Loved it! The big bang, black holes, white dwarfs, time, life in the universe, and much more you didn't even know existed. All easy to understand.

A nice place to start if you are a person that knows next to nothing about astronomy and cosmology (like me!).

Ideal for a Birthday or Christmas present for young and budding Astronomers! Easy reading from the great man and great illustrations too! Very good value and was in great condition for a used book. If you want things explained in fairly un-tech like terms, then this is the one to buy.

Lots of topics are easy to understand. After black holes, I got lost and postponed to read it later.

This book sets out to be the "Stephen Hakwing for Dummies." The first few pages promise that this is Hawking's theory "explained in everyday language." Really, this means that they have dumbed down Hawking's uber genius ideas so that other lesser geniuses can comprehend them. The result is this: overcomplicated theories explained in condesned (yet still somehow dense) language spaced out in little chunks on pages with a LOT of white space, combined with goofy pictures that are enormous and reminiscent of large children's picture books. The result? David Finkin fails to teach me the ins and outs of Hawking's theories. Not only do I feel dumber for having attempted to read this, but I also feel like I'm back in Ms. Boisviert's first grade class in the Eagle Reading Group. Sheesh.

Logical step up from brief history of time.

Liked the lengt and topics of this book. Stephen manages to explain his complex theories in a understandable way.

Only complain I have is the same as with brief history of time. The author occasionally slides into eco-centric places where he is flattering himself instead of staying on topic.

Excellent expanations of complex ideas for the non-scientist.

This was a good layman's approach to astronomy and what we actually know and what we are just guessing about. It was fascinating and even though it was dumbed down as much as possible, towards the end it was still a little over my head. Very little to do with Stephen Hawking but a great book about the universe.

This has been a good read. The author has put a lot of time and effort. Being a writer myself, I find it commendable. The content is decent and keeps you hooked for a long time. And some parts are simply minds blowing. I look forward to reading more books like this. All in all, a good experience for an avid reader like me.

I great read before the Golden Compass, it tells about dark matter and the stranger things in the universe like the multi dimension theory and the sort..

is interesting

awesome