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The book was on the cutting edge of what was then known about the nature of the universe, but since that time there have been extraordinary advances in the technology of observing both the micro- and the macrocosmic worlds. These observations have confirmed many of Professor Hawking's theoretical predictions in the first edition of his book, including the recent discoveries of the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite (COBE), which probed back in time to within 300,000 years of the universe's beginning and revealed wrinkles in the fabric of space-time that he had projected. Eager to bring his original text the new knowledge revealed by these many observations, as well as his most recent research, for this expanded edition Professor Hawking has prepared a new introduction to the book, written an entirely new chapter on the fascinating subject of wormholes and time travel, and updated the original chapters. This edition is enhanced throughout with more than 240 full-color illustrations, including satellite images, photographs made possible by spectacular technological advances such as the Hubble Space Telescope, and computer-generated images of three and four dimensional realities.… (more)
User reviews
There's really only so many times you can read the structure "a thousand million million (one followed by 15 zeros)" without thinking, "introduce scientific notation and get it over with!"
Meanwhile, his attempts to be colloquial tend to be just silly, and his references to "science fiction" suggest that his knowledge of what science fiction is like were formed by watching Star Trek in the 60's.
There are better books on cosmology. They'll be more challenging, but you might actually learn something. Try Brian Greene.
This new illustrated version adds beautiful diagrams and photographs that make Hawkin's easily understood book even more easily understood. Teen-age readers will be able to follow the main lines of reasoning in this book. Hawkin does not get into math and minute detail. He presents a history of theories about the universe and what discoveries prompted refinement of existing theories or development of new theories. Hawkin organizes his book to describe how modern astronomers understand time. Like length, breadth, and width, time is the fourth dimension of the universe.
The universe began when all matter in the universe exploded out of an infinitely small amount of space: the "big bang." Before the big bang, time did not exist; hence, the title "A Brief History of Time." Hawkin describes how time started when the universe started and how the universe has changed with time. Scientists believe the universe has been expanding ever since the big bang. Hawkin also describes current projections of what will happen in the future. Will the universe continue to expand? Will it stop expanding and find a fixed size? Will it eventually reverse direction and begin a long collapse causing all matter to condense into an infinitely small space: the "big crunch?"
Stephen Hawkin's charming sense of humor greatly enhances his excellent description of scientific thought. I very much enjoyed reading this book.
1. Our Picture of the Universe
An overview of well-known early cosmology. Aristotle convinced the earth is round, Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler,
2. Space and Time
The illustrated edition is liberally illustrated with many beautiful diagrams and illustrations, which for the most