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)

Uncommonly good!

As you already know what this book is about, I will tell you how it affected a student with limited mathematical background and none in physics. Well, it was wonderful- this is one of the only audiobooks for which I must abandon all other sources of distraction. Hawking's descriptions and analogies are spot-on for my taste, and I rarely had to re-listen to any of it to grasp the concepts.
The narration is good too. Jackson, thankfully unique from most stoic-sounding professionals, actually gets caught up in what he is reading! I believe that speaks volumes, as it were, about the book itself. Even (and perhaps especially) if you're not a fan of these topics, take this chance to culture yourself with this mind-expanding prize.

Challenging for a beginner

For a thirty-something who hasn't studied much science since high-school biology, this was a bit challenging...but rewarding.

Hawking delivers a summary of the popular theories on the origin of our planet, it's place in the universe, and everything we know and don't know about the laws that govern it.

He does a good job of helping the layman understand what may be unfamiliar concepts (they were to me anyway) like the second law of thermodynamics, the event horizon, relativity and red shift by use of analogy and "for example" type descriptions. The best audience would seem to be a college science major who has a bit of a passion for astronomy or physics or the like.

I found the reader's voice a bit monotone and I could often hear more excitement and animation in Hawking's words by re-reading them aloud in my own mind.

Awful narration

The narrator has a nice voice, but he has an awful habit of umming and uhhing, and leaves spaces between words in the most nonsensical of places. In an instance where he relayed Einstein's most famous achievement, he said it as such: "E equals MC.......... squared." The length between the C and squared was so long I thought he had accidentally missed the two. This isn't the only occurrence of such a pause. Additionally, he mispronounces words even when the book explicitly says how to pronounce them. Such as: "quark, that's pronounced like quart but with a K" and the narrator continues to say "kwark," rhyming it with park instead of pork. There's often a noticeable difference when a narrator begins a new recording session, they have a different tone and sound fresher. It's never been as noticeable as it is here. To cap it all off, there is at least one instance of an audioclip being repeated, about thirty seconds long. It's simply unprofessional.

Hawkings best

This is one of Hawking's best because it is simple and easy for anyone to understand. It is also written with a good sense of humor as he speaks of how the unfortunate observer always is either torn apart or crushed by the universe. It is an unfortunate reality that man kind will hopefully have the fortune of never seeing for a few billion years.

great way to learn something new

I loved this book better in this audio form.. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to understand the world, universe and philosophers scientists and history a bit better

A great book

A great book, but an intense listen as an audio book, due to the sheer amount of information packed into each sentence.

The book does show its age, having been originally published in 1988

Great Knowledge, Even Years Later

A very interesting listen, it illuminates subjects that might otherwise be out of reach for ordinary people, although the prose can be a bit choppy and sudden at times...still highly recommended for even casual fans of physics!

Good summary of scientific evidence on time/space.

I liked this audio, I went back to parts. it was a good listen, short and sweet.

An Amazing Book

This is an awesome book; very eye opening, and definitely the best nonfiction book I've ever read.

Bien

Bien relatado y buen libro. Fue entretenido de escuchar y no tan monótono a pesar de que leía de forma pareja.