Isn't it amazing that a person can read a book like A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking and come away feeling both smarter and dumber than before he started? What a universe we live in!

It's quite short and generally a quick read. Not every page is filled with mind-blowing/numbing theories and brain-busting equations. Some of it is just history, say on Newton and such. However, there were a few pages worth of passages where my wee brain felt like it was getting sucked into a black hole...mainly during the black hole segment.

I've forgotten so much since I left school, and since school was such a long time ago, some of what was taught back then is now outdated, it was nice to read this refresher/cleanser.

I came away with a better understanding of the Big Bang theory and why it's plausible (Not the tv show. Its existence is not plausible). I'm trying to sort out the time/space quantifiability thing. That's going to require a reread...and probably further study elsewhere.

Surprisingly, I also came away with the idea that God and science can coexist. I didn't expect that. I figured someone like Hawking would be like, "God? Pssh, whatever." But that's not his take at all, or at least that not the impression this book left me with.

A Brief History of Time was written with accessibility in mind, knowing full well idiots like me wouldn't buy it, read it or recommend it if it were impossibly dense. Hawking's sense of humor even comes through on occasion, which is always appreciated in these sciencey texty thingies. So, I'll probably move on to his Briefer History... next and I'd be quite willing to read others as well!

One of most famous and well written books on Physics. Recommended to the Science enthusiasts.

Chính bộ phim "The Theory of Everything" đã đưa mình đến với tác phẩm này chứ không phải tự bản thân nó hấp dẫn. Thẳng thắn là mình đếch hiểu Hawking viết kái rì. Quyển sách là minh chứng hùng hồn cho việc kể cả Hawking có cố gắng đơn giản hóa đến đâu đi chăng nữa thì vấn đềvề cơ học lượng tử, thuyết tương đối rộng, lý thuyết dây, lỗ sâu đục ... (và nhiều thứ lằng nhằng khác nữa) đều không thể nuốt được với một thằng không hiểu biết (kiểu như mình). Nó cũng là minh chứng cho việc dù bạn có chả hiểu gì, nhưng miễn là bạn biết chữ thì bạn sẽ vẫn đọc hết được bất kể quyển sách nào - ý tôi là: kể cả quyển này.

Nhưng "The Theory of Everything" thì quả là một bộ phim tuyệt cmn vời. Có không nhiều phim điện ảnh dạng tiểu sử tuyệt vời đến như thế. Bộ phim kể về cuộc đời của nhà bác học Stephen Hawking, người đã dành cả cuộc đời để nghiên cứu khoa học về vũ trụ. Hawking mắc một căn bệnh về thần kinh vận động liên quan tới hội chứng teo cơ bên, khiến cho ông hầu như liệt toàn thân và phải giao tiếp qua một thiết bị hỗ trợ phát giọng nói. Cuốn "Lược sử thời gian" (A Brief History of Time) này được ông viết khi đang ngồi trên xe lăn với cái tên đầu tiên là "History of Time", sau đó ông thêm vào chữ "Brief" (tóm lược) ngụ ý việc ông sẽ viết một tác phẩm khoa học cho đại đa số quần chúng có thể thưởng thức. Đấy là phim nó thể hiện như thế. Diễn xuất tuyệt vời của Eddie Redmayne (trong vai giáo sư Hawking) đã mang lại cho anh một tượng vàng Oscar cho nam diễn viên chính xuất sắc nhất năm 2015.

Kể cả bạn không thích đọc quyển sách này thì bạn cũng nên xem "The Theory of Everything" - ít nhất là một lần trong đời - thề đấy !!!

Quyển sách đầu tiên của năm 2017 mà khoai vãi đái. Quá khó để đánh giá điểm số cho quyển sách này. Cho 5 sao thì không phải với lòng mình lắm (vì có hiểu đéo gì đâu mà cho 5 sao). Cho thấp quá thì cũng không phải với Hawking :D. Đánh giá chung chung đi. 3 sao (tớ thích!).

Piece of shit!

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.

Even though Stephen Hawking did an impeccable and brilliant job dumbing down all this physics and quantum mechanics and SCIENCE, I am still not science-smart enough to fully understand most of it. Good try, though, and it was so readable! And it gave me several existential crises. Like, okay, if you are just jonesing for a panic attack, pick up this book and when he starts in on the origin of the universe, just let your mind go there, see if you can encompass the entirety of the universe in your mind. I'm just concentrating on the words I'm typing and trying not to picture anything at all, lest my brain get going again.

