A Brief History of Time

As an adamant fan of astrophysics and all things cosmos, I got sucked into the proverbial black hole that Stephen Hawking had created with the book A Brief History of Time. However, fairly early in the book, I nodded to myself, agreeing with the consensus that the book can be a challenge to people without a physics or cosmology background. Trying to conceptualize imaginary time on top of hearing about imaginary numbers for the first time may be overwhelming for some people.

Stephen Hawking wrote the book for the general, non-technical audience. Be that as it may, I found that the concept and theory explanations are inconsistent in their delivery, as if there were missing pages sometimes. Things like geodesics and great circles are accompanied by illustrations, whereas the reader is left to imagine concepts such as imaginary numbers and imaginary time.

The first edition got released in 1988, so the book has had a long time to build its legacy. Along with that legacy also come the discoveries and phenomena that were theorized or observed indirectly back then. Gravitational waves, for example, were first directly observed only in 2015 by LIGO. It is possible to trip over the facts that are no longer entirely true today. The book explores the scenarios in which the Universe is contracting, expanding, or static. However, in 1998, ten years after the first edition came out, it was discovered that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating. Unfortunately, this fact is only mentioned in the book's appendix (I read the 2016 edition).

Overall, do not expect an easy read. A Brief History of Time will leave a lasting impression if you're willing to dedicate quality time to it. The book is slightly dated in its original form, and you are required to read the appendix to stay true to the facts.

Book : A Brief History of Time.

Author : Stephen Hawking.

The book “A Brief History of Time” contains 12 chapters and begins by giving a somewhat brief intro of the whole Universe. And then introduces to gravity, space-time in a chronological way. And then comes again back to the Universe, to the topic “Expanding Universe”. On the 4th chapter we are introduced to the weird world of Quantum Physics. 5th chapter is a brief intro to Particle Physics. 6th and 7th chapters are about Black Holes, 6th focusing on Gravitational effects and 7th on Quantum Mechanical effects of it. 8th about the origin and the fate of the Universe. 9th about the arrow of time. 10th chapter says how the Science-Fiction of the present might be the reality in the future. 11th chapter describes the need and difficulties of The Theory of Everything. 12th chapter concludes the book by well... concluding the topics.This books is a great read, it just gives a brief intro to many things in the universe, from the beginning till the end.

The oldest book on my tbr is finally gone whew.
Anyways so I liked reading this book because it kind of gets deeper into some famous theories which I have only read on the surface but then again the deep isn't deep enough to have a clear idea about the theory. Sometimes it felt like Dr Hakjng is skipping some parts. Well, I can't expect more from it cause it's a pop-sci book written for beginners. I think I need to pick up a more advanced book to get a clearer picture.
Even if all of these issues I have faced I think the book delivered 80% of what it promised to deliver. It's simple, enjoyable, knowledgeable and easily non-put-downable.
3.75 stars. I would recommend this to anyone looking for an easy astronomy book.