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The Universe in a Nutshell

By Stephen Hawking

(53)

| Hardcover | 9780553802023

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Book Description

Stephen Hawking’s phenomenal, multimillion-copy bestseller, A Brief History of Time, introduced the ideas of this brilliant theoretical physicist to readers all over the world.

Now, in a major publishing event, Hawking returns with a lavishly illustrated sequel that unravels theContinue

Stephen Hawking’s phenomenal, multimillion-copy bestseller, A Brief History of Time, introduced the ideas of this brilliant theoretical physicist to readers all over the world.

Now, in a major publishing event, Hawking returns with a lavishly illustrated sequel that unravels the mysteries of the major breakthroughs that have occurred in the years since the release of his acclaimed first book.

The Universe in a Nutshell

• Quantum mechanics
• M-theory
• General relativity
• 11-dimensional supergravity
• 10-dimensional membranes
• Superstrings
• P-branes
• Black holes

One of the most influential thinkers of our time, Stephen Hawking is an intellectual icon, known not only for the adventurousness of his ideas but for the clarity and wit with which he expresses them. In this new book Hawking takes us to the cutting edge of theoretical physics, where truth is often stranger than fiction, to explain in laymen’s terms the principles that control our universe.

Like many in the community of theoretical physicists, Professor Hawking is seeking to uncover the grail of science — the elusive Theory of Everything that lies at the heart of the cosmos. In his accessible and often playful style, he guides us on his search to uncover the secrets of the universe — from supergravity to supersymmetry, from quantum theory to M-theory, from holography to duality.

He takes us to the wild frontiers of science, where superstring theory and p-branes may hold the final clue to the puzzle. And he lets us behind the scenes of one of his most exciting intellectual adventures as he seeks “to combine Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity and Richard Feynman’s idea of multiple histories into one complete unified theory that will describe everything that happens in the universe.”

With characteristic exuberance, Professor Hawking invites us to be fellow travelers on this extraordinary voyage through space-time. Copious four-color illustrations help clarify this journey into a surreal wonderland where particles, sheets, and strings move in eleven dimensions; where black holes evaporate and disappear, taking their secret with them; and where the original cosmic seed from which our own universe sprang was a tiny nut.

The Universe in a Nutshell is essential reading for all of us who want to understand the universe in which we live. Like its companion volume, A Brief History of Time, it conveys the excitement felt within the scientific community as the secrets of the cosmos reveal themselves.

Critics

  • Strung out

    The Universe in a Nutshell Stephen Hawking 216pp, Bantam, £20 When the world's most famous living cosmologist issues another State of the Universe report, what should we expect? A great deal, if we take seriously the promises made in his tearaway bes ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

  • A hard nut to crack

    Apparently, an American journalist once went to a New York bookstore and tucked a voucher two-thirds of the way through several hundred copies of Umberto Eco's novel, Foucault's Pendulum. The voucher promised $50 to anyone who sent it in as a reward ... (read full critics)

    spectator published on Fri, 17 Sep 2010

4 Reviews

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  • You can consider this as a book for physics and cosmology 101. With the graphical illustration, this book is much easier to comprehend than "A Brief History of Time"! That said, the topic is still too technical and hard for me. :(

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    Waleswong said on Jan 19, 2011 | Add your feedback

  • It took two or three reads at each page but damn it I read it and understood it with the help of wikipedia. Beautiful illustration but gets rather technical.

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    Marko 45142 said on Feb 25, 2009 | Add your feedback

  • I think I'm still too dumb to get this stuff, even with the pictures. To me, the pictures and diagrams didn't really help me understand much more than I did before. Still fun to try to understand though :)

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    Deanna Kyre said on Sep 28, 2008 | Add your feedback

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9780553802023 Hardcover $35.00 $25.20 bn.com
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