Short and sweet

Book review, Title A Brief History Of Time, Author Stephen W. Hawking, Rating 4.5,

A Brief History Of Time Stephen W. Hawking Book review

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A Brief History of Time is the single best popularized science book I have read to date on the subject of modern physics. It has been held that kind of regard since it has been published in 1988, but I resisted reading it, because I had formed the opinion that modern physics, buried so deeply in mathematical models divorced from everyday experience, was simply too difficult to convey to the non-practitioner, that vast group including myself.

Hawking does a superb job for most of the book in conceptualizing these theories, his departure point classical physics. His pithy description of the major points of development of classical physics is masterful. The arcane difficulties of modern physics, that is quantum mechanics, the general theory of relativity, and modern cosmology, precludes any but the initiated, professional physicists, from a comfortable understanding; nonetheless Hawking produces accessible explanations.

As he is winding down with a description of unified theories it finally becomes a bit of a slog, sailing pretty much completely over my head, but all in all, a tremendous achievement.