I'm torn about this book. On the one hand, it's a needed addition to the world to have an approachable tome on quantum theory and relativity. And the addition of illustrations helps *some*, though not as much as you'd think.The problem, I have to say, lies with Stephen Hawking himself. I have to say that the guy comes off as an egotistical asshole through his writing. Let me break this down into a few points:1) He is *not* a very clear author. As a scientist myself, I am used to going through hi...

One of the greatest minds, a reminder that it's easy to dismiss someone based on their ability to communicate or their disadvantages. I work in a Neuro theatre and often deal with people who due to illness or injury find it hard to respond, wonder how they feel I treated them.As for the book, love science and find black holes fascinating even if I had to read the book several times to understand exactly what professor Hawking meant.

Life, the universe, and everything. We know the answer (42), but have we learned to ask the question? In these two books, conveniently collected into one exceedingly well-produced volume, Stephen Hawking sets forth the fundamental thinking underlying modern cosmology. From this vantage point, he also probes some of those deeper questions which naturally follow from the empirical study. The first of the selections is A Brief History of Time, Hawking’s bestselling primer on astrophysics. Though t

Fascinating. This is a book that I have wanted to read for a while. I was so happy when I found this combined copy of both books. Stephen Hawking may have been an asshole to some, but no one can question his genius mind. His witty dry humor also makes this more of an enjoyable read.The formatting of this book is well thought out and makes it enjoyable to read. I especially love the inset illustrations to help explain the concept of the universe and time.Highly recommend that everyone checks this...

Stephen Hawking is a brilliant man whose greatest contribution to society is not his science, but his ability to write about difficult concepts in simple language. His sense of humor is greatly appreciated. Hawking makes learning fun!

**This review will just be on The Illustrated A Brief History of Time. The Universe in a Nutshell I'll read and review separately at a later date.**This work definitely pushed my basic/general scientific knowledge to the limit. Just finishing it felt like it should have earned me an achievement like in a Playstation or Xbox game lol. Reading this was equal parts challenging as well as enjoyable and informative. There were sections where despite rereading I still couldn't quite fully grasp (strin...

These books are still pretty hard to follow (especially the History of Time) but the illustrations do help a lot. I think the big problem is that the math helps you understand, and most people reading the book don't have the math skills required to follow it. My math is a bit rusty, but i still think it would help me to have an appendix or something showing the mathematical support for the ideas. Maybe not, but without it the discussions seem almost like fantasy.

Stephen Hawking is one of the greatest scientists of our generation. And this book shows not only his breadth of knowledge, but also his uncanny ability to explain even the most esoteric of concepts in simple, sometimes humorous language. Though the book is slightly outdated, it is a good primer for "what scientists believe about the universe today." It is a survey, so many times it does not go too in depth. There were many chapters that left me scratching my head. I had to read other books to f...

There's a reason I never took physics...And that all of my science credits for my BA consist of studying the biographies of Copernicus, Galileo, and Einstein.This stuff is COMPLICATED, y'alls.I read Brief History of Time in high school as an assignment for Non-western Civilization from one of the best teachers I ever had. Still not sure how the assignment tied in with the class but I suppose that's neither here nor there. It was something that always stuck with me and when I saw the opportunity

(My copy is "The Universe In A Nutshell" only. Identical cover but does not include "A Brief History Of Time", as shown in the photo...Different version, perhaps?)I had originally purchased a copy of "A Brief History of Time" many years ago at a used bookstore and it just sat on my bookshelf collecting dust. It looked a bit overwhelming to read. Then, about 4 or 5 years ago I had purchased this illustrated "sequel", (which is really more of a revised/abridged version to the original, in my opini...

figure 1: Me reading this book and just casually stirring my tea telekinetically...A Brief History of Time is just one of those books I had always wanted to read but never got around to. I remember seeing it in Borders *pours some out* back when I was 13 or 14, and being really drawn to the concept. At that time in my life I wanted to know a bit about everything like law (check), medicine (check), and cooking (check plus, if I do say so myself). I found this edition to be quite cool because it r...

Some nice updates since the publication of Brief History of Time, which I loved, but not much here for those of us looking for some satisfying extension of his earlier primer on theoretical physics. His treatment of string theory piqued my curiosity, but ultimately led me to check out Brian Greene's Elegant Universe for a more extensive treatment of string theory. I'm reading that now, and I'm seeing that Greene is a little better at finding the best metaphors for elucidating abstractions like t...

This was way harder to read than I would've thought, being a worldwide "popular science" bestseller. It's probable that most people bought that book and just kept it on their coffee table to impress visitors. Some stuff about black holes and the life of the universe simply blew my mind. In the later chapters, I had a hard time distinguishing proper science form boundless speculations, but I guess that's the state of the art in quantum physics meeting general relativity (whew!). Other chapters ma...

Both books back to back was a good thing. While the second was decidedly less mathematical than the first, it helped that all the complicated ideas (or, rather, numerous theories) were all fresh in my head. A Brief History of Time is stuff that can be introduced by a zillion TV documentaries nowadays, of course, but the benefit of the book is that it explains exactly why we know so much of what we know. This can, and frequently does, involve some higher thinking, which Stephen does an admirable

Got sucked into this one rather like into a black hole. After having my mind stretched nearly to the point of having all preconceived notions torn apart, I emerge into an "elsewhere", as if into a parallel universe (or some other place and time of our own).In other words, I learned a few things from this book. Really readable for the armchair astronomer/physicist, and highly suitable for those more interested in the ideas of physics without having to perform the mechanics of it (although, a larg...

A highly readable overview of cosmology that's good for high school physics students or anyone interested in theories about the universe. I would also include elementary students in that recommendation but Hawking at a couple of different points mentions Penthouse magazine and gambling and hell and I just don't think that's age appropriate for 10 year olds. The illustrations are largely unneeded as Hawking's writing is pretty descriptive on its own. Also, many of the pictures don't really add an...

There are many styles of reading. One can skim a book once, then use it as reference in the future. Or one can carefully pour over every word, trying to absorb every possible nuance that an author weaves through his work. I think neither approach is appropriate for most readers of this book.The central theme of this book is the human quest for understanding, with a sub-theme of balancing the anthropic principle: "Intelligent beings should not be surprised if they observe that their universe sati...

This book is gorgeous. Let's get that out of the way. The illustrations and photos go a long way to engage the reader in a way that draws them further into the subject. The language is accessible for anyone who might be interested in reading. Often science books use language that seems to want to repel people from being interested in the subject it's discussing where with this book, you get the sense that Hawking really wants people, and children to learn and understand the concepts that he's ex...

I definitely enjoyed A Brief History of Time more than The Universe in a Nutshell. I found it more accessible and enjoyable to read. But I learned a lot of stuff reading both of these and I'm really glad I chugged my way through them. The illustrations in this edition really made it easier to follow along to. I think if I'd read this in a purely text book, I would have gotten lost. The pictures give a nice break to those of us reading a little out of our depth.

I've only read the first of the two books in this volumne but BHofT literally blew my mind. I'm glad I bought the illustrated version because the graphs and diagrams helped me to understand a lot of the concepts that would otherwise have been incomprehensible. I admit there were times when the technical aspects of the book found me nodding off and there were more than a few pages that I had to read at least 3 times before I understood what the hell it was talking about...but overall this book to...