A Brief History of Time (1988) by Stephen Hawking is a landmark work of popular science that distills the mysteries of the universe into accessible, awe-inspiring prose. Hawking guides readers through cosmology’s greatest ideas—from the Big Bang and black holes to quantum mechanics and the arrow of time—explaining complex concepts like relativity and string theory with clarity and wit. The book’s central quest: to uncover a unified “Theory of Everything” that reconciles Einstein’s general relativity with quantum physics.
Despite its daunting subject, Hawking’s voice is conversational and laced with dry humor (e.g., his musing that God might “choose to roll the dice” after all). The 1996 updated edition includes breakthroughs like cosmic inflation and wormholes.
A global phenomenon, A Brief History of Time has sold over 25 million copies, democratizing science while leaving its deepest questions tantalizingly open.
