In their bestselling book for young readers, noted physicist Stephen Hawking and his daughter, Lucy, provide a grand and funny adventure that explains fascinating information about our universe, including Dr. Hawking's latest ideas about black holes. It's the story of George, who's taken through the vastness of space by a scientist, his daughter, and their super-computer named Cosmos. George's Secret Key to the Universe was a New York Times bestseller and a selection of Al's Book Club on the Today show.
George's Secret Key to the Universe
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Gripping, informative and funny" The Bookseller 20070615 "It is like a Dr Who adventure, inspiring curiosity and amazement. It makes a case for the relevance and fascination of physics, and for the importance of scientists and eco-warriors working together to save the planet. With a happy circularity, the plot depends on a recent discovery: Hawking Radiation, the leaking of particles out of black holes until they destroy themselves" The Sunday Times 20070930 "A true beginner's guide to A Brief History of Time" Publishers Weekly "A rollercoaster ride from Stephen Hawking" Junior 20071101 "George's Secret Key to the Universe is a novel that anyone who devoured Captain Underpants a year or two ago will appreciate" LA Times 20071021
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
About the Author
Lucy Hawking is a coauthor of George's Secret Key to the Universe and the author of two adult novels. She is a journalist who has written for British newspapers and an administrative staff member of the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge. She has one son.
Stephen Hawking is a coauthor of George's Secret Key to the Universe. He is the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. He is widely regarded as one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists since Einstein. His adult book A Brief History of Time sold more than 12 million copies worldwide.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
126 of 136 people found the following review helpful
By Don Smilo
Format:Hardcover
Except for an unbelievably clunky and clumsy first 5-6 chapters (60+ pages), this book is pretty awesome in that it both introduces very interesting, mind-blowing science concepts (black holes, radiation out of black holes, and recapture of information from black holes) and also has a very fast-paced, page-turner adventure story (escaping from a black hole). However, I doubt that many people who are used to Harry Potter-style smoothness can manage to begin wading through the first 6 chapters (60+ pages), which are super-clunky, and still keep faith that there will be a good part of the book eventually. (I almost gave up and almost stopped reading altogether.) My advice is to either (1) keep faith or, even better, (2) skip the first 5 chapters completely (but suffer with chapter 6), and you won't miss a thing. If you really worry that you've missed something, you can go back and read chapters 1-5 after finishing the book. [See footnote at bottom of this review regarding why first 6 chapters are bad.]
Some other points worth noting are that (1) this story is of the formerly common type that feels the need to have an evil villain (who murders a main character, later resurrected) for storytelling convenience, even though good-vs-"pure evil" is not a theme in this book as it is in Harry Potter, and (2) the villain in this book is surprisingly scary, and is a teacher, which parents of very young kids might object to. I think the cavalier murder in this book is more scary than the murders in Harry Potter because in this book it just happens, and no one seems very outraged by it afterward (perhaps just because the victim was later resurrected?), and there is no punishment; it's as if murder were somehow ordinary and okay in this world, which I think is unsettling (perhaps inarticulably) to a child. Another point is that the last chapter seems clunky again and not true to actual children behavior (the student body cheers wildly at George's boring science lecture for no plausible reason), and is highly skippable for anyone who doesn't like the tone-deaf, moralizing aspects of the book.
