A Briefer History of Time, Stephen Hawking

A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes is a popular-science book on cosmology (the study of the universe) by British physicist Stephen Hawking. It was first published in 1988.

Hawking wrote the book for nonspecialist readers with no prior knowledge of scientific theories.

These observations have confirmed many of Professor Hawking's theoretical predictions in the first edition of his book, including the recent discoveries of the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite (COBE), which probed back in time to within 300,000 years of the universe's beginning and revealed wrinkles in the fabric of space-time that he had projected.

Eager to bring to his original text the new knowledge revealed by these observations, as well as his own recent research, Professor Hawking has prepared a new introduction to the book, written an entirely new chapter on wormholes and time travel, and updated the chapters throughout.

عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «تاریخچه کوتاهتر از زمان»، «نگرشی بر جهان هستی»، «تاریخچه زمان»، «تاریخچهٔ زمان»، «از انفجار بزرگ تا سیاه‌ چاله‌ ها»؛ نویسنده استیفن (استیون) هاوکینگ؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش روز بیست و هفتم ماه آوریل سال2008میلادی

عنوان: تاریخچه کوتاهتر از زمان، نویسنده استیفن (استیون) هاوکینگ؛ مترجم رضا خزانه؛ تهران، فاطمی، سال1386، در ده و126ص؛ شابک9643184374؛ چاپ دوم سال1388؛ چاپ چهارم سال1392؛ موضوع: کیهانشناسی، تاریخچه ی زمان، فضا و زمان، فیزیک، از دانشمندان بریتانیا - سده20م

عنوان: نگرشی بر جهان هستی، نویسنده: استیفن هاوکینگ؛ مترجم: احمد بی نظیر؛ تهران، فرهنگ تارا، سال1392؛ در128ص؛ شابک9786009203147؛

عنوان: تاریخچه زمان، نویسنده: استیفن هاوکینگ؛ مترجم داوود نعمت اللهی؛ چاپ نخست سال1369، در290ص؛ چاپ چهارم سال1372؛

فهرست برگردان جناب «داوود نعمت اللهی»: («پیش گفتار، ص5»؛ «فصل یک: تصویر ما از جهان، ص9»؛ «فصل دو: مکان و زمان، ص29»؛ «فصل سه: جهان در حال گسترش؛ ص57»؛ «فصل چهار: اصل عدم قطعیت؛ ص83»؛ «فصل پنج: ذرات بنیادین و نیروهای طبیعت، ص97»؛ «فصل شش: سیاهچاله ها؛ ص123»؛ «فصل هفت: سیاهچاله ها آنقدرها هم سیاه نیستند، ص151»؛ «فصل هشت: آغاز و انجام جهان؛ ص173»؛ «فصل نهم: پیکان زمان، ص211»؛ «فصل دهم: کرم چالها و سفر زمان، ص227»؛ «فصل یازدهم: وحدت فیزیک، ص243»؛ «فصل دوازده: سخن آخر؛ ص265»؛ «واژه نامه، ص277»؛ «درباره نویسنده ص285»)؛

کتاب «تاریخچهٔ زمان» یا «تاریخ مختصر زمان» با عنوان فرعی: «از مه‌ بانگ تا سیاه‌ چاله‌ ها»، اثری نامدار، از دانشمند روانشاد «استیون هاوکینگ» است، که در سال1988میلادی، برای نخستین بار منتشر شد؛ این کتاب به عنوان پرخوانشگرترین کتاب «کیهان‌ شناسی» شهرت یافته‌ است، و به بیش از سی و سه زبان زندهٔ دنیا؛ تا سال1993میلادی، ترجمه و در آن کشورها چاپ شده‌ است؛ همچنین در یکصد و هشتاد و چهارمین هفتهٔ چاپ آن، به دلیل طولانی‌ترین حضور، در فهرست پرفروش‌ترین کتاب‌های نشریه «ساندی تایمز»، در کتاب رکوردهای «گینس» نیز، ثبت شده‌ است؛ «هاوکینگ» در این کتاب، با زبانی ساده، به بازگویی داستان جهان پرداخته‌ است؛ این کتاب در سال1369میلادی، با عنوان «تاریخچهٔ زمان، از انفجار بزرگ تا سیاه‌ چاله‌ ها»؛ و ...؛ در کشور ما «ایران» نیز برای نخستین بار به چاپ رسیده‌ است

