Customer Reviews

The Illustrated Brief History of Time, Updated and Expanded Edition

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Stephen Hawking is an established scientific genius, but this book establishes him as a brilliant writer - an extremely rare, yet valuable combination. A point he brings to attention is that it had been possible for the philosophers of ancient times to master practically all the knowledge of academia. Today, however, only a handful of extremely specialized scientists understand the latest ideas in their fields. While men of ancient times could easily understand the latest scientific ideas, people today are lost. Enter "A Brief History of Time." This book helps fill in that gap between an average person's understanding and the highly specialized scientists' knowledge.

This book covers ideas that are profound and affect everyone. It explains theories that concern the creation of the universe, time travel, light-speed travel, and many more topics. Imagine actually having some grasp of Einstein's general relativity. Ever heard of string theory? How might time travel actually be possible? What are these black holes of which I've heard? This book packs an incredible amount of information into its 248 pages, yet somehow is still easily read - this is the true marvel of this book.

The illustrated version is worth the extra money. It contains many updates and additions throughout the book by Hawking (including the time travel chapter!). Every (and I mean every) concept throughout the book is accompanied by at least one illustration - think about it: 240 color illustrations with only 248 pages!

Towards the middle of the book, some of the concepts get more complex (when he really gets into the details of sub-atomic particles). However, as a recent high school graduate, I can say with some level of certainty that the average person can understand 90% of this book - and those parts are the most interesting! It will change the way you look at the universe.

I read the original version of 'A Brief History of Time' back in 1988. At the time, Hawking was into ground-breaking territory. The fact that his theories have gained such universal acceptance and that many of them have since been proved is evidence of the brilliance of the mind that thought through the logic.

In this updated version, Hawking moves from time travel to black holes to general relativity, quantum mechanics and even string theory, he never fails to captivate and entrance, even though some of the theories are difficult to grasp.

The sections devoted to black holes and time travel are, in my view, the most interesting... putting a human slant of a highly theorical subject. With the addition of hundreds of amazing illustrations and photos, Hawking has made his revised book extremely readable and colorful, both comprehensive and comprehendable, as one reviewer put it.

An excellent introduction to relativity, big bang, and anything else you might have scratched your head about!

Stephen Hawking is perhaps the pre-eminent physicist of the last half of the 20th century. No, strike the "perhaps"; there should be no doubt. His contributions to cosmology and stellar evolution alone are enough to guarantee him an honored space in the scientific pantheon.

There aren't many who could have written this book, and that Hawking has done it in the grips of a stable but still cruel malady, Lou Gehrig's disease, is a testament to his will and mounting intellect. He almost manages to carry it off.

Probably this is no fault of his own. The subject matter is, in the hands of ordinary physicists, incredibly abstruse stuff. Scientific prose is fragile; one has to handle it carefully and reread it numerous times even to begin to understand it--and that only if one is an expert in the field. To try to translate that into ordinary English, so that we mortals might understand--that is when scientific writing becomes the calling of saints.

Add onto this task the incredible popularity of this book (it, or Cosmos, I forget which, is the best-selling non-religious book of all time) the first time it was published, and you can get a feeling for what Hawking was up against. He isn't just writing for the Scientific American crowd, but for the Parade crowd and the People crowd. This is populist science.

The *Illustrated History* improves on its predecessor in a number of respects. It expands on a number of explanations that were incomplete in the first edition. It adds a new section on developments that have occurred in the meantime. And of course there are those full-color pictures, where there was previously only black and white.

(Don't pooh-pooh the pictures. Never underestimate the lasting impression of a picture that the reader *understands*.)

But there are flaws. Small flaws, but flaws nonetheless. Hawking is an engaging writer (and even, despite the voice synthesizer he uses after an operation on his larynx, a passable speaker), but he does not quite have the flair for explanation of a Sagan or a Feynman. The analogies he uses are hardly original, but long-standing ones that have withstood the test of time, and they serve him well.

When he has to stand on his own, though, as he must when he explains his own concept of imaginary time, he seems less sure of his footing. It all seems quite simple upon first inspection, and yet, when you examine it closer, it doesn't totally make sense.

But this is a minor quibble. The book is an excellent introduction to cutting edge research in cosmology, and if Hawking is not a Carl Sagan or a Richard Feynman, that is hardly a knock on him. His work, in the end, will speak for itself.

For anyone looking for a great, comprehensible explanation of the current state of the theories driving today's physics, this is it. Hawking has taken everything from the early history of thinking about the universe, its laws and composition, to the latest developments on black holes and string theory and placed it in a remarkably lucid set of explanations that detail the concepts behind all the mathematics that is so intimidating to most. This book is written without a single equation or a single statement on the order of "From the above, it is obvious that..." Instead, we proceed from the (comparatively) simple concepts about the everyday observable world of gravity, planets, and stars, travel carefully along the historical path of scientific observations as they modify and enhance the simple theories till we reach the world of quantum mechanics, the big bang, wormholes, and Grand Unified Field Theories. Each concept is fully explained, and with this expanded second edition, many of the concepts are beautifully illustrated with drawings and photographs.

