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Stephen Hawking
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A Brief History of Time Paperback – January 1, 1990

by Hawking Stephen (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 21,152 ratings
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Was there a beginning of time? Could time run backwards? Is the universe infinite or does it have boundaries?

These are just some of the questions considered in the internationally acclaimed masterpiece by the world renowned physicist - generally considered to have been one of the world's greatest thinkers. It begins by reviewing the great theories of the cosmos from Newton to Einstein, before delving into the secrets which still lie at the heart of space and time, from the Big Bang to black holes, via spiral galaxies and strong theory. To this day A Brief History of Time remains a staple of the scientific canon, and its succinct and clear language continues to introduce millions to the universe and its wonders.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    211 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    RANDOM HOUSE UK
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 1990
  5. Dimensions
    4.33 x 0.71 x 7.05 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0553176986
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0553176988
  8. See all details
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  1. Only light, or other waves that have no intrinsic mass, can move at the speed of light.
    Highlighted by 4,981 Kindle readers
  2. An expanding universe does not preclude a creator, but it does place limits on when he might have carried out his job!
    Highlighted by 4,373 Kindle readers
  3. The eventual goal of science is to provide a single theory that describes the whole universe.
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ RANDOM HOUSE UK; First Edition (January 1, 1990)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 211 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0553176986
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0553176988
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.33 x 0.71 x 7.05 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 21,152 ratings

About the author

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Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking

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Stephen Hawking's ability to make science understandable and compelling to a lay audience was established with the publication of his first book, A Brief History of Time, which has sold nearly 10 million copies in 40 languages. Hawking has authored or participated in the creation of numerous other popular science books, including The Universe in a Nutshell, A Briefer History of Time, On the Shoulders of Giants, The Illustrated On the Shoulders of Giants, and George's Secret Key to the Universe.

(Stephen William Hawking; Oxford, Reino Unido, 8 de Enero de 1942 - Cambridge, 14 de marzo de 2018) Físico teórico británico. A pesar de sus discapacidades físicas y de las progresivas limitaciones impuestas por la enfermedad degenerativa que padecía, Stephen William Hawking es probablemente el físico más conocido entre el gran público desde los tiempos de Einstein. Luchador y triunfador, a lo largo de toda su vida logró sortear la inmensidad de impedimentos que le planteó el mal de Lou Gehrig, una esclerosis lateral amiotrófica que le aquejaba desde que tenía 20 años. Hawking es, sin duda, un ejemplo particular de vitalidad y resistencia frente al infortunio del destino.

Fue miembro de la Real Sociedad de Londres, de la Academia Pontificia de las Ciencias y de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Estados Unidos. Fue titular de la Cátedra Lucasiana de Matemáticas (Lucasian Chair of Mathematics) de la Universidad de Cambridge desde 1979 hasta su jubilación en 2009. Entre las numerosas distinciones que le han sido concedidas, Hawking ha sido honrado con doce doctorados honoris causa y ha sido galardonado con la Orden del Imperio Británico (grado CBE) en 1982, el Premio Príncipe de Asturias de la Concordia en 1989, la Medalla Copley en 2006, la Medalla de la Libertad en 2009 y el Premio Fundación BBVA Fronteras del Conocimiento en 2015.

Alcanzó éxitos de ventas con sus trabajos divulgativos sobre Ciencia, en los que discute sobre sus propias teorías y la cosmología en general; estos incluyen A Brief History of Time, que estuvo en la lista de best-sellers del The Sunday Times británico durante 237 semanas.