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 31/01/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ 12/09/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

كتاب تحفة .. وشرح محترم وغير صعب الفهم في رأيي، ممكن يكون صعب للي ماعندوش خلفية عن مفاهيم الفيزياء مثلا، لكنه أكيد ممكن يكون دافع ومحفز إنه يخلي كل واحد يدور ويبحث أكتر، أول كتاب أقراه لستيفن هوكينج، بعد ما كنت بشوف له حلقات وثائقية، وبجد .. روعة...

সময় নিয়ে পড়লাম, খুব একটা সময় নিয়ে পড়ার যে দরকার ছিল তা নয়। লেখককে ব্যক্তিগতভাবে চিনি, সেজন্য পড়ার ক্ষেত্রে আলাদা একটি ভাল লাগা তো ছিলই। যে বয়সটায় এ বইগুলো বাংলায় খুব করে চাইতাম, তখন এমন কিছুই ছিল না বলতে গেলে। একা জাফর ইকবাল স্যার তার কল্পকাহিনী নির্ভর বিজ্ঞানের স্রোতে আমাদের বয়সীদের এতদূর এনেছেন। আমাদের দায়টা হল এটাকে আমরা যা চাইতাম তা অনুজদের জন্য ডেলিভার করা।
আদিল ভাই, এই কাজটিই অনেক গুছিয়ে করে যাচ্ছেন। অনুপ্রেরণা পাই। এখন যেমন এক ধরনের চুপি চুপি বদনাম আছে যে, বাংলায় বিজ্ঞানের বই আসলে পপসায়েন্স ছাড়া কিছু না সে বদনামটাও একদিন ঘুঁচে যাবে যদি এই দাঁড় বাওয়া চলতে থাকে।
আমরা তো এখনো বিজ্ঞান সৃষ্টির সংস্কৃতি দূরে থাক, বিজ্ঞান চর্চার প্রয়াসে খাটছি। গায়ের জোর, ধাক্কার জোর, ক্ষমতার জোরের চেয়ে বুদ্ধির জোরের বেশি দরকার উদ্ভাবনমুখর এই বৈশ্বিক সময়টায় এসেও আমাদের সেটা বোঝাতে গিয়ে পিছিয়ে পড়তে হচ্ছে। সত্যিকার বিজ্ঞান চর্চা হচ্ছে, বিজ্ঞানের মূল বিষয়গুলোর দিকে ঝোঁক মাথায় রাখা।
পেশাদারিত্বের পৃথিবীর সাথে উৎকর্ষতার জগতের এই রেসে আমাদের জিততে হলে কাজের লোকের দলটা বড় হওয়া চাই সমালোচকদের চেয়ে।
বইটা অনেকগুলো বিষয় কাভার করেছে ঠিকই, কিন্তু আমাদের নিত্য পাঠকদের সুবোধ মন যেন পাঠ থেকে পালিয়ে না যায় সেজন্য অনেক জায়গায় অনেক কিছু এড়িয়ে, সরল করে বলা হয়েছে। একদিন অবশ্যই আসবে যখন, বাংলায় বিজ্ঞান বইয়ের জন্য বিষয়ই মুখ্য হবে, পাঠকের ভাবনা হবে নিরপেক্ষ।
চাই পড়া, চাই লেখা, চাই চর্চা।

Despite being a succinct and simpler version of Hawking's original A Brief History of Time, the concepts presented are dry and difficult to grasp. Nonetheless, this book definitely piqued my interest in wormholes, the big bang, time travel, and many other theories concerning our universe. I reckon this will be appreciated better by those with at least a decent understanding of quantum mechanics, string theory, and the theory of relativity.

