Customer Rating: 
Summary: Underwhelmed
Comment: While this book is shorter and more entertaining than its not-as-brief predecessor, I found it still unable to make the very esoteric subjects of space-time curvature, quantum mechanics and the behavior of sub-atomic particles understandable to me (MS Computer Science). Hawking clearly has a great sense of humor, and his effort to explain some of the results of his life's work to the general public is laudable, but this book failed to do that, at least for this reader.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Non-Fiction for Science Fiction Lovers
Comment: Excellent presentation of complex scientific theories. Stephen Hawking knows how to extract core principals and shape them into digestible morsels for his readers to consume and enjoy. The material is an update from his earlier Brief History of Time, and has the same cast of characters.
If only he wrote fiction!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Comment: Even briefer, this material requires a few readings to wrap the brain around. Very good examples though.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Brief, informative, enjoyable
Comment: As the almost forgotten Mr. Rumsfeld observed, there are known unknowns and then there are unknown unknowns. Some of us are curious enough to at least wonder about the former. Most of the rest of us lack the time or the dedication or, let's admit it, the intellectual capacity to take the hard journey to the frontiers between what we know or we believe we know today and what's on the other side - and the frontiers are moving farther and farther away from us. It takes a down-to-Earth genius like Stephen Hawking to give us a guided tour to the current limits of human knowledge and back and we can even get a hint of what may be lying across the border. It's a high altitude flight and very little experience is necessary for us to follow our guide but, when it's over, most of us are likely to agree that we gained a better understanding of the world in which we live than we had before we started reading. Unless we are string theorists ourselves, of course :)
I found the book to be relatively easy to read, interesting and informative. Even the little digressions into Newton's 'real' character (not a very nice person) were welcome. It is, indeed, a history, in the sense that it maps the human understanding of reality as it grew and evolved in time.
In the end... I still have no idea what TIME really is (does anyone?) but I enjoyed reading the book because, many time, I had the feeling that 'aha, I DO understand this now'.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great read!!!
Comment: I have not read the earlier version of this book yet, but this one was great. I was able to read it in two sittings. He uses pictures and describes everything in detail to make it easier to understand. That being said, this book is not for the faint of heart, but he does an excellent job over all.
Summary: Underwhelmed
Comment: While this book is shorter and more entertaining than its not-as-brief predecessor, I found it still unable to make the very esoteric subjects of space-time curvature, quantum mechanics and the behavior of sub-atomic particles understandable to me (MS Computer Science). Hawking clearly has a great sense of humor, and his effort to explain some of the results of his life's work to the general public is laudable, but this book failed to do that, at least for this reader.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Non-Fiction for Science Fiction Lovers
Comment: Excellent presentation of complex scientific theories. Stephen Hawking knows how to extract core principals and shape them into digestible morsels for his readers to consume and enjoy. The material is an update from his earlier Brief History of Time, and has the same cast of characters.
If only he wrote fiction!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Comment: Even briefer, this material requires a few readings to wrap the brain around. Very good examples though.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Brief, informative, enjoyable
Comment: As the almost forgotten Mr. Rumsfeld observed, there are known unknowns and then there are unknown unknowns. Some of us are curious enough to at least wonder about the former. Most of the rest of us lack the time or the dedication or, let's admit it, the intellectual capacity to take the hard journey to the frontiers between what we know or we believe we know today and what's on the other side - and the frontiers are moving farther and farther away from us. It takes a down-to-Earth genius like Stephen Hawking to give us a guided tour to the current limits of human knowledge and back and we can even get a hint of what may be lying across the border. It's a high altitude flight and very little experience is necessary for us to follow our guide but, when it's over, most of us are likely to agree that we gained a better understanding of the world in which we live than we had before we started reading. Unless we are string theorists ourselves, of course :)
I found the book to be relatively easy to read, interesting and informative. Even the little digressions into Newton's 'real' character (not a very nice person) were welcome. It is, indeed, a history, in the sense that it maps the human understanding of reality as it grew and evolved in time.
In the end... I still have no idea what TIME really is (does anyone?) but I enjoyed reading the book because, many time, I had the feeling that 'aha, I DO understand this now'.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great read!!!
Comment: I have not read the earlier version of this book yet, but this one was great. I was able to read it in two sittings. He uses pictures and describes everything in detail to make it easier to understand. That being said, this book is not for the faint of heart, but he does an excellent job over all.