La Editorial Alvi Books le dedicó, como tributo y reconocimiento, este espacio en Amazon en 2016.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
21,152 global ratings
A provocative study of space and time.
5 Stars
A provocative study of space and time.
Although a bit too technical for my modest understanding of physics, I nevertheless found the book fascinating and an excellent cerebral exercise. Dr. Hawkins’s theories about our universe, space and time, are extremely interesting and provoke the imagination. A must read for all those of us who take the time to watch the stars and wonder.
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Top reviews from the United States

William Smalley
5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Introduction to a Variety of Physics Topics
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2024
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Hawking’ A Brief History of Time is a great intro book into the field of physics. The book covers a lot of topics, but Hawkins’s style is easy to read and engaging. Overall a classic.
One person found this helpful
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J. Howlett
4.0 out of 5 stars Challenging but not insurmountable.
Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2023
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Interesting and detailed discussion of cosmology, quantum mechanics and even some religion and philosophy thrown in.
Well written, engaging and you can see this was written by someone passionate about what they have devoted their life to and wish to share it. More straight forward than Rovelli and less technical that Greene. It's Baby Bear of popular books on cosmology.
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Ed P.
5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptionally easy to read book on a most difficult subject
Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2023
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I am a Sixty year old High School graduate of average intelligence. I also am fascinated by physics and nature. Stephen Hawking has a way of immersing a reader in subject matter to a depth that would have been thought impossible for someone of my limited schooling. Not only did I understand much of it, I learned a great deal more than I expected to. He is a terrific teacher! Since reading this book, I have held my own against some "highly educated" people when discussing Quantum mechanics, space/time etc. What a great feeling! I can't wait to buy another of his books.
4 people found this helpful
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TMoul1
5.0 out of 5 stars I’ll never be a smart guy:
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2024
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This book has shown me what little I know about the small piece of the universe I can see when I’m at work at night. I see the stars and know some of their given names and wonder what it would be like to see them up close.
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armgar
3.0 out of 5 stars The book itself is excellent. My rating does not reflect the content of ...
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2018
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The book itself is excellent. My rating does not reflect the content of the book or its message. It does, however, reflect the way it is presented to the reader on Kindle. The typesetting and pagination leave much to be desired. Photos and illustrations are cut part on one page part on the other. At times continuity is disturbed. If this has to do with the degree of zoom then a way should be found not to cut the captions and place them on two different pages. I wonder how close this is to the printed book.
One person found this helpful
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John Jonelis
5.0 out of 5 stars Written with talent and skill.
Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2023
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So few scientists know how to write. Hawking does. Anybody can read and understand this work. As an Evangelical Christian, I thoroughly enjoyed this atheist's book.
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Karl Janssen
4.0 out of 5 stars A valiant attempt at a physics primer
Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2019
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Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time was originally published in 1988, but I am reviewing the 2017 ebook edition, which includes an updated afterword. This book, intended for an audience of general readers, provides an overview of physics from the astronomical to the subatomic level. In doing so, Hawking delves into such fundamental yet difficult to comprehend questions as the nature of space and time, what happens inside a black hole, and whether time travel will is possible. Through a mix of proven fact, contentious theory, and informed speculation, Hawking takes the reader on a fascinating tour of the arcane workings of the universe.

There is no doubt that Hawking was a genius and one of the most knowledgeable people in this field. Since this is a book aimed at the general public, however, the real judge of its success is how well Hawking can explain complex concepts to a lay reader. It turns out that although Hawking may very well have been the next Einstein, he was no Bill Nye the Science Guy. Though I am not a scientist, I consider myself pretty well-versed in fundamental scientific concepts, yet there were passages in this book that were quite difficult to decipher. Even after repeated readings, some of Hawking’s explanations suffer from excessive ambiguity and assumptions of prior knowledge on the part of the reader.

Hawking spells out the processes of classical physics with a methodical step-by-step precision, and he explains general relativity pretty well. When he gets to quantum mechanics, however, his explanations are far less clear, and he expects the reader to make a pretty considerable leap in understanding. His discussions of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle and particle spin are particularly baffling, and he glosses over the standard model of particle physics pretty quickly. His brief description of string theory, on the other hand, may be the clearest I’ve ever read. Like any other “elementary” work on quantum physics, there is a limit to how far he will clarify, and the reader is expected to take some assertions on faith. Presumably this is because a more thorough explanation would either be too difficult for the layman to understand or would simply make the book too long and cumbersome.

