Black holes and baby universes

The first 3 essays, "Childhood", "Oxford and Cambridge", and "My Experience with ALS" are autobiographical, drawn from talks presented to various Motor Neurone Disease Societies in 1987, with material added in 1991. Much of this (particularly "My Experience with ALS") should be familiar to anyone who watched Errol Morris' A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME or read the transcript (STEPHEN HAWKING'S A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME: A READER'S COMPANION, edited by Gene Stone). To me, this material is most interesting taken together with the film and with Jane Hawking's MUSIC TO MOVE THE STARS. For example, the filmmakers followed up the professor's childhood friends who once bet a bag of sweets on whether he'd ever amount to anything, while Jane Hawking in her book discussed her theory that the professor (like their sons) is probably dyslexic, explaining why he learnt to read relatively late.

"Public Attitudes Toward Science" (October 1989) isn't a history of science, but instead (after pointing out the drawbacks - and impossibility - of putting the clock back to a 'simpler' age) a talk about the need for basic scientific literacy for the general public to be able to make informed decisions. Hawking is careful to make clear that understanding the concepts, not the math, is fundamental.

"A Brief History of A BRIEF HISTORY" (THE INDEPENDENT, December 1988) describes how Hawking came to write the book, first published on April Fools Day 1988, why he avoided heavy mathematics in it, and the predictable outline followed by many popular articles about Hawking and his book to this day.

"My Position" (May 1992) "I would say that I am a realist in the sense that I think there is a universe out there waiting to be investigated and understood...But we cannot distinguish what is real about the universe without a theory...A theory is a good theory if it is an elegant model, if it describes a wide class of observations, and if it predicts the results of new observations. Beyond that, it makes no sense to ask if it corresponds to reality, because we do not know what reality is independent of a theory." Discussion of how better theories replace less complete theories, such as how Einstein's theory of relativity replaced the notions of absolute space and time, and some discussion of Schrodinger's cat experiment. (This last is even better if followed by reading THE SCIENCE OF DISCWORLD series).

"Is the End in Sight for Theoretical Physics?" (April 1980) was Hawking's inaugural lecture as Lucasian Professor. This is the first essay that might lose the lay reader, but be patient; various terms left unexplained here, such as the uncertainty principle, are explained more fully in subsequent essays.

"Einstein's Dream" (July 1991) explains the fundamentals of both relativity and quantum mechanics, and why Einstein was unhappy about quantum mechanics. Includes a nice, simple explanation of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, ends with some discussion of black holes.

"The Origin of the Universe" (June 1987) corresponds to a sizeable chunk of chapter 1 of THE ILLUSTRATED BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME, but the material is organized differently and includes somewhat different details.

"The Quantum Mechanics of Black Holes" (SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, January 1977) explains what black holes are, where they come from, and work done by Hawking and various colleagues to understand them better. Should be read with "Einstein's Dream", since each essay lays some groundwork for the other.

(If you'd care to pursue Hawking's comment that a black hole *could* emit almost anything, see Diane Duane's SO YOU WANT TO BE A WIZARD.)

"Black Holes and Baby Universes" (April 1988) What happens to objects that fall into black holes (where do they go?) and the possible consequences (or not) for rapid-transit space travel.

"Is Everything Determined?" (April 1990) Philosophical discussion; if a grand theory of everything is found that can "explain everything", can people have free will?

"The Future of the Universe" (January 1991) starts with a discussion of prophecies in general, from the Oracle at Delphi to modern-day doomsayers. ("These have even tended to depress the stock market, though it beats me why the end of the world should make one want to sell shares for money. Presumably, you can't take either with you.") Leads into a discussion of whether the universe might expand forever or eventually recollapse, and whether time travel might be possible. Some of this material also appears in THE UNIVERSE IN A NUTSHELL.

"DESERT ISLAND DISCS: An Interview", first broadcast by the BBC on Christmas Day 1992. The show's guests are asked at various points in the interview to name 8 CDs, one book, and a luxury object they'd want if stranded on a desert island. The music is played during the interview (though not during O'Brien's narration on the audio edition). Hawking mainly talks about why he chose each piece (which turns a bit autobiographical for very old favourites), answers stock questions about his speech synthesizer, and deflects questions about his personal life.

