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

In the years since its publication in 1988, Stephen Hawking's A Brief History Of Time has established itself as a landmark volume in scientific writing. It has become an international publishing phenomenon, translated into forty languages and selling over nine million copies. The book was on the cutting edge of what was then known about the nature of the universe, but since that time there have been extraordinary advances in the technology of macrocosmic worlds. These observations have confirmed many of Professor Hawkin's theoretical predictions in the first edition of his book, including the recent discoveries of the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite (COBE), which probed back in time to within 300,000 years of the fabric of space-time that he had projected.

Eager to bring to his original text the new knowledge revealed by these many observations, as well as his recent research, for this expanded edition Professor Hawking has prepared a new introduction to the book, written an entirely new chapter on the fascinating subject of wormholes and time travel, and updated the original chapters.

In addition, to heighten understanding of complex concepts that readers may have found difficult to grasp despite the clarity and wit of Professor Hawking's writing, this edition is enhanced throughout with more than 240 full-color illustrations, including satellite images, photographs made made possible by spectacular technological advance such as the Hubble Space Telescope, and computer generated images of three and four-dimensional realities. Detailed captions clarify these illustrations, enable readers to experience the vastness of intergalactic space, the nature of black holes, and the microcosmic world of particle physics in which matters and antimatter collide.

A classic work that now brings to the reader the latest understanding of cosmology, A Brief History Of Time is the story of the ongoing search for the tantalizing secrets at the heart of time and space.
Source: Publisher

Is this book something you should read? Yes, I think it is. I think that this is one everyone should at least try to read. It’s a really good look at space-time, and teaches a lot about areas of science that most people assume they’ll never understand. I will fully admit that I don’t properly understand everything Hawking wrote about – I’d guess that I properly understood about half of it, and somewhat understood maybe another quarter (leaving at least another quarter of the material as completely over my head at the moment, and that doesn't touch on retention at all). Still: I learned something that I didn’t know before. And I’m reminded that there is still so much about this subject (which is a subject I like, and so have been casually studying for years) that I don’t know. Being reminded that you still have a lot to learn can be a wonderful thing, and Hawking presents that in such a way that you won’t feel like any less of a person because you still have more to learn. I think this is a book I’ll be revisiting over again and again. ( )

2018
https://www.librarything.com/topic/288371#6470990 ( )

Interesting, but extremely dense. What did you expect!!!!

A very interesting read about the history of physics. Hawking manages to explain the concepts behind many old and new theories in physics, and even though it gets a bit hard to follow in the end, I nevertheless enjoyed the read. ( )