Monday, December 12, 2005
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
"The universe as we know it is in the past. We cannot witness anything in the present because of the time it takes the light to travel to our brain." Need more to scramble your brain? Try Einstein's theory of relatively...time travel...why we only remember the past and not the future...black holes...and quantum physics. These are some of the topics that physicist Stephen Hawking tackles in this "layman's" book on physics, astronomy, and seriously hard science.
Stephen Hawking has a reputation as being the most brilliant "theoretical" physicist alive today. He has been confined to a wheel chair for decades from Lou Gerhig's disease. He can't speak, walk, or use most of his body. However, he teaches at Oxford and continues to use his mind to the fullest extent.
This is supposed to be modern physics for the average person. Well, I must be below average because I couldn't keep up with large parts of this book. You spend a lot of time in the deep end of the pool. However, the parts of the book that I did understand were absolutely fascinating. Not only does Hawking have a talent for making physics interesting, he also provides bits and pieces of the history of science at the same time. He tells the interesting stories about how scientist believed certain things at certain times throughout history.
While I didn't keep pace with everything here's what I did learn: everyone is a drooling idiot compared with Einstein and he revolutionized the way the world operates today (even thought we don't know it), quantum physics is the basis for modern computers, and time travel is possible, according to Einstein. The funny thing is that Hawking's theory about the beginning of the universe bares a certain resemblance to the biblical view (certainly not totally, but in parts.)
If you're up for a definite challenge and want to tell people that you're reading about quarks, event horizons, quantum particles, and singularities, then take a stab at Hawking. Prepare yourself for an education and a mind stretching experience.
Overall rating...3 Stars
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Don, I am honestly impressed at the ammount of books you read. Thanks for the reviews, my friend. I'm finally adding you to my links after months of forgetfulness.
Thanks Tyler. No, John, I didn't read it between groups. I read it DURING groups..."Come family of particles..."
i've looked at the picture you've posted for this book about 4 times now and i've just realized that book ISN'T written by Steven King.
--oh i just failed the word identification test...that one was was really hard to read--
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--oh i just failed the word identification test...that one was was really hard to read--
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