To go beyond this book, if you like science wrapped in fiction for kids, you will LOVE "Clan Apis" (Clan Apis) by Jay Hosler, which is the best science-wrapped-in-fiction book that I have ever read, and is beautiful for adults (it may make some cry, in a good way) and great for a child of any age; my boy loved it at age 2. For older kids and for adults, the classic "Mr. Thompkins In Paperback" by George Gamow is awesome, but don't bother with the "updated" version, "New Adventures of Mr. Thompkins" by Russell Stannard and the still-deceased George Gamow, because the updated version shovels boring lecture-mode verbosity into George Gamow's light and whimsical prose. Stannard's "Uncle Albert" series of books (e.g., Black Holes and Uncle Albert) is extremely good--in many ways better than this "George's Secret Key .." book by the Hawkings because the "Uncle Albert" books have better, more in-depth science. But this Hawkings' book has a more intense adventure and a slightly more mind-bending and rarely-mentioned (but superficially treated) science topic: recapture of information from a black hole. Of course, "The Magic Schoolbus" series and "The Magic Treehouse" series are good, too, for knowledge-wrapped-in-fiction. Please, fellow reviewers, tell us about other good knowledge-in-fiction stories, as did our fellow reviewer Sandhya when he mentioned "Sophie's World". Thanks.
[Footnote: The first 6 chapters (and the last chapter) of this "George's Secret Key ..." book are so bad that they almost seem to be written by a different set of authors as the rest of the book. In the first 6 chapters, instead of using science as part of the story, the book teaches science only via very boring LECTURE after LECTURE from the neighbor-girl's dad to the title character George. Also, in the first 6 chapters, there is some annoyingly heavy-handed and inelegant moralizing and social commentary. Also, there are just too many unnecessary details that don't move the story along in the first 6 chapters. The free excerpt on the Amazon site (i.e., the book's first 10 pages) give a hint of the over-verbosity of the first 60+ pages of the book. 10 whole pages into the Amazon excerpt, and nothing has happened except a pig is discovered missing, and we haven't left the house yet, and nothing will happen for many more pages! For just one example among many of over-detailedness, we can see that the authors spend many words on the pig, but the words on the pig are a big waste of time because the pig will cease to matter the second the boy goes next door! Further to the free excerpt on Amazon's page, I will in the "comments" section give another example passage that shows the clumsiness of the first 6 chapters. ]
Some other points worth noting are that (1) this story is of the formerly common type that feels the need to have an evil villain (who murders a main character, later resurrected) for storytelling convenience, even though good-vs-"pure evil" is not a theme in this book as it is in Harry Potter, and (2) the villain in this book is surprisingly scary, and is a teacher, which parents of very young kids might object to. I think the cavalier murder in this book is more scary than the murders in Harry Potter because in this book it just happens, and no one seems very outraged by it afterward (perhaps just because the victim was later resurrected?), and there is no punishment; it's as if murder were somehow ordinary and okay in this world, which I think is unsettling (perhaps inarticulably) to a child. Another point is that the last chapter seems clunky again and not true to actual children behavior (the student body cheers wildly at George's boring science lecture for no plausible reason), and is highly skippable for anyone who doesn't like the tone-deaf, moralizing aspects of the book.
To go beyond this book, if you like science wrapped in fiction for kids, you will LOVE "Clan Apis" (Clan Apis) by Jay Hosler, which is the best science-wrapped-in-fiction book that I have ever read, and is beautiful for adults (it may make some cry, in a good way) and great for a child of any age; my boy loved it at age 2. For older kids and for adults, the classic "Mr. Thompkins In Paperback" by George Gamow is awesome, but don't bother with the "updated" version, "New Adventures of Mr. Thompkins" by Russell Stannard and the still-deceased George Gamow, because the updated version shovels boring lecture-mode verbosity into George Gamow's light and whimsical prose. Stannard's "Uncle Albert" series of books (e.g., Black Holes and Uncle Albert) is extremely good--in many ways better than this "George's Secret Key .." book by the Hawkings because the "Uncle Albert" books have better, more in-depth science. But this Hawkings' book has a more intense adventure and a slightly more mind-bending and rarely-mentioned (but superficially treated) science topic: recapture of information from a black hole. Of course, "The Magic Schoolbus" series and "The Magic Treehouse" series are good, too, for knowledge-wrapped-in-fiction. Please, fellow reviewers, tell us about other good knowledge-in-fiction stories, as did our fellow reviewer Sandhya when he mentioned "Sophie's World". Thanks.
