Image: The cover of the book is different shades of blue with the expanse of space with stars and nebulae blended in. There is a large transparent circle taking up most of the cover and two smaller, vertically aligned circles inside it, each with a golden edge similar to a crescent moon. The title is in the top circle and the author's name- Stephen Hawking- is in the smaller circle. All words are capitalized in a serif font in white.
This was my first book by Stephen Hawking. I have a layman's interest in Cosmology and other physics fields. I have read Brian Greene, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and popular science articles specifically because those things were written with people like me in mind. I assumed that Hawking's work would be too smart or too educated for me. I saw this book having a wide appeal, in part due to its posthumous publication. So, I figured I would give it a go when I saw it available as an audiobook online.
I want to first say that I believe that the publisher did very well with the audio narration. They had Eddie Redmayne (who gave a performance of Hawking in the movie "The Theory of Everything," that Hawking very much approved of) read Hawking's friend, Kip Thorne's introduction. His daughter, Lucy Hawking, read the afterword also written by her. Ben Wishaw- a British narrator (or someone speaking in a British accent)- read the bulk of the text. But, they also made sure to include Hawking's real voice by adding a short interview question answered by him between each chapter. This was a respectful, inclusive blend of people to work on the audio of a book written by someone who identifies with his voice that was produced by computer assisted speech technology and was obviously carefully thought out. I appreciated this.
The book itself is a series of essays on "big questions" that Hawking provides his answers to. I do think a reader with a very basic knowledge of cosmology, atomic structure, introductory physics, etc would pick this book up better than someone with none. But, I do believe that someone with very little background who has not read much at all could still understand this book if they took their time with it. Physics experts, I believe, could also find this book enlightening because Hawking's prose is delightful and he talks about some pretty far out there concepts. If you have a decades long career in Physics, you may have already heard of multiverses and other dimensions and so on. Yet, I still think it is especially entertaining to hear Hawking discuss them. Hawking's use of analogy is masterful and really helps to make the book more widely accessible.
The book is repetitive at times, leading to descriptions of things given multiple times. This may be bothersome to someone with a cosmological background. But, for people new to the subject, it likely helps to hear the uncertainty principle, singularities, near light speed space travel, relativity, etc explained more than once. It also allows the reader to jump around if they choose, not requiring a linear reading of the book.
I want to first say that I believe that the publisher did very well with the audio narration. They had Eddie Redmayne (who gave a performance of Hawking in the movie "The Theory of Everything," that Hawking very much approved of) read Hawking's friend, Kip Thorne's introduction. His daughter, Lucy Hawking, read the afterword also written by her. Ben Wishaw- a British narrator (or someone speaking in a British accent)- read the bulk of the text. But, they also made sure to include Hawking's real voice by adding a short interview question answered by him between each chapter. This was a respectful, inclusive blend of people to work on the audio of a book written by someone who identifies with his voice that was produced by computer assisted speech technology and was obviously carefully thought out. I appreciated this.
The book itself is a series of essays on "big questions" that Hawking provides his answers to. I do think a reader with a very basic knowledge of cosmology, atomic structure, introductory physics, etc would pick this book up better than someone with none. But, I do believe that someone with very little background who has not read much at all could still understand this book if they took their time with it. Physics experts, I believe, could also find this book enlightening because Hawking's prose is delightful and he talks about some pretty far out there concepts. If you have a decades long career in Physics, you may have already heard of multiverses and other dimensions and so on. Yet, I still think it is especially entertaining to hear Hawking discuss them. Hawking's use of analogy is masterful and really helps to make the book more widely accessible.
The book is repetitive at times, leading to descriptions of things given multiple times. This may be bothersome to someone with a cosmological background. But, for people new to the subject, it likely helps to hear the uncertainty principle, singularities, near light speed space travel, relativity, etc explained more than once. It also allows the reader to jump around if they choose, not requiring a linear reading of the book.
Image:
One of the ways cosmologists observe evidence of a black holes is by
measuring things happening around them. A black hole in the center of
this galaxy is spewing gas and particles outward.
Hawking also discusses his disability as part of his life in a matter of fact manner. This is something that has been regularly stated by him. Unfortunately, after his death, people illustrated images of him standing from a wheelchair, walking into the stars or saying he was "finally free." While Hawking discusses the undeniable struggle and suffering of living with ALS, he also represents what is possible when disabled people are given the tools to participate in the world. The reason the lifespan of people with ALS is often so short is in part because of the lack of ability to afford assistive technology. People decide to die so as not to be a burden, because they cannot afford the healthcare to live, or because they feel trapped by the disease. But, with the right access to healthcare and technology, how many people with ALS could thrive? This is not to say that all disabled people must be super-crip Olympic athletes or cosmological geniuses to be valid and worthy of care. It is to say that we are missing out on things with so many people due to a world that is not built for them to even get in the door much of the time. Hawking did not get up and walk into the heavens when he died. He became the heavens. Each of us will breathe in the same atoms that he and Einstein have at some point. That is the real afterlife.
I wouldn't say I agree with him on everything, but we certainly have many views in common. I can respect his views on other things. I do wish he would have discussed the class issues with being a billionaire when discussing his involvement with Elon Musk, for instance. He had a fairly firm grip on global crises of finance and environment. But, perhaps brevity was intended.
Either way, it is a lovely book that fits well with the end of his life when, as the Onion (yes, the satirical newspaper) beautifully stated, "the entire life of the universe flashed before (his) eyes."
This review was also posted to my goodreads.
