Stephen Hawking: Brief Answers to the Big Questions (2018, Hodder & Stoughton)
224 pages
English language
Published Oct. 10, 2018 by Hodder & Stoughton.
Stephen Hawking was recognized as one of the greatest minds of our time and a figure of inspiration after defying his ALS diagnosis at age twenty-one. He is known for both his breakthroughs in theoretical physics as well as his ability to make complex concepts accessible for all, and was beloved for his mischievous sense of humor. At the time of his death, Hawking was working on a final project: a book compiling his answers to the "big" questions that he was so often posed--questions that ranged beyond his academic field. Within these pages, he provides his personal views on our biggest challenges as a human race, and where we, as a planet, are heading next. Each section will be introduced by a leading thinker offering his or her own insight into Professor Hawking's contribution to our understanding. The book will also feature a foreword from Academy Award winning actor …
Stephen Hawking was recognized as one of the greatest minds of our time and a figure of inspiration after defying his ALS diagnosis at age twenty-one. He is known for both his breakthroughs in theoretical physics as well as his ability to make complex concepts accessible for all, and was beloved for his mischievous sense of humor. At the time of his death, Hawking was working on a final project: a book compiling his answers to the "big" questions that he was so often posed--questions that ranged beyond his academic field. Within these pages, he provides his personal views on our biggest challenges as a human race, and where we, as a planet, are heading next. Each section will be introduced by a leading thinker offering his or her own insight into Professor Hawking's contribution to our understanding. The book will also feature a foreword from Academy Award winning actor Eddie Redmayne, who portrayed Hawking in the film The Theory of Everything, and an afterword by Hawking's daughter, Lucy Hawking, as well as personal photographs and additional archival material.
Just finished this one. Love Hawking's work so much. Complex concepts boiled down so anyone can understand them. His optimism in the face of adversity too is so inspiring. Wish he was still around!
An intriguing read
In this book, Hawking offers his informed opinion on a host of pressing problems facing humanity in the coming century. Essentially, Hawking uses this book to reflect back on his life’s work and what the future of physics may be in the coming fifty years. As someone who was always fascinated by space exploration and the universe, this book was a real treat.
Hawking's thoughts and advice for the future. This is a great tribute, composed of his speeches, interviews, essays, and previous books. Some passages were recognized from “The Universe in a Nutshell”. Glad to find his humor still made the cut.
He explains ideas in an understandable way, using metaphors like bags of sugar and bank overdrafts to explain quantum mechanics. I only got hopelessly lost a few times. The brief answers to these big questions are pretty big: how we popped into existence, modifying our DNA to survive, how long civilization has left, and the remaining potential for time travel and warp travel were fascinating. Hawking’s nonpartisan advice on the planet is something I want to find more of.
The afterword by his daughter is excellent.
Lucid descriptions of what Hawking's research and our understanding of basic theoretical physics tell us about some broad questions, oriented at his concerns about humanity's focuses at the end of his life.
This little book lives up to its name, providing very brief answers to ten very big questions, ranging from the existence of God to black hole physics to the prospect of artificial intelligence. Professor Hawking mingles witty social commentary into his explanations, which keeps the prose flowing. However, he also doesn’t pause long in any one place, which means the reader gets only a tease of some really interesting topics, such as extra dimensions, expansion of space-time, and quantum mechanics. Maybe it’s an unfair expectation, but I would have liked more depth. Still, I found this little book to be an enjoyable read, and recommend it to anyone who dares to ask big.
I listened to the audiobook - not sure if it's different at all from the print book, particularly given there were some great sections where they actually had things that Stephen Hawking said and put them in between the chapters (very great touch!). But overall, pretty good. Sad to know this will be his last book, though.
