Brief History of Time

Jeff Ford

My birthday is coming up and I'm planning to ask for books. I've just returned to school and am in my first year of calculus and physics. For those of you who have read this book, is there much background required to understand it?

JasonRox

No, you don't really need to know anything.

Mulder

Well I doubt your mum could read it....

fasterthanjoao

wouldn't say you really need to know anything (though if you're not too confident theres always A Briefer History of Time). get some Simon Singh books he's easy to understand and to a beginner, rather informative.

If you're looking for physics and something a bit more technical, Brian Greene's books on string theory and the like are good. too many to list.

I'm reading Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea ~Charles Seife at the moment and its quite good.

JasonRox

Yes, I agree. I read Zero, and it's a great book.

dfx

Hawkings preface claims it is intended for the layman, however being a high school physics/math student I found it fairly inaccessible as you get deeper. The pretty pictures painted are fine, but the theories discussed are quite heavy.

Tx

Very basic stuff, just remember this book is written for the layman.

dfx

I still don't think it's a bedtime read - well maybe it could perplex you to sleep.

cscott

Indeed it is!

As for the OP, I found "Universe in a nutshell" and easier read than BHOT but there is some content overlap. They were actually the first two pop-sci books I ever read.

fasterthanjoao

i didn't really like a brief history of time. I think that was mostly because by the time I finally got round to reading it, i'd already read several other books covering the same sort of stuff so it ended up coming across to me as, well, basic and boring.

one of the first pop-sci books I read was "time travel in einsteins universe" by Richard Gott. It was a few years ago last I read it, but I remember it being great; very well written, informative on the serious stuff and packed with plenty of useless (but interesting) information too. I felt it helped me get quite a bit more interested in my astronomy and such.

pop-sci books are great when you're just starting out IMO, I reckon that they're a really good way of finding out how interested in a field you actually are, avoiding making the wrong choices in classes at university etc. Plus they make a geek of you, d^_^b

Mulder

That's ridiculous. A layman is someone with little or no knowledge about the subject, not an advanced high school student doing physics, or an undergrad.

Tx

It's a book written for the 'nonscientist' to give an introduction to the modern thoeries of physics, I said that it's written for the layman cause it doesn't require years of hard maths and physics to understand the point of each chapter and what he is trying to explain in the book.

michealsmith

brief history of time is for the laymen ......i dont know if ur a laymen or not..
well at least you know thats its about physics ...read it, its good incomprehensible fun.(joke....enjoy the book)