Customer Reviews

Stephen Hawking: A Life In Science

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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.

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.

--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.

What a waste of paper to have this book printed! Almost all of the material contained in this book is extremely accesible on the web; but do not pony up the fee to buy this book. If you, like me, want to know how Hawking came to love physics and the tie between his disease and that of wanting to achieve a thesis, and make an impact, before his initial date of losing his life, will have to search elsewhere. Hawking was driven to make an impact before he was thought to have lost his battle with his disease. ALS was to have taken his life by the time his thesis was up. He battled against this clock. He had Roger Penrose to link up with regarding Black Holes and collapsing stars. His anti steady state theory of Fred Hoyle. The list goes on. Look elsewhere; try Hawking's website and papers published.

When I first heard of Stephen Hawking, he had already reached his pinnacle of fame. It was the standard draft: "Have you heard of Hawking? He's disabled, nothing left but his mind, but oh! What a mind!" Stephen Hawking A Life in Science filled in the life behind the mind, but it goes further to share the science in the context of physics thought of the modern age. In ways, this book is more accessible than the explanations of A Brief History of Time, providing and illustrative that makes the other approachable. I appreciated the context of pop culture, and Hawking's rise to Hollywood fame. I really enjoyed the entire book. If you have a mind for science and the advancement of theory, so will you.

Been a while since I read this, but it is one in my reference file. Interesting and easy read.

The story of Stephen Hawking that is told in the book is not only extremely informative but also very Physics based. The motivations for the author to write the story are obvious, due to famous nature of the subject that is Stephen Hawking. And the reason for being famous is different to just about every other situation possibly imaginable. The reason for reading this book is not confined to those that are interested in Physics. The book is written in a nature that allows all people to read and understand it. it show people where Stephen Hawking had been and what he had done before he become disabled from his disease, as well as allowed people to better understand and appreciate him as a person in society growing up and not as someone that was different from all other people. it can give some hope to those that do not believe that they will be able to do something with there lives and allows the idea of a chance of success

Stephen Hawking's life and his research in cosmology are fascinating and based on that alone I enjoyed this book. However, the book is poorly written and lacks depth. It lacks any detailed description of Stephen Hawking's work and doesn't provide any true insight into his life or character. For example, the authors repeatedly inform us of what an overpowering presence Stephen Hawking has but they never provide any evidence of this. Good writers show you what they mean - they don't just repeatedly tell you.

This book seems to based on no actual contact with Stephen or Jane Hawking or any of his colleagues. It seems that the authors read "A Brief History of Time," read a couple of articles, and then decided to write a biography. It definitely comes up short.

Stephen Hawking: A Life in Science is an excellent biography which presents one of the most celebrated physicists, Stephen Hawking, in an elegant and expressive manner. Michael White tells of the significant events that greatly influenced Stephen King's life, for example the disease that crippled him but he fought valiantly enough to delay his later death. White wrote in a way which kept the readers attention. It had the basic theories that an average reader could fully understand, but the book did not go in depth with the scientific reasoning behind the theories.

Overall, I generally liked the book even though at times the book seemed to go on forever. I have to say I honestly learned quite a lot about his theories of black holes etc. The overcoming of his disease inspired me because it showed how strong he wanted to finish work. I would suggest this book to other readers because there is a lot of information that can be understood. It is a pretty long read but it flows pretty nicely especially if you like the science genre.

Stephen Hawking A Life In Science by Michael White and John Gibbons does a fantastic job of combining both the story of Stephen Hawkings's life and in depth explanations of his scientific work and findings. The story of Hawking's life is told starting from his very early childhood and progress through his schooling and career. The book discusses the people and events in Hawking's early life that influenced him to work in the field of Cosmology. The book also addresses the discoveries and theories that Hawking developed in his studies. The theories are explained in plenty of detail but the authors do a good job in making them as easy to understand a possible. The story of Hawking's life itself is truly amazing because of the significant discoveries he made despite his disability. The book is worth while fro anyone who want s to learn about Stephen Hawking and wants to learn a bit about his discoveries and why they are significant. Although the authors do try to keep the explanations simple, there are some parts that are hard to understand without a decent knowledge of physic's principles. Even so, the book is still well written and the story it tells is fascinating.