The Nature of Space and Time

In this series of lectures, Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose take turns giving their views on the fundamental nature of the universe, delving into various ways to reconcile general relativity and quantum mechanics, and touching on various topics such as singularities, Schrödinger’s cat, black hole information loss, quantum entanglement, and the Big Bang. Since much of the discussion is based on advanced/specialized mathematics it’s not easy to read, but I found there enough commentary to form some kind of gist. It is astonishing how mathematical the universe appears to be, but whether mathematics is fundamental or just a really good tool is the question. The ongoing arguments between Hawking and Penrose do much to hold the reader’s interest, and while this book may not be the best introduction, it does provide ample possibilities for future exploration.