الكتاب أكثر من رائع و يبسط علوم الكوزمولوجي و نشأة الكون بشكل مبسط.. الترجمة متميزة و الطبعة بها صور توضيحية ، و الكتاب أساسا منقع عن الكتاب الأول تاريخ موجز للزمن. يتكلم فيه الكاتب عن حدود الكون و نظرية الأوتار و تطبيقات النسبية و المادة المضادة..الخ قد تحتاج لقراءة الصفحة أكثر من مرة لو لم تكن دارسا للفيزياء، لكن الكتاب مهم و ممتع و الأكثر تبسيطا لمن يريد معرفة كيفية وصول العلماء لهذه النظريات و أن يعرف الحجم الحقيقي للكون و كيفية دراسته.. و الكاتب طبعا غني عن التعريف

أعلم أن قراءاتي العلمية قليلة .. جداً
على الرغم من أنها مرتبطة بدراستي ومجال عملي

This will be a shorter-than-usual review for me, but it doesn't seem necessary to add much more to the many excellent reviews of this book. This is the Hawking-Mlodinow easy-reader (because his best-seller A Brief History of Time was bought to make people seem better informed, but not actually really read. The challenge here was to comprehensively and cogently present complex concepts like relativity, quantum theory, string theory, etc. without using *any* numbers whatsoever (not even powers of ten!) and yet without coming off as patronizing. After a few initial hiccups (the first chapter's historical survey of the evolution of human understanding was a touch treacly and almost lost me), the book completely and remarkably succeeds at this.

Two minor quibbles:
(1) The illustrations, while very pretty (and all in color!), add absolutely nothing to the text. Rather than seek to use pictures to flesh out the more difficult-to-grasp ideas (e.g., particles vs. waves, what Feynman diagrams mean and why or how they are used, why we might view a superstring as a particle, etc.), the drawings are irrelevant window-dressing (a magnifying glass next to a telescope to show the range of scale explored by modern physics, a "Dark Side of the Moon" album cover to accompany a discussion of how starlight can be analyzed to learn what elements the star contains and how quickly it is receding from us, a cutesy drawing of Hawking being pulled toward a photograph of Marilyn Monroe to show... attractive force?). Hey, pobody's nerfect, but this really seems like a tremendous missed opportunity. Had the authors not seen NASM's "Adventures of Priscilla the Proton?" A classic. Anyway...

(2) In a weird attempt to justify their life's work, the authors write at length in the opening and concluding chapters about both the place of/rationale for God in the universe (drawing no potentially controversial conclusions) and the "uniqueness" of humankind. It's ironic, considering that their consideration of Ptolemy, Galileo, LaPlace (and Occam!) had already long removed us vain and self-congratulatory Earthpeople from our place at the center of the universe. So why perpetuate the "anthropic principle" fallacy to answer the unanswerable philosophical question, "Why is the universe the way we see it?" (p. 130). Out of billions and billions of possible configurations of the whole shootin' match we call existence, this one happened to arise. Freakish coincidence? Not really. After all, if we take as our premise that *AT LEAST ONE* configuration *MUST* emerge out of billions and billions of possible configurations of the whole shootin' match we call existence (the alternative being no existence of anything), then to do otherwise is to beg the premise. Presumably the gamma-tasting collective consciousness of silicon, potassium, chlorine, and fluorine living across a ring-system near-zero-temperature orbiting a red giant in some far distant galaxy perceives the remarkableness of a universe that makes possible its best of all possible worlds?

Logic doesn't appear to be Hawking's forte when it comes to seeking existential self-justification. The answer is neither "We see it this way because we exist and that's what we must expect our environment to look like for our existence to be possible," nor "If the universe were otherwise we would not exist," but because we don't know how to describe it otherwise. Our descriptions are but metadata we superimpose on the data, why conflate the two? I should hope that we are ever-more-detailed, precise, and accurate in matching our descriptions to the reality of our environment on the assumptions that (a) we are aiming at this conceit, (b) we desire consistency, and (c) we (hopefully and when we don't try to make the data fit our theories instead of the other way around) are honest enough to discard those outdated models that don't seem to gibe with what our extended senses have recorded or which others without ulterior motives can independently confirm. Not to get on my high horse here (who am I ranting at, anyway?) but except in philosophy, our later identification of a tree as a yew or a hemlock and our theoretical use of a virtual graviton has no impact on the squirrel who gets conked on the head by a falling cone. Unless we are sharing a mass delusion straight out of Philip K. Dick, the universe appears to exist independently of and without concern for our appreciation of it. The ol' Trekkie-ism, "It's life, Jim, but not as we know it," is inherently contradictory. Better to say, "It's life, Jim, but not as we knew it." God bless us, we're always learning.

