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A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
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A Brief History of Time

by Stephen Hawking

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8,33257162 (3.88)92
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Bantam (1998), Edition: 10 Anv, Paperback, 224 pages

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Showing 1-5 of 54 (next | show all)
I would say one would really need to be a mathematician with a major grounding in theoretical physics or at least have a lot more spare time than I do to fully appreciate what this work contains. That may suggest the author lacked the ability to explain his subject but I think it has more to do with the extraordinary difficulty of the subject so I admired his attempt to explain it to people like me (with little physics in my background) and suggest he probably did the best job possible. ( )
1 vote Martin44 | Dec 10, 2009 |
Huh? ( )
  jwcooper3 | Nov 15, 2009 |
I finally finished this book. It's engaging, witty, and of course fascinating, but all the same I had to read it in spurts. Most of it was not new information, but it helped solidify a lot of concepts in my head through analogies plucked from real life. I'm still a tad shaky on string theory, but I do have a better understanding of black holes than I did before. This is what a layman's science book should be like: no equations or jargon, lots of pictures, and a very friendly narrative tone. ( )
1 vote melydia | Oct 28, 2009 |
For the most part I was following along, up to chapter seven or so. Then I encountered portions where my eyes glazed over and I had to skim the details, just trying to grasp the big picture. While the presentation is very good (especially in the illustrated edition), there's a lot here to retain. The humour was welcome, and I can always appreciate a good metaphor. The Einstein biography I read last autumn provided a stepping stool, and this book in turn provides good background for understanding certain science-fiction novels more clearly (e.g. Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War", Dan Simmons' "Ilium", etc.). I'm sorry that I'll most likely never have the pleasure of attending a Stephen Hawking lecture, I'm sure it would be fascinating. ( )
2 vote Cecrow | Aug 31, 2009 |
Well-written enough that 95% was still comprehensible while listening to the audio version. ( )
  szarka | Jul 24, 2009 |
Showing 1-5 of 54 (next | show all)
Through his cerebral journeys, Mr. Hawking is bravely taking some of the first, though tentative, steps toward quantizing the early universe, and he offers us a provocative glimpse of the work in progress.
 
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First words
Nos movemos en nuestro ambiente diario sin entender casi nada acerca del mundo.
A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy.
Quotations
What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise. What is the tortoise standing on? You're very clever, young man, very clever, but it's turtles all the way down! Quoted in page 1
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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In opmerkelijke heldere taal geeft Hawking met dit boek een beeld van het ontstaan en de ontwikkeling van het heelal. Met behulp van meer dan 200 kleurenillustraties maakt hij zijn revolutionaire en fascinerende theorieen toegankelijk voor een breed publiek. ""Hawking streeft naar niet minder dan het volledig beschrijven en begrijpen van het heelal."" - NRC Handelsblad.

Amazon.com Book Description (ISBN 055305340X, Paperback)

Stephen Hawking has earned a reputation as the most brilliant theoretical physicist since Einstein. In this landmark volume, Professor Hawking shares his blazing intellect with nonscientists everywhere, guiding us expertly to confront the supreme questions of the nature of time and the universe. Was there a beginning of time? Will there be an end? Is the universe infinite or does it have boundaries? From Galileo and Newton to modern astrophysics, from the breathtakingly cast to the extraordinarily tiny, Professor Hawking leads us on an exhilarating journey to distant galaxies, black holes, alternate dimensions--as close as man has ever ventured to the mind of God. From the vantage point of the wheelchair from which he has spent more than twenty years trapped by Lou Gehrig's disease, Stephen Hawking has transformed our view of the universe. Cogently explained, passionately revealed, A Brief History of Time is the story of the ultimate quest for knowledge: the ongoing search for the tantalizing secrets at the heart of time and space.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:24 -0400)

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