The Universe in a Nutshell |
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Stephen William Hawking
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Pages: 222 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 0593048156
Pub: Bantam Press
Pub date: 2001-11-05
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 3700
Editorial Review:
The Universe in a Nutshell attempts to address the relative difficulty of Hawking's first foray into popular science, A Brief History of Time. While this sold in its millions, few readers got past the first few chapters. Helpfully, this new work is full of beautifully prepared colour illustrations and decorations, and has a "tree-like" structure, so that readers can skip from chapter to chapter without losing the thread.
In 200 highly illustrated pages, Hawking is pushing the frontiers of popular physics beyond relativity and quantum theory, past superstring theory and imaginary time, into a dizzying new world of M-theory and branes. It's a colossal venture--one Hawking is uniquely qualified to undertake--but it is crammed into far too small a space. When you consider the other rather good tomes being written on the nature of consciousness these days, the decision to limit The Universe in a Nutshell to the dictates of publishing rather than to the natural parameters of the material is an unfortunate one.
Worse, Hawking tries to paper over the complexity of his field. He rushes over the very concepts he should be helping us understand, only to belabour simple ideas, often by means of flip Star Trek metaphors. Also unfortunately, the illustrations--by turns trivial and opaque--mirror the faults of the text. The author's name alone will guarantee sales, but the book we long for--the long, ruminative, poetic celebration of Hawking's world--seems as far away as ever. --Simon Ings
Reader Reviews:
Mostly understandable :) (3/5 people found this helpful)
I am not much of a science / physics person (as in I don't really understand these matters but do find them fascinating) but I am very interested in astronomy, so I am always happy to read something about the universe in language which does not employ too much maths or excessive equations, as I simply get lost otherwise. I found Mr Hawking's explanations very accessible, apart from the discussion about time and the whole argument as to whether it has always been there, and sadly even the beautiful illustrations didn't help...but I'd put that down as my own fault rather than the author's! All in all, very well-written book, most concepts will be understood by ordinary people without prior knowledge of maths/physics, I am grateful to Mr Hawking for making this difficult subject seem much less daunting!
Only for people with science knowledge (3/6 people found this helpful)
A lovely book, lavishly illustrated and covering a huge swathe of scientific ground. The only problem is that despite being written for non-scientists, it doesn't really explain very much and the lavish illustrations sometimes don't really describe what's going on either. If you have read similar popular science books then you'll find this an interesting recap of a large field, but if you haven't you'll probably just end up feeling lost and confused.
Universe in a Nutshell review (4/7 people found this helpful)
I think this book has a broad appeal for all readers that have an interest in science. When I first bought the book I was worried thet it would be too complicated because my area of expertise is law not science, but it is explained in an interesting and simple way with illustrations and minimal use of maths! Not only will you get an idea of the science behind this book but it will also leave you with philisophical thoughts about the universe and the mysteries that are incomprehensable and yet to be solved.
Excellent but incomplete picture of the universe (2/7 people found this helpful)
This book is a must read for everyone who loves science. One has to feel some discomfort from the incompleteness of the big bang universe and its inefficiency to explain the growing number of observations. It is quite uncertain what existed before the big bang. That is why new theories like Eugene Savov's Theory of Interaction that cast light on the most recent mysteries from the near and distant space should be considered.
A great book, in theory (11/11 people found this helpful)
Hawking has achieved a cult status and popular appeal which few could have guessed was possible given his subject matter of theoretical physics. It is no small achievement that he has made such vast theoretical complexity accessible to a wide public: he stands as one of a handful of scientists who have pioneered the communication of science to a mass audience. Not only has his pure science transformed intellectual life, his writing skill has transformed public knowledge ... and I'm really not sure which is the greater achievement.
Hawking, in his best-selling "A Brief History of Time", introduced the lay reader to the big questions in science - where did we come from, why are we here, what is the meaning of life. He answered with an optimism and a passionate belief that science ... or Science ... was on the verge of the big break through. Sometime, in the next few years, it would discover the answer, and we would all sit back and go, "Ohhhh".
Unfortunately, this universal theory of everything has not materialised ... and there are many in the scientific community who would argue that it is now less likely we will discover the meaning of life than it was when Hawking first wrote his "Brief History of Time".
In the meantime, we have M-Theory, which tries to fill in the gaps. Hawking delivers an excellent explanation and exploration, but a number of critics have insisted his account is a bit sparse in places ... that the theory doesn't quite mesh together.
"The Universe in a Nutshell" is, therefore, and somewhat ironically, your starter for ten. Hawking's direct, economical style will capture your interest and your enthusiasm. You will enjoy the lavish illustrations and be engrossed by the man's capacity to reason and argue. But you may also decide you'd like to read more. If Hawking can induce you to keep searching, he will have done you a service and proved what a master communicator he is.
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Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> Science & Nature -> Astronomy & Cosmology -> Astronomy
Books -> Subjects -> Science & Nature -> Popular Science -> Authors A-Z -> H-I -> Hawking, Stephen
Books -> Subjects -> Science & Nature -> Popular Science -> Physics
Books -> Subjects -> Scientific, Technical & Medical -> Physics
Books -> Subjects -> Scientific, Technical & Medical -> Astronomy & Cosmology -> Astronomy
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
Books -> Refinements -> Age (feature_two_browse-bin)
Books -> Refinements -> Format (binding_browse-bin) -> Hardcover
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