[Footnote: The first 6 chapters (and the last chapter) of this "George's Secret Key ..." book are so bad that they almost seem to be written by a different set of authors as the rest of the book. In the first 6 chapters, instead of using science as part of the story, the book teaches science only via very boring LECTURE after LECTURE from the neighbor-girl's dad to the title character George. Also, in the first 6 chapters, there is some annoyingly heavy-handed and inelegant moralizing and social commentary. Also, there are just too many unnecessary details that don't move the story along in the first 6 chapters. The free excerpt on the Amazon site (i.e., the book's first 10 pages) give a hint of the over-verbosity of the first 60+ pages of the book. 10 whole pages into the Amazon excerpt, and nothing has happened except a pig is discovered missing, and we haven't left the house yet, and nothing will happen for many more pages! For just one example among many of over-detailedness, we can see that the authors spend many words on the pig, but the words on the pig are a big waste of time because the pig will cease to matter the second the boy goes next door! Further to the free excerpt on Amazon's page, I will in the "comments" section give another example passage that shows the clumsiness of the first 6 chapters. ]
42 of 43 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Who says you can't explain theoretical physics to kids? Certainly not Stephen and Lucy Hawking, the authors of this children's adventure novel.
Stephen Hawking is the bestselling author of A Brief History of Time which has been said to "marry a child's wonder to a genius's intellect." Lucy Hawking is his daughter and a journalist. George's Secret Key to the Universe is their first collaboration, and what fun it is!
Alongside a tale of scientific adventure, the Hawkings provide readers with scientific diagrams, charts, and full-color photos of real images from space, with help from Christophe Galfard, a former student of Stephen Hawking. The line illustrations by Garry Parsons also add a lighthearted feel to the book--the representation of George was charmingly reminiscent of The Little Prince--and they certainly complement the voice of the novel - innocent, curious, and playful.
The novel also includes Hawking's latest ideas on black holes. They are presented within the story as a series of scientist Eric's notes, complete with handwritten doodles and age-appropriate language for Annie and George.
In the 1994 bestseller Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy (Fsg Classics), Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder gifted us with a fascinating primer on philosopher in novel form. He took us into the world of Sophie, a 15 year old who learned about the wisdom of thinkers from the pre-Socrates to St. Augustine through a series of letters from a mysterious correspondent. All the while, she was trying to solve a mystery. The device of wrapping intellectual lessons within a fictional narrative worked. It snapped up readers who might otherwise not pick up a "serious" work about high ideas--and allowed philosophy to seep into pop culture and the hands of the masses.
Lucy and Stephen Hawking's book does the same thing--it packs lessons about the science of physics into an exciting children's adventure, complete with likable (though sometimes stereotypical) characters. The end result: an informative and entertaining read for kids and adults alike. If I were a science teacher, I'd seriously consider employing the book in a middle or high school science curriculum.
Bonus: the book has a fun companion website: www.georgessecretkey.com
Stephen Hawking is the bestselling author of A Brief History of Time which has been said to "marry a child's wonder to a genius's intellect." Lucy Hawking is his daughter and a journalist. George's Secret Key to the Universe is their first collaboration, and what fun it is!
Alongside a tale of scientific adventure, the Hawkings provide readers with scientific diagrams, charts, and full-color photos of real images from space, with help from Christophe Galfard, a former student of Stephen Hawking. The line illustrations by Garry Parsons also add a lighthearted feel to the book--the representation of George was charmingly reminiscent of The Little Prince--and they certainly complement the voice of the novel - innocent, curious, and playful.
The novel also includes Hawking's latest ideas on black holes. They are presented within the story as a series of scientist Eric's notes, complete with handwritten doodles and age-appropriate language for Annie and George.
