“A Brief History of Time” by Stephen Hawking
My head hurts. This is a smart book, written by a smart person that needs no introduction.
It is a history of the universe and the many different scientists – from ancient Greece to present day – that are trying to unlock the codes and provide meaning and understanding of who we are, why we are here, and how we are here, with the end goal of creating a single theory that describes the whole universe.
Professor Hawking remarks that the grand theory (which still doesn’t exist yet), “should in time be understandable in broad principle by everyone, not just a few scientists. Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists, and just ordinary people, be able to take part in the discussion of the question of why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason—for then we would know the mind of God.”
This is certainly a monumental idea, where even the best and brightest minds have so far failed to do. But, intriguingly, not without an effort.
This is what this book is all about, discussing and analyzing every theories that have been formulated to make sense of the universe, complete with all the debates and intellectual arguments, the dilemma and the assumptions, all the errors made, and the breakthroughs, covering space and time, the expanding universe, the black hole, wormholes and time travel (which Einstein in 1935 argued that it is possible), the possibility of alien life, and many more, including where God stands in all of this.
It is indeed one of the smartest books that I’ve ever read, and thus naturally also one of the hardest to comprehend. But still, if we can understand merely half of what professor Hawking is saying, I reckon we would already be greatly enlightened. I know I was.
THE CHAOS THEORY 