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The Grand Design  By  cover art

The Grand Design

By: Stephen Hawking, Leonard Mlodinow
Narrated by: Steve West
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Publisher's summary

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A whirlwind tour of fundamental physics and cosmology.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Fascinating . . . a wealth of ideas [that] leave us with a clearer understanding of modern physics in all its invigorating complexity.”—Los Angeles Times

When and how did the universe begin? Why are we here? What is the nature of reality? Is the apparent “grand design” of our universe evidence of a benevolent creator who set things in motion—or does science offer another explanation? In The Grand Design, Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow present the most illuminating scientific thinking about these and other abiding mysteries of the universe, in nontechnical language marked by brilliance and simplicity.

According to quantum theory, the cosmos does not have just a single existence or history. The authors explain that we ourselves are the product of quantum fluctuations in the early universe and show how quantum theory predicts the “multiverse”—the idea that ours is just one of many universes that appeared spontaneously out of nothing, each with different laws of nature. They conclude with a riveting assessment of M-theory, an explanation of the laws governing our universe that is currently the only viable candidate for a “theory of everything”: the unified theory that Einstein was looking for, which, if confirmed, would represent the ultimate triumph of human reason.

A succinct, startling, and lavishly illustrated guide to discoveries that are altering our understanding and threatening some of our most cherished belief systems, The Grand Design is a book that will inform—and provoke—like no other.

©2010 Steven Hawking, Leonard Mlodinow (P)2010 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Introduces the reader to topics at the frontier of theoretical physics . . . more clearly for general readers than I have seen before.” (Steven Weinberg, The New York Review of Books)

“Provocative pop science, an exploration of the latest thinking about the origins of our universe.” (The New York Times)

What listeners say about The Grand Design

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Loved it, loved the humor.

I loved the book, had to keep rewinding to keep pace with the ideas, but the transition across the ideas was well implemented. the Anecdotes within the book helped a lot, simple humour, but totally worth its weight.

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  • KK
  • 02-09-18

Very good - clear and not convoluted!

Many modern concepts in Physics and Astrophysics are demistified. Clear and logical story line made the challenging topic of the Universe internal working enjoyable to listen to.

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Absolutely Awesome in every way !!!!!

Absolutely Awesome in every way !!!!! I’ve listened to several dozen audio books and truly believe this one is the best yet !

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The multiverse is the answer.

It all makes sense now as I know why there is something rather than nothing.

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wonderful information

simply enjoyed the subject,learned very much
I would recommend this book for a student of physics.

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Difficult accent to listen to for an audio book!

Difficult British accent for an American to listen to for an audio book on such an important topic.

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The Grand Design

Hawking in his serious yet incredibly witty way describes a design that neither has a personal designer nor has the need for one. The reader gets an overall perception of how the universe - or the multiverse - came into being and how science attempts to unravel the mystery through progressively building theories starting from Newton through a PhD student named Conway. As clear as a scientist of his caliber could make it without the aid of mathematics.

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good

Very good but also a bit confusing at times. I'll be listening to it again to get more from it

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Very Grand!

I like the way Stephen describes mathematics and physics in a layman's level. Very nice!

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Well done!

I do find the argument stimulating, though the more data we have the better there are theoretically challenging expanded arguments to support a cosmic view of everything.

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