Stephen Hawking: A Life In Science [Hardcover]

Michael White (Author), John Gribbin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1992

A biography of the world's most brilliant scientist discusses Hawking's childhood, his twenty-five year battle with Lou Gehrig's Disease, his celebrity, the breakup of his marriage, and his revolutionary theories on the origin of the universe. 20,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The forces shaping the life of renowned physicist Hawking seem as strangely charged as those he describes in his physics. His British biographers, both scientists, examine their subject's personal history and ably fill in the spaces between his great leaps of theory. They avoid sentimentalizing the physicist's disabling ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), which struck him in his early 20s, while acknowledging that the condition has had a dramatic impact on his life and reputation. Gathering information from Hawking's colleagues (but not his estranged wife), the authors discuss his authorial success as well as his academic career, not failing to offer such bits of humanizing gossip as that he has a poster of Marilyn Monroe on his office door. Readers of Hawking's bestselling A Brief History of Time will find much of interest in this longer view of physics at work in one extraordinary person's life.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA-- This biography is really two books in one: the story of Hawking's life, and an explanation of the theoretical concepts related to his research into black holes and the origin of our universe. The authors describe his early life as a gifted, but not always motivated, student in the British school system and his eventual rise to scientific and popular celebrity status. The chapters that chronicle his heroic struggle with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) are particularly poignant. Those chapters that deal with the physics behind Hawking's research are written in a nontechnical style not unlike Hawking's own A Brief History of Time (Bantam, 1990). In fact, they provide a very accessible introduction to some of the most esoteric areas of modern physics and quantum mechanics. YAs interested in science will enjoy and relate to this title.
- Dennis McFaden, Thomas Jefferson Sci-Tech, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult; First edition (June 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525934472
• ISBN-13: 978-0525934479
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,317,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good biography of an incredible man, April 27, 2002

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Stephen Hawking a Life In Science (Penguin Press Science) (Paperback)

I am an enormous fan of Stephen Hawking, his achievements in physics are incredible and his ability to overcome his illness demonstrates how sturdy the human mind can be. He is touted in the book as the greatest mind since Einstein, which is a claim I also recently read concerning Richard Feynman. I have no opinion on this, as I hold them both in very high regard. To me such debates are silly, as ranking such people is so subjective that it is meaningless and wasteful.
That aside, I generally enjoyed the book, finding the explanations of the physics a little too simplistic for my tastes, but certainly within the realm of the general reader. My only real criticism is that there was too much ink spent on some of the minutiae of his life. Even Hawking probably objects to some of the details about his life that appear. However, I was pleased to read that he can be temperamental and shows his anger by running over a person's foot with his wheelchair. It just makes him sound that much more human.
This is a good biography of a great man, who lets nothing get in his way. An inspiration who probably does not want the role in any capacity other than as a physicist, he has revolutionized cosmology and it will be a minimum of decades before all the consequences of his work will be known.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A very poorly written biography., July 3, 1998

By 

Colin Warren ([e-mail]) (Washington DC, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stephen Hawking: A Life in Science (Plume) (Mass Market Paperback)

A biography full of inconsistent statements, leaving many questions unexplored, including basic ones such as "when did Hawking find out that his illness was life threatening?" and "What role did his family play in his life during his student days?". The explanations of the development of the main theories (relativity, quantum mechanics, the "big bang", etc.) are accessible to most readers, though no better than given by other books devoted entirely to the topic. Much of this material is poorly tied in to the biography itself. On a stylist level, the text is comparable to tabloid biographies of royalty, and is peppered with trite comments that contribute nothing to understanding Hawking as a person ("It has often been said there is a certain light in Oxford...", "The sixties were a great time to be alive and young..."). Hopefully, someone will write a properly researched biography one day.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cool and hot universe, April 19, 2006

By 

Yong Wang "TL" (Mclean VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stephen Hawking A Life in Science (Paperback)

--This is a story about one man who has changed man's view on the universe, about one man who miraculously survives......

Spending more than twenty years of life on a wheelchair, Stephen Hawking has revealed the most intriguing part of the whole universe, through his groundbreaking discovery in black holes. Considered "the successor of Einstein", Hawking attempted to combine quantum mechanics and relativity, two contradictory theories, breaking a new path for scientists to reveal the nature of physics. But perhaps the most fascinating part of Hawking's miracle is his fight and resistance to his illness, which, according to the doctors, would have ended his life by the age of 21. Despite huge difficulties of moving and speaking, Hawking has never given up himself, and neither has his wife, Jane, who helped Hawking go through the most difficult time of his life. The authors are inspired by Hawking's tenacity and spirit, and also will every one who will read Hawking's life through this book. After reading the book, one would understand, as what the authors hope, what contribute to Hawking's success--not only his genius and incisive intuition, but also fortitude and a positive attitude toward life. This book perfectly blends theories of physics and the universe with Hawking's life, depicting a colorful and unique picture to help understand the indefatigable scientist.