The Universe in a Nutshell (2001)

Veramente un bel saggio! Stephen spiega bene cose molto difficili! E le illustrazioni aiutano tantissimo!Forse l'unica pecca è che è del 2002 e quindi forse non è aggiornato alle ultime teorie/scoperte (ma cose come la Relatività e la Meccanica Quantistica sono ancora al vertice!). (P.S. Questo l'ho preso alla Fiera Internazionale del Libro 2009 di Torino! Ohohohohoh) ( )

I read this book while in rehab, during my recover from total paralysis caused by Guillain-Barré Syndrome. I could not turn the pages myself, so I made a pest of myself by calling out to whatever staff member was walking by my hospital room. On night, I called Shirley, who worked mostly in the kitchen, as she walked by my room. Before she got to my bedside, I managed to turn the page by myself. We both were amazed and happy! This was a big milestone in my recovery, and I will never forget it. I finished the book pretty quickly after that. ( )

8 ( )

I was kind of unimpressed by Hawking's latest book, The Grand Design (co-authored with Leonard Mlodinow), which I read a few months ago. But it did remind me that I still had this book sitting on my To-Read Pile, getting more and more out of date by the minute, so I figured I'd better pick it up and give it a shot.

In a way, this one gave me some of what I'd been hoping for from The Grand Design, as it touches a little more on topics such as M-theory, which I am very, very fuzzy on and quite interested in learning more about, instead of concentrating mainly on the basic concepts of modern physics. So I found parts of it interesting and reasonably rewarding. On the other hand, I do think I can make some of the same complaints about it as I did about The Grand Design, namely that it's often rather too abstruse and lacking in explanatory background to make sense to the complete layman, but also frequently lacks the technical detail that might help make it more understandable to, say, someone with a decent but slightly rusty undergraduate-level background in physics and astrophysics like yours truly. Admittedly, this is a problem any popularizer is going to run into when dealing with a field like this in which it's essentially impossible to grasp certain ideas without an understanding of advanced mathematics, but I know I've seen other writers do it somewhat better.

At least the illustrations make the book very attractive, and, unlike those in The Grand Design, they tend to actually be relevant and sometimes even useful, if also a little distracting. ( )

When Amazon has over 150 glowing reviews of a book it says something. This is clearly the book I need to help with History of Physics, but have it tucked away in Box 5 in the basement. Must retrieve it soon as I plan to advance my science education, so neglected in high school and college. ( )