disarmingly straightforward style, update and expanded original version of the originally published text is indeed a veritable treasure trove of layman's explanations for some wondrous scientific phenomena. Hawking, who is still a Lecturer in Physics at Cambridge University despite an progressively debilitating neuro-muscular disease, has a rather unique capability to eschew anything other than the bare minimum of all the otherwise stupefying scientific mumbo-jumbo as he explains various aspects of the expanding universe as black holes, the nature of time, the so-called "big bang", and then again, even the phenomenon of gravity itself. Hawking addresses the fundamental nature of physics as he proceeds to sift through these fascinating and long enduring mysteries of the universe. As a result, then, his somewhat rhetorical questions are presented for the single purpose of elucidating some interesting, provocative, and fairly indisputable answers to the nearly timeless ponderings we all seem to harbor about this wider world we all inhabit. Still, one's consciousness seems to struggle in vain to consider the sheer scale of such conceptual configurations, with concepts that appear to be so immense and so dislocated to anything within our common experience while absorbed in our ordinary day-to- day time-space continuum as to give any among us a pregnant pause while contemplating the nature of the universe. Of course, such a realization merely serves to magnify the sheer scope of the author's accomplishment in conceptualizing and executing such an approachable and accessible text, one that so vividly describes the origins and nature of our universe. This is a marvelous book, and one I can heartily recommend. Enjoy!
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Summary: The Wonderful Original Edition Of Hawking's Book!
Review: For those of us curious enough to actually open the covers of this remarkable exposition of very sophisticated scientific concepts laid simpler and comprehensible in Professor Stephen Hawking's disarmingly straightforward style, this original version of the now updated text is indeed a veritable treasure trove of layman's explanations for some wondrous scientific phenomena. Hawking, who is still a Lecturer in Physics at Cambridge University despite an progressively debilitating neuro-muscular disease, has a rather unique capability to eschew anything other than the bare minimum of all the otherwise stupefying scientific mumbo-jumbo as he explains various aspects of the expanding universe as black holes, the nature of time, the so-called "big bang", and of course, gravity itself. Hawking addresses the fundamental nature of physics as he proceeds to sift through these fascinating and long enduring mysteries of the universe. As a result, then, his somewhat rhetorical questions are presented for the single purpose of elucidating some interesting, provocative, and fairly indisputable answers to the nearly timeless ponderings we all seem to harbor about this wider world we all inhabit. Still one's consciousness seems to struggle in vain to consider the sheer scale of such conceptual configurations, with concepts that appear to be so immense and so dislocated to anything within our common experience while absorbed in our ordinary day-to- day time-space continuum as to give any among us a reeling and recurring case of vertigo. Of course, such a realization merely serves to magnify the sheer scope of the author's accomplishment in conceptualizing and executing such an approachable and accessible text, one that so vividly describes the origins and nature of our universe. This is a marvelous book, and one I can heartily recommend. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Music of the Cosmic Strings
Review: My favorite book on this subject (Einsteinian physics and cosmology) was Murchie's "Music of the Spheres" which is now very much outdated. So, to catch up on time, space and wormholes and those things that Star Trek writers are so glib about, I read Hawkings esteemed book. Steven J. writes with great simplicity and aplomb, taking the physics-novice on a wonderful tour of the theory of our universe. Is it all truth? The unified theory still has, uh, issues, and Hawkings is not coy about the deficits in the theory. A good book if you like science and physics as I do.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting, disturbing science fact and theory.
Review: Why haunting? Because it makes you think of things more important than what kind of shorts Bill Clinton wears, or whether Dan Quayle can spell potatoes, or even if George Bush knows who is the leader of Myanmar. Why disturbing? Because you cannot escape concluding that God must have indeed been a mathematical genius - for me God would have to have been able to establish the laws of physics and so forth. Please don't think of me as blasphemous. I am convinced that the universe must have been the work of the one we English speakers call God. No accident could have resulted in the chaos we are now witness to. It was largely through Hawking's discussions that I concluded that the end of our present era will give birth to the next. I differ on his hypothesis of the end of the expansion resulting in an implosion though. After coming to grips with his explanation that the logical conclusion of the current accelerating expansion, if it continues, he extends the calculations to show that as the speed approaches the speed of light, mass expansion also will begin to fill all the universe. As I recall, he theorized that at this point expansion would likely convert into implosion and, at some stage, result in another big bang. I feel he may have overlooked something here. If increased speed results in increased mass to the point he states, then it is logical (to me) that it will do so and all the universe will become one mass (nearly) and will then explode without imploding. In other words, a continuous expansion continues but new laws of physics result and perhaps planets without life become the exception rather than the rule. Okay, that last point is a bit of a stretch. But, in God's world, anything is possible if He wills it. Time to get off the soap box and to stop showing how limited is my intellect. Read the book and draw your own conclusions!
