The Illustrated a Brief History of Time/ The Universe in a Nutshell

Stephen Hawking is one of the greatest scientists of this century. 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Though the book is slightly outdated (updated 1992), it is a good primer for “what scientists believe about the universe today.” I probably only understood about 50% of this book, though this is relatively less dense than other books trying to explain general relativity, string theory and unified theories of physics - nevertheless I enjoyed Hawking's humor, along with discussions about time, gravity and black holes.

Most importantly for me is how a man who's lived with ALS for most of his life has accomplished so much. I seriously admire Stephen Hawking.