Needless to say Hawking is brilliant; but he takes it to another level by not only carefully explaining the areas of relativity and quantum mechanics in a way we can understand; he adds valuable yet humorous illustrations. While its not "Dr Suess does Cosmology" its far and away more approachable than other books on the topic. Personally I love learning new things and areas like String theory have been the most difficult. That said, I feel I have a far better grasp on these two areas after having read this book.

Synopsis of a century of science. Not quite the depth I was looking for, following up some Great Courses on related topics, but I think it might be a very good intro to basic astrophysics/cosmology for younger readers or those adults wanting a place to start catching up to a fast-moving field of study.

I really need to learn more about quantum stuff. Much of it came up as a science after my school days, and a lot of pop sci routes around it with brief hand-waving while pursuing more approachable topics.

Ta, L.

Imagine you are a tiny particle, one that lived throughout the universe since the beginning of time. You witnessed the dawn of creation, and within you lie the rules with which the end can be foreseen. You are fully aware of the characteristics of space-time. Relativity & Quantum Mechanics are nothing but infant struggles to identify you and your behavior. You could even be a string! But nobody can say for sure, for only you have that knowledge. You gaze at the human race along the path of time, laughing: They still don't know. But you praise their efforts in their quest to understand it all.

Such is the magnificence of a bewildering world.

Warning: For a beginner in the field of physics, going through this book may not be an easy task. (It was not, for me) In spite of being relatively short, it requires a great deal of concentration. Nevertheless, I can assure you, it is remarkably MIND BLOWING.

A Briefer History of Time does not tell the story of creation, at least not entirely. It outlines, however, the scientific theories, observations, and discoveries by which one can try to understand how things are they way they are. Starting with the basic definition of the Scientific Theory, and ending with the dilemma of String Theories, the authors tackle some interesting topics regarding the nature of space and time, realized by a different set of theories initiated by different scientists; like Newton, Einstein, and Heisenberg, during a long course of human history. They will shed some light on the big bang, the black holes, the forces that govern the universe and its components, worm holes and even time travel!

Despite all that is known up to date, some things still remain a mystery. Don't expect the book to give you a happy, clear ending, for nowadays theories are not able to explain everything, as they are still not completely compatible. The future, however, is a head of us, and we might, one day, find the one grand ultimate theory which can unveil the curtains to the unknown.

Or can we not?

Коротка і просто написана книга про фізичний світ (чи світ фізиків, якщо бути точним). Початок оманливо простий, але автори швидко піднімають рівень - переходячи до складніших питань.

Одним з важливих сюжетів книги є питання: "Чи Бог існує?" Адже фізики відомі своєю схильністю до атеїзму. Але автори не займають чіткої позиції, хоча у висновку все ж розкривають карти: питання "Навіщо?" - це питання філософії, а не фізики. І скрушно додають, що філософи тепер не ті - вважають, що вивчати можна лише мову, а на більше філософія не спроможна.

Гарний, легко написаний огляд фізичних досліджень, який дозволяє зрозуміти сучасний стан справ, а також простежити лінію розвитку від ХІХ ст. (І так, автори не визнають теорії Куна про парадигми, але це вже інша історія).

As a lover of A Brief History of Time, I absolutely loved the idea of A Briefer History of Time! It was a nice, succinct sum up of all the brilliance and amazing-ness of the original book and is a great refresher of the longer version. I have nothing but respect for science books who can communicate quite difficult concepts to all varieties of readers and this book is great for doing that. It also has many brilliant pictures and illustrations to further reinforce points and overall it’s just a great book to read!