A Brief History of Time

It's getting on for 20 years since Hawking wrote 'A brief history of time', but on re-reading it now it doesn't seem that dated. Possibly this is because Hawking isn't trying to tell us the latest theories of the universe, rather he's explaining the basics of the subject in simple terms. (This relates to the original 1988 edition - there is now a 1998 edition which does include some of the new discoveries). Now I know that this book has the reputation of often being unfinished by readers, but they can't be trying very hard - as science books go it's one of the easiest to follow that I've read. That said there is 'A briefer history of time' with less text and more pictures. Also 'Black holes and baby universes' is more autobiographical, and so some people might find it easier to follow.

'A brief history of time' starts with chapters on cosmology, and moves on to quantum theory, particle physics and black holes. The later chapters look at Hawking's own work on the thermodynamics of black holes, as well as string theory and the inlationary theory of the origin of the universe.

I guess that if the book were written now then the publisher would insist on having the word 'God' in the title - the word occurs pretty often in the text itself. Its hard to tell what Hawking's beliefs are, but at least there's not too much in the way of phoney theology which you often find in such books.