Today we take a look at the latest book to be penned, in part at least, by arguably the most well known physicist in the world, Stephen Hawking. With previously engaging works such as ‘A Brief History of Time’ and ‘Universe in a Nutshell’, any book by this science superstar is expected to meet high expectations…
Stephen Hawking is placed amongst the ranks of such scientists as Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman and Brian Cox in that they have all had great success in popularising science, in particular physics, as well as presenting topics in a more accessible fashion to the general public. Most recently, physicist Brian Cox has been credited with the increased uptake in science subjects seen in UK schools thanks in part to his widely popular BBC science programmes. Anything that inspires, informs and intrigues people about science and physics can only be a good thing. ‘The Grand Design’ attempts to provide answers to three
of the most fundamental questions anyone could ask about the universe using the latest developments and discoveries in science:
- Why is there something rather than nothing?
- Why do we exist?
- Why this particular set of laws and not some other?
Co-authored by Stephen Hawking and American physicist Leonard Mlodinow, this book steps away from previous works in that instead of attempting to explain how the universe works, the two attempt to explain why the universe is the way it is and why our universe even exists at all.
In its relatively short 228 pages, Hawking and Mlodinow take the reader on a whistle-stop tour of human kind’s own scientific journey, politely ambushing philosophy whenever an opportunity presents itself. Along the way the reader is treated to explanations on why the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is important and what its existence tells us as well as other important concepts like the famous double-slit experiment, the standard model, unification and more which generally leave the reader satisfied in their new understanding of them.
Unfortunately, the book loses pace somewhat towards its ultimate conclusion and even with the introduction of the very exciting idea of M-theory, the authors cannot quite seem to attract the same level of interest that was there in the first five chapters; ultimately, the last chapter lets the book down. Although the questions that were asked at the beginning are mostly answered in some way or other, the last chapter seems to feed the reader an idea without giving them the tools and knowledge they need to decide for themselves whether what they see on the page is gospel.
A great ride through our scientific history with some well written but not hugely detailed explanations of important and usually deeply complicated physical concepts. If you want a more concise explanation of basic physical ideas with more mathematical concepts, check out the authors’ previous works.
Buy this book: Amazon