And, possibly surprising to some people, as we enter the rarified air of today's theories, we see that the line between physics and philosophy is a very thin one, and ruminations about the origin of the Universe lead to discussions about God and fate. Here we see why Hawking is one of the premier physicists of today, as he obviously thinks in same kind of conceptual language that this book is written in, capable of looking at the meaning behind the mathematics and how it relates to us as humans.

Physics students and engineers may not find very much new here, but even they may benefit from the clear thought lines presented here, forcing a look at the meaning behind all the esoteric symbols that are their everyday working fare.

About the only quibble I had with this was Hawking's insistence on writing out very large/small numbers as million-million-million... While this was fine the first couple of times it becomes a little irritating in place of the standard 1,000,000... representation, or even better to use standard scientific notation.

A great elucidation of some of the most complex theories of the day, theories seemingly unrelated to your everyday life, but which are in fact the bedrock upon which today's technological marvels are based, and with implications that catch the nether regions of religion and the questions we all have about the meaning of life and the universe.

A wonderfull book much better than his origanal A breif history... The pictures help you explain it

This book is the updated version of the international bestseller, so any praise on my part will surely be redundant. As such, I will just summarize what you get with this book: a fascinating intro to major physics theories (including Newton's, Einstein's general relativity, and quantum theories), and a brief overview of cosmological mysteries (including big bang and black holes). As anyone even vaguely familiar with Hawking knows, he's got a knack at making even the most abstract ideas sound remarkably simple and interesting. This book is accessible to anyone, regardless of your academic background (you will understand most of it even if you've never taken a single physics course). If you ever wondered about the physical world around you or the universe at large, you will not find a better introduction anywhere; if however, you're already well read in the subject, head straight to the more in-depth look at essentially the same concepts and more found in Greene's 'Elegant Universe.'

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.

This book is so powerful! Stephen Hawking brilliantly covers both quantum mechanics and general relativity along with brand-new ideas about space and time. This book is so easy to understand, and its countless photos really help the reader visualize the information. I treasure this book, and hope his magnificent work will endure for generations to come. Hawking can be compared to some of the greatest physicists who ever lived. He is so brilliant despite his ALS. If you only read one book in your entire life, or just one book on physics, READ THIS BOOK!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!! It will change your entire outlook on the Universe and help you to ponder its possibilites like the best philisophical thinkers of today and yesterday. If I could, I would rate this as six stars, or seven! Please read this amazing book!!!

Stephen Hawking writes these words as no other could. He describes some of the most confusing, detailed theories of modern physics, so that the average American could completely understand.

With topics ranging from the Theory of Relativity to Black Holes, Hawking has it all packed in. He is also very good at giving background information pertaining to earlier theories of the kind, who the theorists were, and the major accomplishments of those particular scientists.

If possible, I would strongly advise buying the illustrated version, as, not only do the pictures help, they make for an easier and more pleasureful read as you skim through the pages. Though the book is a bit pricy, the illustrations, and overall book quality make up for it. Not to mention, Hawking's genius.

If you can find it, I recommend this version over the original "Brief History of Time". This version was written about 8 years later and as such incorporates much that has been learned over the intervening years. In addition, the illustrations greatly enhance the text. They are not only a joy to look at, but actually make the book more understandable. The original work has been characterized as one of the most popular, but unread books of all time. Much of the unread characterization stems from the fact that this is a difficult book unless one has had some minimal understanding of physics. Minimal is, however, the appropriate word as one need not be a physicist to get a lot from this book, but one should not be put off by a discussion of quarks, gluons, gravitons, wormholes or string theory.

The first chapters deal with the classical view of physics and the universe. This is followed by discussions of the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. It is important to note that these are not rigorous discussions, indeed no mathematics is used and the discussion is entirely devoted to the basic ideas and implications of these theories. At least one reviewer has criticized the fact that these subjects have not been developed in any detail, but rather are just expounded. I think that this misses the point. This is not a physics text; rather it tries (I think very successfully) to show the reader the beauty and implications of modern physics. I found the discussion of modern particle physics to be one of the best very elementary treatments that I have ever read. Next he discusses black holes and the origin of the universe. Again, I found his discussion of black holes to be one of the best very elementary treatments that I have ever read. The last chapters on wormholes, time travel and grand unified theories are more speculative than the preceding chapters, but the reader is clearly forewarned that this is the case. (The most speculative, and in my opinion least clear chapter, was the one on wormholes and time travel, which was not in the original version of "A brief History of Time".)

I liked this book a lot and do not agree with those who found it to be unclear and very difficult to follow, but I can see how those with no physics background at all would find it too difficult to finish. This version has the virtue of pictures which make following Hawking's text a bit easier to follow and as he states in the forward "Even if you only look at the pictures and their captions you should get some idea of what is going on."