A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes is a book on theoretical cosmology by English physicist Stephen Hawking. It was first published in 1988. Hawking wrote the book for readers who had no prior knowledge of physics. In A Brief History of Time, Hawking writes in non-technical terms about the structure, origin, development and eventual fate of the Universe, which is the object of study of astronomy and modern physics. He talks about basic concepts like space and time, basic building blocks that make up the Universe (such as quarks) and the fundamental forces that govern it (such as gravity). He writes about cosmological phenomena such as the Big Bang and black holes. He discusses two major theories, general relativity and quantum mechanics, that modern scientists use to describe the Universe. Finally, he talks about the search for a unifying theory that describes everything in …
A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes is a book on theoretical cosmology by English physicist Stephen Hawking. It was first published in 1988. Hawking wrote the book for readers who had no prior knowledge of physics. In A Brief History of Time, Hawking writes in non-technical terms about the structure, origin, development and eventual fate of the Universe, which is the object of study of astronomy and modern physics. He talks about basic concepts like space and time, basic building blocks that make up the Universe (such as quarks) and the fundamental forces that govern it (such as gravity). He writes about cosmological phenomena such as the Big Bang and black holes. He discusses two major theories, general relativity and quantum mechanics, that modern scientists use to describe the Universe. Finally, he talks about the search for a unifying theory that describes everything in the Universe in a coherent manner. The book became a bestseller and sold more than 25 million copies.
Sehr anschaulich, aber, auch wenn ich mich schon etliche Jahre damit beschäftige und verschiedene Autoren gelesen habe- noch immer brennt mir bei Quanten und Strings das Hirn durch. Ich bin schon froh, dass ich mir verbogene Zeit etc vorstellen kann. Dafür hatte ich auch schon ein paar Jahre gebraucht. :-D
By now well-covered only-so-popularizable territory of special relativity, black holes, expanding universe, quantum mechanics, anthropic principle, string theory, and does a reasonable job of remaining humble while inquisitive about the parts that might have no answer.
Ein sehr aufschlussreiches Buch, das so geschrieben ist, dass auch Laien wie ich etwas verstehen können (natürlich nicht alles, aber das muss auch nicht sein). Hawking beschreibt die Grundlagen von Newton über Einstein und Heisenberg bis hin zu seinen eigenen Forschungen und gibt einen Ausblick in die zukünftigen Forschungsrichtungen und Ziele (wie die Suche nach einer vereinheitlichten Theorie) in dem Bereich. Ich habe das Buch mit Gewinn gelesen, wenngleich es heute nicht mehr aktuell ist. Einige Theorien wurden ad acta gelegt, andere konnten in der Zwischenzeit belegt werden (Graviationswellen, Schwarze Löcher...). Zwei Anmerkungen habe ich: Im ganzen Buch kommt nur eine einzige (!) Wissenschaftlerin vor. Das wäre mir vielleicht früher gar nicht aufgefallen, aber heute achte ich auf so etwas. Herr Hawking haut manchmal ganz schön auf die Kacke (bezüglich sich selbst), aber er darf das auch. Er ist ja tatsächlich einer der wichtigsten Wissenschaftler des letzen Jahrhunderts gewesen.
Got close and then stopped listening for a couple weeks. When I came back, it was incomprehensible to be because I had forgotten most of the essential foundation laid by the rest of the book :(
So... We are nothing more than a colony of ants living on a little rock, floating in an infinite and chaotic universe?
While reading this book I learned a lot of things I was ignoring. I am convinced that if more people had a good understanding of the topics in this book, our society would be different. I enjoyed reading A Brief History of Time, but I have to confess that I had a not so easy time going through some passages and concepts, even tough the book itself is very clear.
Beyond the cold landscape that Hawking depicts through the pages, there is a message about the nature of science. I appreciated how he states things explicitly, like when he states that there is no way of knowing for sure if a theory is correct. Hawking doesn't just spit facts about each topic, instead he reasons with the reader, …
So... We are nothing more than a colony of ants living on a little rock, floating in an infinite and chaotic universe?
While reading this book I learned a lot of things I was ignoring. I am convinced that if more people had a good understanding of the topics in this book, our society would be different. I enjoyed reading A Brief History of Time, but I have to confess that I had a not so easy time going through some passages and concepts, even tough the book itself is very clear.
Beyond the cold landscape that Hawking depicts through the pages, there is a message about the nature of science. I appreciated how he states things explicitly, like when he states that there is no way of knowing for sure if a theory is correct. Hawking doesn't just spit facts about each topic, instead he reasons with the reader, so that all the doubts are set forth.
I just finished listening to Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time. It was astonishing. It made me want to understand the universe in a way that no book has in the past. I actually feel like I have a grasp on what quantum physics is, when in the past I have always felt like it was a murky pool of unknowns. I can't recommend it enough, if there are any of you that didn't beat me to it. #physics #hawking #book #review #audiobook