As a result, it did take me much longer to read this than the page-length would imply. I had to do a chapter at a time, basically, in between fluff. Others, of course, may not be as prone to these sorts of brain crises like I am, but they've been happening when I hear about these subjects since my Astronomy 101 class in college.

I really can't overstate how readable this science-heavy book is. I was very nearly able to comprehend most of the things in this book, which is frankly a miracle. I never went past Chemistry in school, and then I took the easy way out for my college science requirements by taking Geography. Most of my science knowledge comes from science fiction, so I'm sure a little bit of unreal science has slipped in, but I'd like to think I have a handle on what's real and what's fictional. They haven't yet invented transporters yet, I do know that, and when they do, I will not be using one. No thank you, I do not want to end up with a Thomas Riker situation, or even with the unsettling knowledge that you are just a copy of yourself when you come out the other end when everything goes right.

Anyway, I've wandered. This book is as good as people say, and it's a bestseller for a reason. I feel smarter for having read it.

وداعاً يا ذا النظارة ــ وداعاً ستيفن هوكينج
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ما هو الشيء الأكثر غرابة الكون أم المجانين؟.... كلاهما مُستتر بداخل هالة من السواد، كلاهما نكابد الحياة لنسبر أغوار كينونتهم، كلاهما يسكنه اللاشيء وكل شيء، كلاهما يحوي معرفة مستترة مُسفرة عن أفعال نحاول فهمها.

إذا تخيلنا الكون عقل شخص مجنون! فماذا سنرى من اختلاف؟ وكيف سنواجه توابع تجربة كهذه؟

سنرى أن كل شيء يحمل في باطنه الكثير من المعاني الخبيئة التي تزعق على شخصٍ ما حتى يفك قيدها من ظلام الجهل والماضي المُتحجر.

هذا الكتاب يثير الكثير من التساؤلات أكثر مما يُجيب، أين نحن! وماذا نكون؟...النظريات موضوعة ولكن احتمالية تغيُرها أكثر من تسعون بالمئة. خيال يتحول إلى حقيقة. الزمن ليس بزمن ولكنه وهم مُتخيل. عليك أن تشك في كل شيء لآنك لا تستطيع تحديد موضّعه وسرعته معاً حسب مبدأ الريبة. ميكانيكا الكم تُعارض النسبية. آينشتاين واضع النسبية ومُشارك في وضع ميكانيكا الكم ولكن ينبُذها بشدة. حاصل جمع التواريخ الذي لم أفهم منه شيئاً على الأطلاق إلا أن واضّعه عبقري كبير "ريتشارد فايتنمان". فرض اللاحدية. قوى نووية وكهرومغناطيسية وقوة الجاذبية. متفردة وانفجار عظيم، نظرية لفّ الجسيمات التي لم أفهم منها الكثير.

والكثير من هذا القبيل...أليس هذا ضرب من الجنون؟ ولكنه جنون جميل ومُثير جداً.
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بالأضافة إلى هذه الرحلة الكونية على كرسي هوكينج وبداخل كهوف رأسه تأتي بعض الومضات المعرفية الفلسفية التي ترفع من نسق تفكيرك وتُسع من آفاق مداركك.
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لقد أُعيد تحديد مهمة العلم مرة أخرى، لتصبح اكتشاف القوانين التي تمكننا من التبؤ بالأحداث في الحدود التي يفرضها مبدأ الريبة الذي حطم معظم قوانين الفيزياء الكلاسيكية. وحتى الآن كان العلماء مشغولين جداً بإنشاء نظريات جديدة توصف "ما هو الكون؟" ولكنهم لم يسألوا "لماذا" وهذه هي مهمة الفلسفة التي تنحدر يوماً بعد الأخر حتى لم تواكب تطور العلم ومُعاصرته بنظرياته التي تزداد تعقداً واستطراداً.

حتى أن في الكتاب يقول هوكيج أن الفلسفة اختُزلت في قول الفيلسوف فيتجنشتين: "المهمة الوحيدة التي بقيت للفلسفة هي تحليل اللغة". الفلسفة في حاجة لنفلة نوعية وصفعة استفاقة حتى تشُد ذيول عقولها نحو القمة مرة أخرى.

