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Book Review of A Brief History of Time : From the Big Bang to Black Holes

A Brief History of Time : From the Big Bang to Black Holes
hardtack avatar reviewed on + 2700 more book reviews


Since I have known of Stephen Hawking, his medical condition and his genius, I have had the utmost admiration for him. So it was with some wonderment I finally began to read his popular book.

I've always felt I had some basic understanding of physics. In fact, I often told people, when explaining why something was true, "It's just basic physics."

However, trying to understand what Hawking states in this book leads me to think my understanding of physics, compared to his, is in the order of 2 plus 2 equals... uh, 3? And this book is the "dumbed down" version of his knowledge.

Still, I finished it with a sense of wonder. Especially, since he made a number of jokes, witty comments and even self-debasements in this book. He is obviously one of the most intelligent people of our time, and, for whatever reason, doesn't have the ego problem which often goes with such intelligence.