A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes (1988)

by Stephen Hawking

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
13,773	121	397	(3.9)	276
Science. Physics. Nonfiction. HTML:*#1 NEW YORK TIMES* BESTSELLER** A landmark volume in science writing by one of the great minds of our time, Stephen Hawking�??s book explores such profound questions as: How did the universe begin�??and what made its start possible? Does time always flow forward? Is the universe unending�??or are there boundaries? Are there other dimensions in space? What will happen when it all ends? Told in language we all can understand, A Brief History of Time plunges into the exotic realms of black holes and quarks, of antimatter and �??arrows of time,�?� of the big bang and a bigger God�??where the possibilities are wondrous and unexpected. With exciting images and profound imagination, Stephen Hawking brings us closer to the ultimate secrets at the very… (more)

all members

▾Members

Recently added by	LucasTadini, dpeace, BibliotecaCompartida, aberman, tungsten_peerts, eliza_murph, JuSote, DonArnold, JWvdVuurst
Legacy Libraries	George C. Wallace, Robert Ranke Graves , Eeva-Liisa Manner

▾Tags

▾LibraryThing Recommendations

▾Member recommendations

20
Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays by Stephen W. Hawking (gandalf_grey)
42
Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher by Richard P. Feynman (OccamsHammer)
10
Chaos and Harmony: Perspectives on Scientific Revolutions of the 20th Century by Xuan Thuan Trinh (Louve_de_mer)
10
The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene (Anonymous user)
Anonymous user: Although it's longer, Brian Greene's book is much more easily digestible. Plus, he gives you an idea of what they're hoping to discover at the Large Hadron Collider.
00
Knowledge and Wonder by Victor F. Weisskopf (erik_galicki)
erik_galicki: I think Weisskopf strikes a better balance between big picture and detail. Hawking provides more detail on particle physics and cosmology, but I think Weisskopf makes the connections between the two more apparent and clearer.
00
From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time by Sean M. Carroll (steve.clason)
17
The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality by Dalai Lama XIV (leahsimone)

▾Lists

None

▾Will you like it?

▾Conversations (About links)

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 276 mentions

▾Member reviews

English (96) Spanish (6) Dutch (3) French (3) Catalan (2) Italian (2) German (2) Romanian (1) Portuguese (Brazil) (1) Slovak (1) Greek (1) Finnish (1) All languages (119)

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 96 (next | show all)

I don’t pretend to understand all the concepts of science or mathematics, or space. But I like it when scientific and history books make the matter they discuss more relatable and explainable for laypeople. I did giggle at some of the comments. (

)

Elise3105 | Aug 13, 2023 |

I tried but uh I have no basic understanding of physics. A decade later and I still have no idea what the fuck he's talking about. My force of will expanded my read count to 150 pages longer than 18 year old me. I TRIED. I FAILED.

fleshed | Jul 16, 2023 |

Partea despre timp, istoria teoriilor fizicii și univers în general (cam 2/3 din carte) a fost foarte interesantă, accesibilă de înțeles și pt nivel de fizică de liceu și suprinzător de captivantă (fizică citită ”light”, cu plăcere, cine-ar fi crezut?!).
Partea despre găuri negre (1/3 din carte) m-a plictisit și nu mi s-a părut că ar avea legătură cu restul, ci doar că-i place lui Hawkings subiectul (de aici minus un punct).
Oricum, recomandată oricui vrea să aibă un nivel basic de fizică și astronomie - și să nu se plictiseacă obținându-l. (

)

milosdumbraci | May 5, 2023 |

First hundred pages are excellent, but then it gets to the then current day and becomes more a standard academic ‘this is what I think’ book. (

)

jcvogan1 | Jan 25, 2023 |

Brilliant. An overview of all the interesting physics that I hoped to understand. Unfortunately, Hawking doesn't manage to achieve that for me despite his use of excellent analogies and diagrams; maybe the odd formula or two would have helped? (

)

tarsel | Sep 4, 2022 |

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 96 (next | show all)

▾Published reviews

1 review

add a review

thingScore 75

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.

added by Shortride | editThe New York Times Book Review, Marcia Bartusiak (Apr 3, 1988)

▾Other authors

» Add other authors (79 possible)

Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Hawking, Stephen	—	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Jackson, Michael	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Jonkers, Ronald	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Kober, Hainer	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Kreitmeyer, Jens	Cover designer	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Miller, Ron	Illustrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Sagan, Carl	Introduction	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Schmidt, Bernd	Consultant (German Translation)	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Souriau, Isabelle	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Varteva, Risto	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Publisher Series

BUR: Supersaggi [Rizzoli] (21)

Edícia matematicko-fyzikálnej literatúry (Alfa)

Obras Maestras del Pensamiento Contemporáneo

rororo sachbuch (60555)

rororo science (1290)

Is contained in

A Brief History of Time : From the Big Bang to Black Holes & A Life in Science ( Set of 2 Books ) by Stephen Hawking

Nouvelles Clés N° 6 - Juin-Juillet-Août 1989 by Collectif

Is expanded in

The Illustrated Brief History of Time, Updated and Expanded Edition by Stephen William Hawking

Is replied to in

A Brief History of Eternity: A Considered Response to Stephen Hawking's a Brief History of Time by Roy E. Peacock

Has as a reference guide/companion

Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time: A Reader's Companion by Stephen Hawking

▾Awards and Honors

Awards

Royal Society Prize for Science Books (Shortlist – General – 1989)

Distinctions

ALA Outstanding Books for the College Bound (Non-fiction – 1999)

New York Times Best Books of the Year (1988)

New York Times bestseller (Nonfiction – 1988)

Рекомендация журнала GEO

Notable Lists

view history

▾Common Knowledge

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.

For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Canonical title

Original title

A brief history of time : from the big bang to black holes

Alternative titles

Information from the Dutch Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.

Het heelal : verleden en toekomst van ruimte en tijd

Original publication date

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Awards and honors

The Guardian's 100 Best Nonfiction Books of All-Time (6)

BookDepository's 100 Best Books Ever

Waterstones Books of the Century (1997, No 79)

KIB - Non Fiction books everyone should read (5)

New York Times bestseller (Non-fiction | 1988)

(show all 10 items)

Epigraph

Dedication

This book is dedicated
to Jane

First words

We go about our daily lives understanding almost nothing of the world.

Introduction.

A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy.

1. Our picture of the universe.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Ferris, Timothy

Original language

English

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (15)

Bibliography of popular physics concepts

Criticism of the theory of relativity

Galileo Galilei

History of electromagnetic theory

Imaginary time

Lexile

List of books about skepticism

Negative energy

Political views of Albert Einstein

Spaghettification

Thorne–Hawking–Preskill bet

Wikipedia:Creating controversial content

Wikipedia:Peer review/Big Bang/archive1

Wikipedia:WikiProject Creationism

Wikipedia:WikiProject Spam/LinkReports/univ-nancy2.fr

▾Book descriptions

Science. Physics. Nonfiction. HTML:#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A landmark volume in science writing by one of the great minds of our time, Stephen Hawking�??s book explores such profound questions as: How did the universe begin�??and what made its start possible? Does time always flow forward? Is the universe unending�??or are there boundaries? Are there other dimensions in space? What will happen when it all ends?
Told in language we all can understand, A Brief History of Time plunges into the exotic realms of black holes and quarks, of antimatter and �??arrows of time,�?� of the big bang and a bigger God�??where the possibilities are wondrous and unexpected. With exciting images and profound imagination, Stephen Hawking brings us closer to the ultimate secrets at the very

▾Library descriptions

No library descriptions found.

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

Che cosa sappiamo sull'universo, e come lo sappiamo? Da dove è venuto, e dove sta andando? L'universo ebbe un inizio e, in tal caso cosa c'era prima? Il tempo avrà mai una fine?" Con questi quesiti Stephen Hawking ci introduce in una straordinaria avventura: un'emozionante cavalcata nel tempo. L'espansione dell'universo, il principio di indeterminazione, le particelle elementari e le forze della natura, l'origine e la sorte dell'universo, l'unificazione della fisica sono le grandi tappe di questo viaggio indimenticabile. Ma oltre a riassumere le conoscenze tradizionali Hawking illustra le ultime teorie sulla fisica dei buchi neri, il principio antropico, la teoria dell'universo inflazionario, l'universo contenuto in una bolla.
(piopas)

Haiku summary