Brief Answers to the Big Questions
2014
- science
- miscellanea
- science, miscellanea
- nyt:combined-print-and-e-book-nonfiction=2018-11-04
- science, philosophy
- philosophy and science
- religion and science
- philosophy
- inquiry (theory of knowledge)
- science / cosmology
The story
Stephen Hawking was recognized as one of the greatest minds of our time and a figure of inspiration after defying his ALS diagnosis at age twenty-one. He is known for both his breakthroughs in theoretical physics as well as his ability to make complex concepts accessible for all, and was beloved for his mischievous sense of humor. At the time of his death, Hawking was working on a final project: a book compiling his answers to the "big" questions that he was so often posed--questions that ranged beyond his academic field. Within these pages, he provides his personal views on our biggest challenges as a human race, and where we, as a planet, are heading next. Each section will be introduced by a leading thinker offering his or her own insight into Professor Hawking's contribution to our understanding. The book will also feature a foreword from Academy Award winning actor Eddie Redmayne, who portrayed Hawking in the film The Theory of Everything, and an afterword by Hawking's daughter, Lucy Hawking, as well as personal photographs and additional archival material.
What it’s like
Clean, unhurried prose that reads like a friendly lecture from a sharp, amused mind, with short chapters that can be dipped into over a cup of tea. The pages are light and airy, broken up by personal photographs and archival material that give it a warm, lived-in feel rather than a textbook's sterility. Its emotional register is curious and quietly hopeful, with a dry, mischievous humour surfacing now and then, and an undercurrent of urgency about the planet's future and the stakes of technology. The big subjects (black holes, artificial intelligence, whether there is a God, whether we are alone in the universe) are approached with plain-spoken directness, so the mood is contemplative rather than dense, and the reading pace is easy to control. There is no violence, sexual content, or gore; the most intense material is frank talk about mortality and the risks facing humanity. It suits a rainy Sunday, a long train journey, or a bedside book for anyone who likes to wonder about the universe without needing to be a physicist.
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