In the 1994 bestseller Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy (Fsg Classics), Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder gifted us with a fascinating primer on philosopher in novel form. He took us into the world of Sophie, a 15 year old who learned about the wisdom of thinkers from the pre-Socrates to St. Augustine through a series of letters from a mysterious correspondent. All the while, she was trying to solve a mystery. The device of wrapping intellectual lessons within a fictional narrative worked. It snapped up readers who might otherwise not pick up a "serious" work about high ideas--and allowed philosophy to seep into pop culture and the hands of the masses.
Lucy and Stephen Hawking's book does the same thing--it packs lessons about the science of physics into an exciting children's adventure, complete with likable (though sometimes stereotypical) characters. The end result: an informative and entertaining read for kids and adults alike. If I were a science teacher, I'd seriously consider employing the book in a middle or high school science curriculum.
Bonus: the book has a fun companion website: www.georgessecretkey.com
52 of 57 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Early on, a character says "Science is a wonderful and fascinating subject that helps us understand the world around us and all its marvels." Having the reader appreciate this is the point of this hardback, which has science factoids and full-color photos from space scattered throughout. Co-authors Stephen and Lucy Hawking are father and daughter; he is the brilliant theoretical physicist who wrote A Brief History of Time.
This book should help make the topic of science interesting and accessible to middle school kids. Lively black and white cartoons illustrate every page spread. And though the first five chapters are snooze-worthy, once it gets going the story itself is intense and funny.
The adventure takes the reader to the far reaches of space and back, and along the way teaches a lot about science and how the world works, including Stephen Hawking's latest theories about black holes.
This book should help make the topic of science interesting and accessible to middle school kids. Lively black and white cartoons illustrate every page spread. And though the first five chapters are snooze-worthy, once it gets going the story itself is intense and funny.
The adventure takes the reader to the far reaches of space and back, and along the way teaches a lot about science and how the world works, including Stephen Hawking's latest theories about black holes.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
RATE THIS A ***SIX*** Great for Home School
I cannot say enough about this wee book.
I asked my 10-year-old grand-dau. if the first couple chapters were boring - she responded "Nnooo" with the ending inflection of a... Read more
I asked my 10-year-old grand-dau. if the first couple chapters were boring - she responded "Nnooo" with the ending inflection of a... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Bonita
5.0 out of 5 stars
super
excellent especially for children,
who may understand what is the universe
the world including ourselves are made
from dust of the stars
who may understand what is the universe
the world including ourselves are made
from dust of the stars
Published 1 month ago by onyamashi
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book.
Bought for my 10 year old. She loves it as much as A Brief History of Time. Looking forward to the other George books.
Published 1 month ago by Holly
2.0 out of 5 stars
Just Ok.
The writing was a bit disjointed. The first few chapters get you set up about the pig and old man and never go back to them. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Jennifer Malick
5.0 out of 5 stars
So amazing that my son read it in one night
This book is so good that my eight year old son swallowed it up. He stayed up late and ended up reading the entire book in one night. I instantly ordered the other two books. Read more
Published 3 months ago by A. Norensberg
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating and Enlightening read
This book was a very interesting book to read and helped understand a lot more about the universe. I want to read the next book in this series.
Published 3 months ago by Dianna Burdick
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bought the series for my 10 year old - she loved it
Excellent set of books to get kids started off with the laws and theories of the Universe. All three books are well written and the photographs are scintillating. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Vidya Raghavan
4.0 out of 5 stars
Science lovers will be happy
A great book that will inspire young readers to take care of our planet and have them loving science. You must read it.
Published 4 months ago by joseph sturdy
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great explanation
Both my son 7 and I, his non-scientific mom thought it was a great story and a great explanation of space exploration and the theories of astro-physics.
Published 4 months ago by Karen from Groton
2.0 out of 5 stars
Cute story, POOR editing!
I enjoyed the story enough, although it seems that author suspended the laws of physics for the characters in order to teach about....the laws of physics. Read more
Published 4 months ago by LJB
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