nerdy_scholar's review against another edition
5.0
As are the rest of Hawking’s works, this book was tremendously enjoyable. The authors managed to write in a way that captivates the mind and retains your attention and engagement. Truly genius.
jbrito's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
sagedhanani's review against another edition
challenging
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
4.25
aashishrathi's review against another edition
4.0
A high level overview of the modern physics. Nice, small read.
ashleylm's review against another edition
2.0
I keep reading books like this in the hopes that one day I will grasp the subject, but so far, no such luck. (I get bits and pieces, but I can't picture folded-up space, or separated particles with apparent ESP, etc.)
I liked the explanation of how models are essentially reality (unless I misunderstood that), but I wished that they had discussed less (I started to tune out / get dizzy by 2/3 through) but had gone into greater detail about what they were discussing.
For instance, I'm quite keen on the idea of multiple universes, but can there really be an infinity of them, can every possible universe possibly exist? It doesn't seem logical. I mean, imagine a world that's identical to ours, except in our world Hamilton wasn't a big success. But how could that be? If everything were identical, then all the people who see Hamilton would be the same ones in both worlds, with the same likes and dislikes, so they'd, on the whole, really like it. If they didn't, then something must have differed prior to that. Or in a simpler case, there's no universe that's just like ours but where elephants if they choose to can float. Can there be? I really don't get it.
Oh well. Back to philosophy maybe, as physics and I, no matter how hard I try, are not a good fit!
*Edited March 2020. I've removed a star, because I'd forgotten I'd read this, so it's also unmemorable. (I'm happy to forget the contents of a book, but not the fact that it was read at all!)
(Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = quite good book, 3 = a decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. There are a lot of 4s and 3s in the world!)
I liked the explanation of how models are essentially reality (unless I misunderstood that), but I wished that they had discussed less (I started to tune out / get dizzy by 2/3 through) but had gone into greater detail about what they were discussing.
For instance, I'm quite keen on the idea of multiple universes, but can there really be an infinity of them, can every possible universe possibly exist? It doesn't seem logical. I mean, imagine a world that's identical to ours, except in our world Hamilton wasn't a big success. But how could that be? If everything were identical, then all the people who see Hamilton would be the same ones in both worlds, with the same likes and dislikes, so they'd, on the whole, really like it. If they didn't, then something must have differed prior to that. Or in a simpler case, there's no universe that's just like ours but where elephants if they choose to can float. Can there be? I really don't get it.
Oh well. Back to philosophy maybe, as physics and I, no matter how hard I try, are not a good fit!
*Edited March 2020. I've removed a star, because I'd forgotten I'd read this, so it's also unmemorable. (I'm happy to forget the contents of a book, but not the fact that it was read at all!)
(Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = quite good book, 3 = a decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. There are a lot of 4s and 3s in the world!)
meggswest's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0