The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen William Hawking Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Universe in a Nutshell
Book Review: a good but over-brief summary with some intriguing speculati
Summary: 3 Stars
This book is targeted at laymen who want to understand our developing knowledge of the fundamental laws governing the way our universe works. In this context it is only a qualified success, like its predecessor, "A Brief History of Time". The publishers (or Hawking himself) have aimed this at the coffee table audience and as such it is rich on illustrations and photography but disappointingly brief on text. A book with three times the text and a few less illustrations may have reduced sales and added a few quid to the price but would have left a lot more informed customers.
However, most of what there is of it is very good, particularly on subjects not covered in his original book.
The main reason why this book is in the bestseller lists, particularly in the UK, is the mystique surrounding Hawking's name. I am sure Einstein would not be able to write as elegantly and persuasively as Hawking but in terms of conceptual scientific breakthoughs there is no comparison.
In short, if a layman wants to understand cosmology, astrophysics etc. there are better writers out there. Alternatively, if he or she wants to enjoy reading the thoughts of the great scientists of the twentieth century then Hawking would be the first to admit he is not at the top of this list.
If you want a combination of the two with pretty pictures, this could be the one for you!
Book Review: Nutshells need Nutcrackers....
Summary: 3 Stars
in this colourful book.Hawking attempts to correct his heavily linguistic approach of 'a brief history' in a well thought-out attempt at presenting a more coherent image of our universe and our current level of understanding of it. In order to achieve this Hawking quickly guides the reader through some of the complex theories using careful and well-thought out language and cartoons and graphics that support the text along with reasonable summaries of the main findings. He is also keen to point out and highlight the relevance of each area in our overall understanding of the universe.
Many of these concepts are however, despite Hawkins best intentions difficult and abstract being very different from the normal classical experience of humans living in the macroscopic world. Quantum theory, P-Branes, Spin Theory, Sum of Histories, string theory are all dealt with here. Hawking avoids the use of Mathematics in explaining these concepts but it is still inevitable that some of the theories and concepts are not suited to this light approach - often complicated points that require more background comprehension in the subject remain difficult to comprehend. Occasionally one is left puzzled by abstract sections that are not well supported in the rest of the book.
However not delving too much into any one branch or area -does have its advantages; conscieness keeps the various branches connected and allow Hawkings overall image of the universe to form in the readers consciousness. This together with Hawkins frequent good humour also appear to capture the most important aspects of each area. If one can subdue the frustration of not fully comprehending some sections and trust to Hawkings guidance, one is carefully guided to a current cosmological understanding of the universe. Hawking seems to be generously aware of the difficulty in comprehending some of the abstract theories dealt lightly by him in the text and offers the reader a reading list at the end including a section on 'getting more technical'.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in gaining an overview and powerful insight to the current shape of the universe. Hawking covers well the many theories and concepts that are pre-requisites for the more recent discoveries and Hawking brings his own valuable insight and guidance to these without becoming too bogged down in technical detail.
An excellent starting point too for anyone interested in finding some answers to some of the more fundamental questions asked by humans.
Book Review: An enjoyable but challenging book
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the long-awaited follow-up to "A Brief History of Time". It's quite amazing how some of the ideas around the Physics of the very large and very small have developed in recent years, and Stephen Hawking is determined to communicate them to us.He realises that this requires diagrams and analogies, since the mathematics is getting ever more forbidding. As a result, unlike a lot of books on modern Physics and cosmology, this one focuses on pictures and spatial representations. It's beautifully illustrated throughout, almost a coffee-table book. That said, Hawking hasn't neglected the text either - it's clear, concise and frequently humourous.
The book starts with the key ideas developed in the earlier part of the 20th century, Relativity and Quantum Theory, but in the context of more recent experiments and observations, which makes it feel more contemporary than more historical accounts. The second chapter explains how these developed through to the 1980s, summarising the various attempts at unified "Theories of Everything". The book's central chapter investigates what we now know about how the Universe formed and developed, presenting a lot of quite new findings and concepts.
After this, the going starts to get harder, introducing concepts like time travel through black holes, and the physics of the strangely-named "p-branes". You may need to read these several times, and understanding is by no means guaranteed, but Hawking rightly focuses on the key implications rather than the models themselves.
The penultimate chapter is a bit of a non-sequiteur, looking at the evolution of human and artificial intelligence. It's a fascinating subject, well described and clearly of great interest to Hawking, but doesn't quite fit with the rest of the book. Finally, the book presents some of the most recent ideas of unified theories - branes again - and makes some sense of why such strange mathematical models are needed.
I enjoyed this book, but I wouldn't pretend to have understood it all on a first reading. However, I understood enough to be convinced that Hawking is not only one of our time's great scientists but also, despite his disabilities, one of science's great explainers. If you're at all interested in modern Physics, I recommend this book...
Book Review: Interesting but way too patronising.
Summary: 3 Stars
The text is all interesting stuff - Hawking draws together a lot of current thinking and presents it in an easy to understand and accessible way. But... was it necessary to put big full colour pictures on EVERY PAGE? Some pictures illustrate complicated ideas but most are patronising and distracting, giving it the feel of a junior school text book.Wait for the paperback, which hopefully will strip out the fluff and leave you with the important stuff.
Book Review: Think the Unthinkable With Hawking as Your Guide
Summary: 5 Stars
Let your thinking expand to the outer reaches of the Universe, and experience the unthinkable with today's greatest living genius, Stephen Hawking. His explanation of the inexplicable is brilliant yet easy to understand. You may even ask yourself "Why Didn't I Think of That?" As Hawking demonstrates in this wonderful book, and Einstein repeatedly observed, great complexities most often reduce to surprising simplicities, which only an active imagination reveals in the first instance. Hawking's book, like others such as "Why Didn't I Think of That? - Think the Unthinkable" show you that the unthinkable is indeed thinkable by the ordinary mind, and often what you consider unknowable is in fact within reach of your curious mind and its powerful imagination.