This masterpiece was written way back in 1988, by Stephen Hawking, who is widely regarded as the most brilliant theoretical physicist since Einstein, and holds Newton’s chair as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge. For a book like this to be written way back in ’88, is indeed astounding as the “theoretical” concepts Hawking talks about here seem way further than what was fairly known at that time.
This is known to be the best single book on astrophysics for the common reader, as Hawking tries (rather successfully) to explain to audiences the possible answers to the most curious questions we all have about the universe. Questions like how the universe began and what made its start possible; whether the universe is unending; how space and time work in parallel or otherwise; and what will happen when it all ends.
This is Hawking’s first book for the non-specialist, and holds many rewards for the lay audience, which practically refers to us all. The book provides a glimpse into the workings of his mind and delves into rather lucid revelations on the frontiers of physics, astronomy and cosmology. This is also a book about God, or perhaps the absence of a God. As Hawking embarks on a quest to answer Einstein’s famous question on whether God had any choice in creating the universe, he is attempting, as he explicitly states, to understand the mind of God. And this makes all the more unexpected the conclusion of the effort, at least so far: a universe with no edge in space, no beginning or end in time, and nothing for a Creator to do.
