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Maurice Reads an Academic Book
Under Academic books I've collected all those books (well, all…) which are meant not as entertainment, but as enlightenment on specific subjects.
If you can't find the book you're looking for here, try Filmed Books Contemporary Books or Literature.
The 'Reviews'
Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time is indeed brief - just under 200 pages and covers pretty much the main theories from the time of Aristotle and Ptolemy to Newton, Gallileo, Einstein and himself and his contemoporaries. And this book is something I've always wanted to read, simply because I may have an alpha mind, I've got a beta heart which irresistably draws me to these things (somwehere along the line of TBR books is a book on superstring theory). Besides, the kids in my class wanted to know what was beyond the universe and I got stuck halfway through trying to simplistically explain the theory of relativity and the curvature of spacetime. (If you're wondering why this question was asked in an English class, don't ask me, as I was as suprised.)
The problem is, of course, the alpha mind. Hawking, although doing it rather simplistacally, still managed to lose me somewhere along the line when quarks, particle/antiparticle pairs and 'spin' came up. This will mean I'll re-read the book at a later date, after the bits of information that have sunk in are digested.
But what can I say about this book? Well, that it's clear, and sometimes even humourous, especially in relation to the purely scientific books that are available on the subject, but also that it's probably somewhat outdated by now as it was first published in 1987 and not revised since (and surely things must have happened over the last 12 years). His views on the origin of the universe and the place black holes have in the universe at large are very interesting, especially because he allows God to play a part in a number of these theories, which I hadn't expected at all (I thought all scientists were inherently atheist), but also that he imposes limits on the degree of divine intervention possible in the universe as we understand it to be.
All time favourite part of the book for me must be the anthropic principle: "We see the universe the way it is because if it were different, we would not be here to observe it."
So can I recommend it? I'm not sure if I'm in any position to say anything about the book right now, though I suppose that if you're curious there are far worse places to start a quest for knowledge about the origins, present state, and future of the universe.
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