Rating:
Summary: Informative and an Enjoyable Read
Review: As a philosophy student I primarily read this work for it philosophical implications. I found Dr. Hawking's writing style to be extremely accessible despite the heavily scientific nature of the material. Though some of the mathematical explanations were beyond my grasp (especially in the latter chapters), the general implications of his theories were clearly outlined and explained in the most down-to-earth manner possible. I often suffer from the affliction of losing interest in a book halfway through, but I found that in this case my attention span was not an issue. Hawking's presentation of the subject matter was such that I was never discouraged or bored by his explanations. His diagrams and pictures were tremendously helpful in this area. I highly recommend this book to those with even a passing interest in the nature of our universe, as Hawking's findings in this field certainly lie at the very forefront of all human knowledge. I cannot speak from the perspective of the serious student of physics, but I think that there is clearly much is this work that will interest him as well.
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Summary: Time is of the essence...
Review: The mark of a true educator, which Stephen Hawking certainly is, is that he would take time (very valuable time, in his case) away from research and contemplation of the great mysteries of the universe to write a piece that would serve to help explain to the greater number of less-scientifically-adept persons the fruits and implications of modern scientific research from the cutting edge of physics. Hawking is ranked in popular and scientific thinking on a par with Einstein, and has motor neuron disability that severely restricts his ability to move, even to type or write, so, when he takes time to write something for general consumption, it is probably going to be worthwhile. And indeed, this is. 'Someone told me that each equation I included in the book would halve sales. I therefore resolved not to have any equations at all. In the end, however, I did put in one equation, Einstein's famous equation. I hope that this will not scare off half of my potential readers.' Hawking begins by exploring the large scale structure of the universe (time being part of the 'fabric' of the universe, in spacetime), the connections of space and time as a relatively new concept in thinking of the universe, and the way the universe 'acts' (cosmological dynamics). From there, he explores the universe at a very basic level, as elementary particles and forces of nature, introducing quarks. 'There are a number of different varieties of quarks: there are thought to be at least six "flavours", which we call up, down, strange, charmed, bottom and top. Each flavour comes in three "colours", red, green and blue. ...We now know that neither the atoms nor the protons and neutrons within them are indivisible. So the question is: What are the truly elementary particles, the basic building blocks from which everything is made?' From this discussion Hawking proceeds to black holes (and the fact that they aren't so black and permanent as popular belief holds them to be), which circles back around to the origin and destiny of the universe (which relates back to the large-scale structure), which ultimately brings us to time. This is where things begin to get interesting. 'When one tried to unify gravity with quantum mechanics, one had to introduce the idea of "imaginary" time. Imaginary time is indistinguishable from directions in space. If one can go north, one can turn around and head south; equally, if one can go forward in imaginary time, one ought to be able to turn around and go backward.' Hawking explains variations of the thermodynamic, psychological and cosmological laws that regulate the direction of time's arrow, which, despite the theoretical flexibility of time with regard to scientific principles, always apparently goes in one direction. Finally, Hawking explores the most current topic in theoretical physics: unification theories, which may or may not be a wild goose on the loose. Hawking also explores what such a grand unified theory (also called sometimes the 'theory of everything') would mean, and what it wouldn't mean. But Hawking assures us that the quest for understanding is worthwhile even it won't be the final word on everything.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good
Review: I enjoyed this book in the way that a child or mildly retarded monkey would enjoy something like an explosion. They don't know what it is or why, but it's sure fun to watch. After I finished, I had a grasp on what he was saying, such as the facts that space is out there, as are black holes, but I will never begin to fathom either, unlike Dr. Hawking, who is, perhaps, the smartest person to ever live. I would equate my reading of this book to my reading a book in French. I know words here and there, and I can read it from left to right, top to bottom, front to back, yet I still would not understand it. One benefit to owning it, even if you don't finish it...if you leave it on your coffee table people assume you're smart, or at least aspire to be. I am neither.
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