It took this book to remind me that Hawking is in fact a Brit, and that the American accented voice we associate with him is due only to the American programming of his vocal synthesizer. Hawking says that he identifies so much with that voice now that he could never trade it in for a proper accent.

Hawking was a standard guy who could have gone in any number of professional directions. He choose cosmology, but was rather undistinguished it seems until his body began deteriorating, causing his mind to come into sharp focus. His really is an interesting story.

Many of the ideas encompassed in this volume can be found in other works of his, but like a trusted friend, they are always worth revisiting. Some of the witty lines have been used before. Hawking never shies away from his ability to turn a phrase, so when he turns a good one, as if delivering a stump speech, he anchors his future dissertations around the worthy analogies crafted for past lectures.

I really enjoy reading and listening to Hawking. He has a good mind and a nice enough grasp of the language to present his thoughts to a mass audience.

What is really nice about this relatively short scientific book, is that Stephen Hawking makes his research and theories very accessible to the everyday reader. His explanations are not overly complex and deep that it leaves you with a headache afterwards. In other words, you need not be a rocket scientist or have and alphabet soup degrees to catch on.

Mr. Hawking keeps his chapters relatively short and not mired into too much techno-babble, but gets straight to the meat of any said topic and presents wonderful layman analogies that we can all identify with. It's also pleasant that he interjects a certain degree of wit and self humor into his style so as he doesn't come across as a stiff scientist.

The book ends with a transcript of a wonderful radio interview he did when he was 50, which surprisingly depicts a very human side to Mr. Hawking while still presenting his thoughts on creation, God, dark matter, time travel, and what exactly 'may' happen if one were sucked into a black hole.

This is a collection of updated essays and speeches concerning the cosmology (the origin and evolution of the universe) and related topics, such as determinism (whether every last little thing is predetermined to happen). Hawking explains everything from a scientific point of view and also explains the science he refers to, including quantum mechanics and Einstein's theory of relativity. A few major points are brought up repeatedly in almost every chapter and I was thankful for this repetition because it made my understanding possible. These speeches and essays had originally been written for audiences of various levels of understanding, such as for university audiences (many of whom were grad students). Regardless of "where you're at," you will find some chapters easier to digest than others. (Chapter 7, for example, is relatively rigorous and gets into particle physics, but I appreciated its rigor after the rest of the book had become familiar.) I had to re-read a few paragraphs in this book more than once and then pause and think before they clicked, but they did click. I found this especially true of the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics and the sum over histories, which I had never heard of before. Hawking makes excellent use of analogy.

I found Hawking's explanations of Einstein's theory of relativity easier to understand than an entire book for laymen on that subject called "Relativity Visualized."

Hawking, correctly in my opinion, spends an early chapter discussing his life including his physical condition, which he had only mentioned in "A Brief History of Time" which I never finished, by the way. I found this book to be an easier read than that one. There is profound discussion of the role of scientists in society, and of science and the public.

To my amazement:

1) I finally became comfortable with the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics;

2) This book corroborated, rather than conflicted with, my philosophical beliefs; and

3) I learned that scientists are very human when it comes to stubbornly adhering to what they *want* to believe, at least for a while, after it's been disproved. Hawking cites many examples of this in his historical coverage of our understanding of physics, notably how relativity was considered too "far out" for years by most of the science community, Einstein himself not believing one of its implications.

Some of the most amazing revelations are not theory ut accepted facts that I just was not caught up with. I treasure this book.

Most of the big ideas that Hawkings deals with in other books are in this slim volume as well. He treads through the intricacies of quantum mechanics and Einstein's general relativity with much aplomb and wit. The proposition of finding a Theory of Everything - its possibility - is presented with clear and logical explanation. His autobiographical account of living with his condition is also handled with humor and lightness.

All in all, this book is the most appropriate introduction to a fascinating physicist and the questions in physics he tries to answer. Before reading Hawkings' other books, read this one.