A Brief History of Time in Physics

Nov 10, 2008 Dr M rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: popular-science

For many, Stephen Hawking's classic popular-science book on cosmology is the first encounter with these ideas and the science behind them, thus often serving as a source of inspiration (I have met people who explicitly claimed to have gone into the physical sciences as a direct consequence of reading A Brief History of Time). My perspective is somewhat different: I have been in physics (though not so much in cosmology) as a student and as a researcher for some years, but for some reason never go For many, Stephen Hawking's classic popular-science book on cosmology is the first encounter with these ideas and the science behind them, thus often serving as a source of inspiration (I have met people who explicitly claimed to have gone into the physical sciences as a direct consequence of reading A Brief History of Time). My perspective is somewhat different: I have been in physics (though not so much in cosmology) as a student and as a researcher for some years, but for some reason never got around to reading this classic until now. Furthermore, I have read a few other popular-science books on fundamental physics and cosmology. For these reasons, what is in this book is not new to me, and my impressions are perhaps based more on the presentation, than on the subject matter.

Brevity is both vice and virtue in A Brief History of Time. Hawking makes his points in a concise manner, without excursions into personal reflections, societal contexts, biographical anecdotes etc. except on a very few occasions. He also does not expand much on the science, beyond the exact points he wishes to discuss. This is a good thing, in that it keeps the book readable. With less than 200 pages in length, it is perfectly possible to read and digest the book in a few hours' worth of reading -- a small enough effort for the book to be read also by those who might otherwise not read books on science at all. It also keeps up the pace in the narratives and makes it easy for the reader to follow Hawking's reasoning towards his conclusions, which is always a good thing in any book that tries to argue a point.

The downside of the brevity of Hawking's history of time is that it sometimes leaves points and concepts undigested, and when we find some piece of science particularly intriguing, it one might easily be left with the feeling that Hawking is cheating us out of part of the fun.

Hawking shows an admirable command of the English language. He is able to convey his message not only effectively and efficiently, but at many points also elegantly. Mostly this is true for the chapters on black holes, on which subject Hawking has worked very extensively in his capacity as scientist. Other chapters are not quite as eloquent, and sometimes even a bit blurry.

Furthermore, he is able to convert the scientific ideas into philosophical ones, and to express these ideas clearly and distinctly in words. In a science so inherently mathematical as physics, this is no easy task, and beyond the capability of many otherwise excellent scientists. For this reason alone, A Brief History of Time still maybe holds its position as the book par préférence to put in the hands of someone who has never read any physical science before.

This does not mean that there are not some points of serious criticism that need to be brought forward against this book. The first and foremost of these as the year 2008 is drawing to its close is that A Brief History of Time is now twenty years old, and the science of cosmology has moved forward tremendously in that time, thanks in no small part to new observational data. What was cutting-edge speculation in 1988 is now on some points rather outdated, and on some accounts maybe even wrong (current evidence favours an ever-expanding universe over the possibility of one that will eventually contract).

My other major point of criticism is that especially in the later chapters of the book, Hawking acts quite a bit as a salesman for his own scientific and philosophical ideas, which are rather speculative. This is fine to some degree, also in texts aimed at the general public. (How else would one convey a sense of what are the very latest ideas? And as speculations go, we can hardly ask that any scientist argue other ideas than those in which he or she chooses to believe.) I think Hawking does go a bit over the top, however, and while it may be obvious to someone with some knowledge of science where scientific consensus ends and speculation starts, I am not so sure that this is the case for the generic reader.

With those two caveats in mind, this is still a great book, and a great achievement of science communication. It may be neither the most accurate, nor the most complete account of our current scientific knowledge about fundamental physics and cosmology, but it certainly is both accessible and inspirational, and the way I see it, the ultimate goal of any popular-science book is not to state all the facts, but to inspire people into thinking about science and to continue to seek out scientific fact and understanding. This, I believe, A Brief History of Time will continue to accomplish for many years to come. ...more

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