السؤال الأخير هو هل فعلاً سيتم يوماً ما إلى اكتشاف نظرية كاملة توحد جميع النظريات والقوى؟ هذا فقط في علم ��لله. ولكن من منظور هوكينج أن العلم قادر على كسر السور العتيق للمجهول ولكن كان دائما يطالب أن يكون العامة أكثر قدرة على فهم النظريات عبر التبسيط العلمي الذي يتلقونه من التعليم الدراسي الحكومي والذي لا يواكب التطور العلمي الصاروخي المتقدم. فما أن تخرج من الدراسة حتى تجد نفسك في غياهب مجهول تحتاج سنوات لدراسته وبين زوابع دائرة هنا وهناك لن تهديك للطريق الصحيح. لذا كان واجب التنويه بالتبسيط العلمي لمعرفة قوانين الكون الكامل.
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كتاب رائع رغم أن عقلي الضعيف لم يتحمل الكثير منه. 5 نجمات. والترجمة كانت رائعة.

لطيف جدا ومعلوماته سهلة الفهم

So I read his autobiography last fall and realized that I probably should read A Brief History if only to give myself some better background for sci-fi novels.

I followed some of the arguments and felt like I learned a bit more about both the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics and why both are necessary. I really had not realized that relativity does not allow for gravity. What? I mean, really, how is it that the most widely known piece of physics leaves out the most readily understood force. We all know that gravity exists, we all "understand" how it works; I did not realize that relatively did not account for it (but now I kind of get it).

I was disappointed that Hawking felt the need to bring God into things. I guess I understand that physicists are asked about the "ultimate creator" of the universe, but I also tend to get my bristles up a bit. I felt like Hawking was pandering to the religious (and not offending the vast majority of the population for whom religion is important) rather than more obviously stating that God is hogwash. If he was not going to just come out and say it, I would have rather he did not allude to the different possibilities of the existence of Santa Claus.

He lost me for a bit in the chapter on string theory. I get that this stuff is way beyond "physics for dummies", but I think it would have been better to leave it out than to lapse into technical explanations that leave the lay reader rather cold. At times, I felt like a 3 year old at the park with a negligent babysitter; I would have liked to have a more attentive guide to the deep reaches of space.

Overall, I felt like I learned a bit and Hawking is fairly understandable. I must agree with other reviewers, though in that he seems to wander off into the less comprehensible at times, without really grasping that lay readers may not be following.

Hawking is a brilliant physicist and a true expert in explaining highly complex aspects of our physical universe in terms that can be understood by most lay people.

Where Hawking fails, in my opinion, is his hubris. He proceeds in to the realm of metaphysics and religion in several portions of this book. For instance, in his chapter on the "arrow of time", he states that, essentially, the universe can only move in one direction of time. It cannot go backwards. He also states that this limits the powers of God himself. Now, Hawking never qualifies those statements by defining "God". However, if he is talking about the Biblical God, how can you honestly think you're so intelligent as to place limits on a limitless being? If God is so powerful as to have created the universe and all the physical laws, why wouldn't he be powerful enough to change those laws any time he chooses? It is the same concept as a scientist creating a computer simulation of the universe. The scientist can, at any time during the simulation, alter the underlying framework of the simulation, effectively changing the physical laws that simulated universe operates under.

Now, whether you believe in God or not, the mere fact that Hawking has the audacity to think he can assign limits on a limitless being should cause you some concern. Hawking, because of his fame and brilliance, is a man that people listen to when he speaks. That gives him immense power over the minds of his readers. He should be more careful in choosing his words.

When Hawking sticks to his strengths, however, the book is second to none. Hawking truly has a gift of explaining the powerful forces that shape our lives in ways anyone can understand.

If this book had been edited better, it would have received a few more stars from me, but I can't reward stubborn scientific pride resulting in false assumptions.

Only Hawking could write this book - simple, to the point and extremely resourceful. Cosmology is not an easy subject neither can everyone understand its deep connotations. Hawking made it understandable in the most layman terms possible.

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Theoretical Physics from the master himself. It's a great summary, but you need a little background knowledge to understand all the chapters. It's a summary of astrophysics, theoretical physics, and cosmology, and it's hard grasping it all in 200 some pages. I wish it was a little longer.

The definitions at the end of the book are very useful. You will not regret reading the book, but you need some peace and quiet while reading it in order to hopefully understand it.

I've read the A Bantam Book Edition published April 1988 / A Brief History of Time by Stephan W. Hawking / 226 pages / 56,997 words.