Astronomical phenomena, such as the big bang, black holes, and the expanding universe, are easier for the reader to wrap his or her head around, and Hawking discusses them in a manner that is eye opening and intellectually thrilling. His explanation of time and speculations on time travel also make for entertaining and informative reading. Hawking even delves into philosophy a bit by questioning whether there’s a place for god in the universe and contemplating the validity of the anthropic principle. One of the most important points he makes is that philosophers stopped concerning themselves with cosmology once physics became too complicated for them to understand. Throughout the book, Hawking explains that the fundamental purpose of physics is to strive for a unified theory of everything that explains all the workings of the universe, one that rectifies relativity and quantum physics and unites gravity with the forces of electronuclear interaction. Once that theory is discovered, Hawking asserts, science will be easier for laymen to understand, and the average person will take a much deeper interest in the physical workings of the universe. Until then, even if some answers are yet to be discovered, and others weren’t elucidated entirely to my comprehension, this landmark book certainly did pique my interest on the subject and provided much fascinating food for thought.
20 people found this helpful
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Rasih Bensan
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended to everybody interested in Astronomy and Nuclear Physics
Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2008
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Stephen Hawking, one of the greatest contemporary physicists explores in a very interesting and informative way the unresolved riddles about the universe and the structure of particles, energy, time, gravity, various forces in the universe, god and their relationship with one another. His approach is both scientific and philosophical raising questions about the meaning of human existence in the universe. Although quite detailed the questions raised and alternative explanations offered are appealing both to the amateur and the professional. Stephen Hawking approaches the fundamental issues from many aspects including Newtonian physics, Special and General Relativity of Einstein, Quantum physics, string theory etc. He compares the different approaches, explains how they arose historically and the quest for a unified theory of the universe. Of course he devotes a lot of time to the primary issue of the creation and possible end of the universe. His treatment of matter and antimatter are especially interesting. I had read the book many years ago, recently I listened to the audio CD. I recommend both as a rich source of knowledge about these topics from a leading scientist on these issues.

I also recommend The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Green which is also a very interesting exploration of the same issues.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Far more accessible than I imagined
Reviewed in Canada on April 2, 2024
Verified Purchase
I had not read this when it was published in 1988, and assumed it was a coffee-table book that everyone bought but no-one actually read.
Instead I found it well-written, explaining concepts in modern cosmology well to a lay readership - or at least to one with a basic grasp of science.
This edition was updated in 2017 to include recent discoveries.
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Hiram Piña
5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating reading
Reviewed in Mexico on October 25, 2023
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The pace at which this book is written is great, as it captivates you from the first page, it feels like a "walk in the park" across the history (and our understanding) of Physics accompanied by the brilliant mind of Stephen Hawking. It is a must-read if you're interested on general knowledge and science.
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Ancelmo Castro
5.0 out of 5 stars Obra prima!!! Linguagem simples e clara, além de ser muito bem ilustrado.
Reviewed in Brazil on February 23, 2023
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 A arte gráfica é muito bonita! Uma obra prima obrigatória em qualquer residência do planeta...
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Ancelmo Castro
5.0 out of 5 stars Obra prima!!! Linguagem simples e clara, além de ser muito bem ilustrado.
Reviewed in Brazil on February 23, 2023
A arte gráfica é muito bonita! Uma obra prima obrigatória em qualquer residência do planeta...
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Eduardo A Ceballos
5.0 out of 5 stars Facil de leer
Reviewed in Spain on April 12, 2024
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Toca temas muy interesantes y es facil de leer.
Se nota que es apacionado por lo que escribe
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Lisa
5.0 out of 5 stars Unfassbar interessant
Reviewed in Germany on March 13, 2024
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Muss man gelesen haben, spannender und gruseliger als jeder Krimi
One person found this helpful
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