A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking, Leonard Mlodinow
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Book Reviews of A Briefer History of Time
Book Review: Really cool book :)
Summary: 4 Stars
I read the book A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking. At first I thought this book might be rather dull, but I actually really enjoyed it and would give it 4 out of 5 stars. In this book, Stephen Hawking brilliantly describes complex concepts of physics relating to the earth and its place in the universe and the theories that attempt to make sense of it all; and he does so in a way that is easy for people inexperienced in physics to understand. The title of this book describes the book really well, as it briefly explains subjects such as relativity, quantum gravity, and even goes into the possibilities of time travel and teleportation. Hawking also gives a lot of history of the study of physics and even devotes a chapter of this book to each Newton, Galileo, and Einstein. It amazed me how much each of these scientists was able to discover and accomplish, especially with technology far inferior than that of physicists today. I also really liked the fact that in this book, Hawking supports both the belief in God and the belief in science. He explains that though natural laws exist and everything happens in natural ways, God is the creator of everything and is omniscient, and therefore could have created these laws and created everything to follow these laws.
I am really glad that I chose to read this book and was not scared away by the fact that it was written by Stephen Hawking, one of the most brilliant men alive.I really felt like I learned a lot from this book and was able to gain a greater appreciation of the universe in which we live and the laws that govern it. Hawking's simple style of writing in this book makes an enjoyable read for anyone with an interest in how the universe started, how it exists from day to day , and how (or if) it will end.
Book Review: briefer brief history
Summary: 4 Stars
I really enjoyed the book entitled A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking. I would rate this book as a 4 out of 5 stars. Stephen was able to expound on the technical concepts of the physics in nature throughout time. He explains things from the beginning starting with why people thought the Earth was at first flat and then ends with more up-to-date scientific studies and observations. The main theme of this book is the search for a new theory that will incorporate both relativity and the quantum theory of gravity.
This book really helped me understand what people's understanding of the universe was from the very beginning. It helped me visualize the big picture of the physics of the universe. I thought that this was a pretty easy book to follow especially because it reflected a lot of the concepts learned in class. However, if I did not take this class, the book would have been more confusing. However, I think someone who is interested in the science of the world would enjoy reading it. Something I really enjoyed from the book was all the examples he used to explain the viewpoints and principles. These examples helped me visualize exactly what was going on and helped me understand specific principles better.
One of my favorite chapters was when he talked about the stars in the solar system and why we are able to see what we see here on Earth. (Chapter 7) It's really neat that you can find out how far the star is just by measuring the luminosity. Also it was interesting for me to hear that if a star were a grain of salt, then the amount we would be able to see can fill a teaspoon! This is only one specific part I enjoyed while reading this book. There were some confusing parts in the book, but overall, I enjoyed reading it.
Book Review: Difficult made Easy - by Stephen Hawking in A Briefer History of Time
Summary: 4 Stars
A Briefer History of Time, by Stephen Hawking was an interesting book summarizing many of the advances and discovers that have come to be understood only by educated physicists now available to merely everyone. Difficult concepts such as time, theory of relativity, space-time, energy, quantum mechanics, time travel, etc. were discussed. The book allowed for so much of the advanced knowledge that has been gained in the last centuries to be succinctly abridged into just as the title implies a "briefer history of time".
The author of the book taught difficult concepts that astronomer's, physicists, and scientists faced then and now and he taught it in such a way that "non-science" coordinated people could grasp. The many difficult equations and figures that usually accompany physics were not used which caused the daunting task of learning about the ever-expanding universe and the way it works easier to swallow. Hawking was very good at taking deeper thought and theory and teaching it so even a struggling college physic student could better understand the world of physics.
The book itself was very well written. It made available the less understood concepts of the world of physics. A few of the concepts flew pretty far over my head. Over all, however I felt that it allowed me to gain a better understanding about how much there still to know about our universe. The little bit we do know is just so small when comparing the deep universe still unknown.
Book Review: A Brilliant Novel
Summary: 4 Stars
Stephen Hawking's A Briefer History of Time was written for people who wanted a simpler version of A Brief History of Time with main key concepts. In this book, Hawking goes through topics such as the shape and orbit of earth (Aristotle, Ptolemy, Copernicus), Newton and his views on the universe, relativity (Einstein), curved space, how the universe is expanding, the Big Bang and blackholes, gravity, time travel, dimensions, unification of physics, and God. His writing was somewhat simple for those who have not been introduced in depth to time, the expanding universe, and those kind of things before (ex. Hawking referring to the tension in a string as a thousand million million million million million million tons as a 1 with thirty-nine zeros after it).
I feel like this book really stretched my mind. It was a hard read, no doubt, but I liked contemplating things Hawking wrote and realizing that I had grown smarter for it. The most interesting section to me was about time being faster closer to the earth. Apparently, if you sent a twin up in space and kept one on earth and the twin in space came back, he would have aged less than the one on earth. Hawking could have been more clear when he wrote about dimensions and curves. It confused me, but with some careful rereading, I bet I could derive more from it.
All in all, good read and recommended if you want to do some deep thinking.
Book Review: Fantastic read
Summary: 4 Stars
Having just finished the book, I can definitely recommend it. If you're at all interested in the state of modern science, it's an excellent primer on the topic. My only (minor) complaint is that there are parts of the book that appear to leave out appropriate depth for the sake of brevity. Keeping the book short is good, but there were a few times when I found myself really wanting more in-depth information but it wasn't there. But that's really a minor point for an otherwise excellent book.
Be warned, though. While the book may seem deceptively short, it's not the type of thing you're going to burn through in an afternoon. (Well, unless you're a physicist, in which case you wouldn't be reading this book in the first place.) There were a number of sections in the book, particularly in the later chapters on quantum theory, where I found myself reading, and re-reading, and re-reading, and thinking about, and re-reading again the same page to try and figure out what he's talking about. I'm sure that the subject matter is presented in the simplest way possible, but some of these topics are real mind-benders. This is, in my opinion, a very good thing though. :)