A Brief History of Time

Loved this. Wasn’t dry at all and written with a sense of humour and awareness of the target audience at all times.

For me it is less common to find a non-fiction book unputdownable but I devoured this and enjoyed all of it.

I enjoyed the variety of topics and the sense of scale. The mathematics was supported by analogy and practical examples. There were also interesting parts on general scientific progress. A stand out for me was the commentary that not so long ago learned people were able to hold the sum total of human science in their minds - something that is no longer possible.

I enjoyed the coverage of the anthropic principle however-much it may feel like a cop-out.

Black holes continue to fascinate and terrify me.

By now well-covered only-so-popularizable territory of special relativity, black holes, expanding universe, quantum mechanics, anthropic principle, string theory, and does a reasonable job of remaining humble while inquisitive about the parts that might have no answer.

Se entiende bastante bien salvo un capítulo, el de "El origen y destino del universo", cuando se apoya más en complicadas explicaciones científicas en lugar de extraer las ideas generales y plasmarlas con palabras llanas, que es la labor de un buen divulgador. A lo mejor me pillo el de "Brevísima historia del tiempo" para reforzar esa laguna que se me ha quedado.

También asume en el lector demasiados conocimientos sobre mecánica cuántica, no así sobre cosmología. A lo mejor es que yo estoy más acostumbrado a leer noticias sobre lo segundo y menos sobre lo primero.

Aún así es muy recomendable.

The balance between informative and accessible wasn't always quite right for me, but I do feel I got a somewhat better grasp of 1) special relativity and 2) quantum mechanics.

awesome