A Brief History of Time

By: Stephen Hawking

Narrated by: Michael Jackson

Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

This landmark book is for those of us who prefer words to equations; this is the story of the ultimate quest for knowledge, the ongoing search for the secrets at the heart of time and space. Its author, Stephen W. Hawking, is arguably the greatest mind since Einstein. From the vantage point of the wheelchair, where he has spent the last 20 years trapped by Lou Gehrig's disease, Professor Hawking has transformed our view of the universe. A Brief History of Time is Hawking's classic introduction to today's most important scientific ideas about the cosmos. It is read here by the Emmy Award-winning host of The Michael Jackson Show on KABC-TV.

©1988 Stephen W. Hawking (P)2005 Phoenix Books, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A masterful summary of what physicists now think the world is made of and how it got that way." (The Wall Street Journal)

"Lively and provocative, Hawking clearly possesses a natural teacher's gift, easy, good-natured humor, and an ability to illustrate highly complex propositions with analogies plucked from daily life." (The New York Times)

Not over my head

I was pleased to understand the theory presented, even though I know there was massive amounts of work and numbers and coffee by students and professionals behind the scenes.

didnt like it

it's not that good for a normal non physics knowing person. it kept swinging from simple impossible to understand. I still learned some things, but found myself lost a lot of the time.

Interesting book with a polarizing performance.

Good book with a great look and thought into physics and the universe. The read is very casual, with occasional background sounds, mispronunciations, and stutter. However, this does at times feel as more of a regular, human lecture or talk as opposed to a scientific read.

Good effort on complicated subject

A good effort to summarize and simplify very complicated subjects. This book is not for anyone who isn't fascinated by physics.

Great look into physics...

Hawking explains physics in a way anyone can understand from the smallest of the small to the biggest of the big. My only problem was the narrator talked a little to fast

I have always loved this book, but...

The narration is just not engaging, I really wish there was a version of this with an alternative, it almost sent me to sleep

it is perfect

I genuinely understand physics better now. It is never condensing and easy to understand.

quick and easy

Delivered as a lecture, under 6 hours. Physicist humor included. Good stuff. I was hoping to hear the other Micheal Jackson, but the British chap did a nice job.

Not a light read

A must read: I'm not sure the explanation but although most was quarks above my head, my brain really enjoyed it. Worth noting... I listened to this book. Doubt I would have made it through reading it Check this off my bucket list

Good First Half, But Peters Out

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The narrator for starters. And I'm not really sure what went wrong, but the last 4 or 5 chapters were just... kinda dull. He just went on and on and on... and on about black holes, and I just kinda zoned out. More than once.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

By that point, I just wanted it to be over.

What three words best describe Michael Jackson’s performance?

Erratic, dry, dull. He'd pause between words where there was clearly no comma or period, or then he'd zip through lines like his life depended on his reading as fast as he could. He even did some ahhs and ums, which really now, is a big no-no when recording audiobooks. And his voice just kinda droned on, made it very easy to zone out, or have my mind wander.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

I've seen a lot of Stephen Hawking's TV specials, like Into the Universe and Grand Design, and I absolutely loved them. If he were to make this book into a show like that, I'd certainly be interested in seeing it.

Any additional comments?

I give it 3 stars because it's Stephen Hawking after all, and I'm a huge fan. But if his other books are narrated by this same guy, Michael Jackson, I'm afraid I won't be listening to any more of them here.