A Briefer History of Time
by Stephen Hawking, Leonard Mlodinow
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Book Summary Information
Author: Leonard Mlodinow, Stephen HawkingEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-05-13
ISBN: 0553385461
Number of pages: 176
Publisher: Bantam
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780553385465
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of A Briefer History of Time
Book Review: Short, easy overview
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a short, easy read that gives a brief overview of the major themes found in relativity theory, quantum mechanics, big bang cosmology, and string theory. Many understandable examples and illustrations are provided to help the reader understand the difficult and lofty ideas that the author attempts to convey.
Although it is now common knowledge that the earth is round, it can sometimes be difficult to think of some reasons why this would be true that you could give to a skeptic. The author gives some good observable evidence why one might believe that the earth is round, as opposed to flat. For example, the fact that when the earth is between the moon and the sun, the shape of the earth's shadow on the sun is always a disk. If the earth was a flat disk, we would expect to sometimes see a disk, but other times to see an elongated circle or ellipse. These kinds of little observable phenomena that anyone can see I find interesting.
The author should stick to physics as opposed to metaphysics or questions concerning religion. For example, towards the beginning of the book, the author seems to admit that if all can be explained by science, then determinism is true and hence, there is no reason to think that the conclusions we come up with are the correct ones because they have all been determined. However, he tries to get out of this mess by claiming that according to Darwinian evolution, we should have developed higher congnative faculties which are good for knowledge. This is an absurd claim, as not only does it not at all address the question of determinism, but also has been shown by Plantinga's evolutionary argument against naturalism to be seriously flawed. However, the point of the author discussing this made even less sense to me when he began discussing how things work at the quantum level (can only have a probability distribution for where a particle is at any given time rather than absolute certainty) and how Laplace's idea of determinism has been disproven because of said quantum phenomena. So that whole discussion at the beginning rather confused me.
There were many fascinating things that the author discussed in a way that was easy for a layman to understand and which had "real world" applications. For example, the author discusses how the further you are from the center of the earth, the less of an impact gravity has on you. According to Einstein's theory of relativity, this also turns out to affect how you understand time so that you and someone much further from the earth's surface experience time differently. A very practical application that the author then mentions is that of GPS systems and how if we did not take general relativity and the time contraction into account when designing the satellites used in GPS navigation, that it would be way noticeably off. Another "popular" science phenomena that the author was able to make sense of was black holes and supernova. It was interesting to learn the relationship between gravity, mass, and black holes.
This book is based on a classic in the popular science arena, and as such, is definitely worth reading.
Summary of A Briefer History of Time
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHORS
The science classic made more accessible
? More concise ? Illustrated
FROM ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANT MINDS OF OUR TIME COMES A BOOK THAT CLARIFIES HIS MOST IMPORTANT IDEAS
Stephen Hawking?s worldwide bestseller A Brief History of Time remains a landmark volume in scientific writing. But for years readers have asked for a more accessible formulation of its key concepts?the nature of space and time, the role of God in creation, and the history and future of the universe. A Briefer History of Time is Professor Hawking?s response.
Although ?briefer,? this book is much more than a mere explanation of Hawking?s earlier work. A Briefer History of Time both clarifies and expands on the great subjects of the original, and records the latest developments in the field?from string theory to the search for a unified theory of all the forces of physics. Thirty-seven full-color illustrations enhance the text and make A Briefer History of Time an exhilarating and must-have addition in its own right to the great literature of science and ideas.
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