A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking (ISBN 9780857501004, Transworld Publishers Ltd)

Finished reading this book for the second time Monday (2020/01/04). First time I read it was in early 1989 when the Dutch translation came out. Between then and now I went to university and got a degree in Physics and spent a career in semiconductor process technology and materials research. So you could safely say I was better prepared this time to read the book and maybe even wonder why I would bother to reread. I still have my original Dutch translation and the reason for reading this book again was mainly because I gave the book to my 15 year old daughter to read because I remember it as an interesting book to read from my youth. As it was so long ago I decided it was probably best to read it again to confirm it is suitable for her but this time I read the updated English text. It is a popular science book and apparently spent 147 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Even though it was a bestseller it is also claimed to be one of the books least read. I must say that I find this a bit of a strange bestseller now and would not be surprised if many people started but never finished it. It is written in plain language, doesn’t contain formulas makes use of analogies to explain difficult concepts but that still doesn’t exactly make the concepts easy to understand. I found myself often thinking ‘it would have been nice if he had gone into a more detailed explanation here’. What I like most about the book is how it describes how our understanding of time and cosmology have evolved over time. That and the way how he brings the different physics fields together in a story and vision about the universe we live in and the laws that govern it. As such it is indeed a book that can be read by anybody that can read. And the trick to enjoy the book is not to try and understand everything in it, that would take many years to achieve. If you have more background knowledge there is also much to enjoy as you get an ‘insight’ in his views about physics and cosmology and the way he thought about them. Anyone who is curious about the universe should definitely read this book. I was certainly inspired to go and read some more technical books on astrophysics and cosmology that have been sitting on my bookshelf waiting for the right time. Stephen Hawking, predicted not to live to become 30, finally died on March 14 2018 at the age of 76.