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The Universe in a Nutshell

stephen hawking

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Stephen Hawking’s phenomenal, multimillion-copy bestseller, A Brief History of Time, introduced the ideas of this brilliant theoretical physicist to readers all over the world.

Now, in a major publishing event, Hawking returns with a lavishly illustrated sequel that unravels the mysteries of the major breakthroughs that have occurred in the years since the release of his acclaimed first book.

216 pages, Hardcover

First published October 6,2001
Literary awards
royal society science book prize, 

This edition

Format
216 pages, Hardcover
Published
November 6, 2001 by Bantam
ISBN
9780553802023
ASIN
055380202X
Language
English

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About the author

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stephen hawking

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Stephen William Hawking was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. Between 1979 and 2009, he was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, widely viewed as one of the most prestigious academic posts in the world.
Hawking was born in Oxford into a family of physicians. In October 1959, at the age of 17, he began his university education at University College, Oxford, where he received a first-class BA degree in physics. In October 1962, he began his graduate work at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where, in March 1966, he obtained his PhD degree in applied mathematics and theoretical physics, specialising in general relativity and cosmology. In 1963, at age 21, Hawking was diagnosed with an early-onset slow-progressing form of motor neurone disease that gradually, over decades, paralysed him. After the loss of his speech, he communicated through a speech-generating device initially through use of a handheld switch, and eventually by using a single cheek muscle.
Hawking's scientific works included a collaboration with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularity theorems in the framework of general relativity, and the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, often called Hawking radiation. Initially, Hawking radiation was controversial. By the late 1970s, and following the publication of further research, the discovery was widely accepted as a major breakthrough in theoretical physics. Hawking was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. He was a vigorous supporter of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.
Hawking achieved commercial success with several works of popular science in which he discussed his theories and cosmology in general. His book A Brief History of Time appeared on the Sunday Times bestseller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks. Hawking was a Fellow of the Royal Society, a lifetime member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. In 2002, Hawking was ranked number 25 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. He died in 2018 at the age of 76, having lived more than 50 years following his diagnosis of motor neurone disease.

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Rating(4 / 5.0, 97 votes)
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97 reviews All reviews
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G_Camporez
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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I'm delighted that we will continue to appreciate Hawking's comprehensive explanations of the Universe with their clear and simple analogies. For instance, I had never thought of the world's population as a gauge of our technical capacity to protect life, but that makes perfect sense. But true to his style, it is an uphill battle of ideas and reflections. In another quote, he makes fun of humanity for claiming to be intelligent and, worse yet, for using intelligence as a survival value. However, bacteria can survive for millions of years without any kind of intelligence. Finally, I am really wondering if he managed to draw all the illustrations by himself, because it looks like as he was really enjoying that process as well, he might be an abstract painter.
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IdontKnow76
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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4 STARS.

I still think A Brief History of Time is my favorite and probably also the best starting point for anyone interested in Stephen Hawking's books (for noobs like me). But The Universe in a Nutshell was a great read as well! Stephen's humor shines through here and there, as usual, which always makes me chuckle.

I loved reading about all the theories and looking at the pictures and the models, which really helped me get a grasp and understand what he was talking about. The idea of the brane world model is so interesting to me! It's crazy to think how far science has come and what wonders we've uncovered!
One of the coolest things to me were Stephen's predictions of the future and future developments. The book was published in 2001, so a few predictions already came true or at least, now we know a little more about what he wrote about than 20 years ago.

Reading books like this (another GREAT example would be Cosmos by Carl Sagan) always makes me sad I didn't really appreciate science classes like chemistry and physics and even math in school. Granted, my physics teacher never actually held any "real classes" and chemistry always seemed so abstract and unimportant to me... Nowadays, I've definitely changed my mind on that, I think all of it is so interesting and I love educating myself about these topics even when I don't have a chance of becoming "good" at any of these disciplines. I'm fine with that though. I'll gladly continue reading books by people who are way smarter than me. And Stephen Hawking definitely was one of those people. I'll always admire him as a person and as a scientist.
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softmilkmoe
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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Simply, I love the way of Stephen Hawking in explaining his beliefs and knowledge, I think he's the most smartest man living on earth right now.

In every chapter of his books he's showing us a great review about the universe.

In this book I was surprised that he can easly explains how biology works as well.

My next book written by his is A briefier History of Time
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bryanfuryz
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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I feel kinda bad critiqueing Stephen Hawking, but this book felt like a mess. The ideas weren't really properly explained, it was mostly just: "Oh, me and Penrose, we proved that..." and he just tells us what they proved but there is no story behind the ideas, nothing feels personal or enthusiastic, whatever. It also makes it harder to read because that's boring. Also I feel like he wanted to explain too much too fast so the book doesn't feel unified. The illustrations are amazing tho.
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Rachiba
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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In this book, Hawking writes nicely about Einstein’s theories and the scientific revolution that happened during the early XX century…

However, there are many issues I find within his way of thinking: First, he makes too many hypotheses, but he does not appreciate any thought that is not about the physical world. In my view, science (including Physics) is biased by philosophy, and philosophy is biased by language. Philosophy and language do not belong to physics… Second, he argues positivism is the right way for scientific knowledge. I don’t agree with that, because intuition matters as much as deduction within scientific development. Moreover, some things are not “provable” through mathematical models, as Hawking himself states in this book…
There is a point in the book where the author makes a joke out of astrology, which I think is just ridiculous, because he is trying to be 100% positivist and astrology cannot be even discussed within a positivist viewpoint.
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Morgoroth92
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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'The Universe In A Nutshell' is a sequel to 'A Brief History of Time' nevertheless you can head straight to it if you haven't read the first one. Written in simple lucid language and attempts to explain some of the most complex concepts and theories about how our universe came to be and how it works!

It is understandable and informative. You can consider reading it if you want to have firsthand experience of what Scientists think about space-time and origin of universe.
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Zize
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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As I renew my quest to dominate the world of casual physics, I am again met with the intellectually formidable presence of Stephen Hawkings.

This actually has to be my least favorite of the Hawkings authored physics lite book, its lacks the accessibility that the other books inexorably maintained. My Astronomy 101 class (as always) proved integral to my understanding of the mysteries of the universe.

I do however respect that Hawking appears to be the dude that can write about science without dragging religion into it unduly. It appears in this work but you can tell he doesn't study science to attack some vengeful God of his youth.

Read the Brief/Briefers first. If u like dem reed dis.
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