A Briefer History of Time

Zusatztext “Hawking and Mlodinow provide one of the most lucid discussions of this complex topic ever written for a general audience. . . . [They] maintain the same wry! lively tone that made A Brief History of Time such a delight.”— Publishers Weekly ! starred review “May be the clearest introduction to physics ever . . . An utterly engrossing read.”— Booklist Informationen zum Autor Stephen Hawking  was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge for thirty years and the recipient of numerous awards and honors including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His books for the general reader include  My Brief History,  the classic  A Brief History of Time,  the essay collection  Black Holes and Baby Universes, The Universe in a Nutshell,  and, with Leonard Mlodinow,  A Briefer History of Time  and  The Grand Design . Stephen Hawking died in 2018. Physicist Leonard Mlodinow , his collaborator for this new edition, has taught at Cal Tech, written for Star Trek: The Next Generation, and is the author of Euclid’s Window and Feynman’s Rainbow and the coauthor of the children’s book series The Kids of Einstein Elementary. Klappentext #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHORSThe science classic made more accessible• More concise • IllustratedFROM ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANT MINDS OF OUR TIME COMES A BOOK THAT CLARIFIES HIS MOST IMPORTANT IDEAS Stephen Hawking's worldwide bestseller A Brief History of Time remains a landmark volume in scientific writing. But for years readers have asked for a more accessible formulation of its key concepts-the nature of space and time, the role of God in creation, and the history and future of the universe. A Briefer History of Time is Professor Hawking's response.Although "briefer," this book is much more than a mere explanation of Hawking's earlier work. A Briefer History of Time both clarifies and expands on the great subjects of the original, and records the latest developments in the field-from string theory to the search for a unified theory of all the forces of physics. Thirty-seven full-color illustrations enhance the text and make A Briefer History of Time an exhilarating and must-have addition in its own right to the great literature of science and ideas. Chapter One Thinking About the Universe We live in a stragne and wonderful universe. Its age, size, violence, and beauty require extraordinary imagination to appreciate. The place we humans hold within this vast cosmos can seem pretty insignificant. And so we try to make sense of it all and to see how we fit in. Some decades ago, a well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant turtle." The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the turtle standing on?" "You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down!" Most people nowadays would find the picture of our universe as an infinite tower of turtles rather ridiculous. But why should we think we know better? Forget for a minute what you know-or think you know-about space. Then gaze upward at the night sky. What would you make of all those points of light? Are they tiny fires? It can be hard to imagine what they really are, for what they really are is far beyond our ordinary experience. If you are a regular stargazer, you have probably seen an elusive light hovering near the horizon at twilight. It is a planet, Mercury, but it is nothing li...

Product details

• Authors: Stephen Hawking, Leonard Mlodinow
• Publisher: Bantam Books USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 13.05.2008
• EAN: 9780553385465
• ISBN: 978-0-553-38546-5
• No. of pages: 162
• Dimensions: 152 mm x 228 mm x 12 mm
• Series: Bantam Books
• Subject: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Natural sciences (general)