Neil Fein's Blog

The Illustrated A Brief History of Time

The Universe in a Nutshell

by Stephen Hawking

It's tempting to write that A Brief History of Time was illustrated in 1996, eight years after initial publication, merely to compete with the standard set by Carl Sagan's seminal work of science popularization, Cosmos. However, Hawking's book, while well-written and quite the engaging history of the field, doesn't benefit from being illustrated. While I never read the original, un-illustrated copy I received as a teenager, the pictures felt like so much graffiti. While diagrams of relativity and string theory concepts are quite necessary, portraits of scientists, old paintings, pictures of the galaxies rushing outwards -- while pretty, are simply not needed and are, frankly, distracting.

Professor Hawking's prose is, unsurprisingly, exemplary. The book is never boring, and usually fascinating. There are sections where he explains his own contributions to the field that could have been expanded upon.

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Such stories are told, in the 2001 The Universe in a Nutshell. More of a commentary on recent scientific thought, this volume, while less expansive than its predecessor, is in some ways more interesting that the seminal Brief History of Time (which has been published, so far, in three editions, counting the initial publication, the illustrated/expanded edition, and the 2005 A Briefer History of Time). The illustrations, while still distracting, are cleverer and more engaging. The book would still be perfectly understandable without them, though. (Although significantly shorter!) The book (both books, in fact) are absolutely gorgeous, by any standard.

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Both books are highly recommended, in any edition you come acros them. No matter how much science you know (or think you know).

Note: The author byline at the top of this page links to to Professor Hawking's website. The site holds, in addition to standard author-site pages, a wealth of information not just about the man himself, but articles on disability technology, lectures, publications, and a glossary of terms. It's well worth your time.


Tags: books