A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking - Book Review

"If a star were a grain of salt, you could fit all the stars visible to the naked eye on a teaspoon, but all the stars in the universe would fill a ball more than eight miles wide." ~ Stephen Hawking, A Briefer History of Time

"However, when an antiparticle and a particle meet, they annihilate each other. So if you meet your antiself, don't shake hands - you would both vanish in a great flash of light! ~ Stephen Hawking, A Briefer History of Time

I am not a physics expert and have done no real studies in physics so I was doubtful that I would understand anything in this book. But I thought I would give it a try and see if I could expand my mind a little. I listened to the audio version of this book and, somewhat to my surprise, found that it was presented in language that I could actually understand. And I loved that Stephen Hawking makes it clear that even though much of what was presented is accepted theory it is still theory.

Black holes, worm holes, general relativity, the bending of time near large gravitational fields, string theory (this one was really over my head), the possibilities (and limitations) of time travel were all discussed. I enjoyed his presentation of the histories of the various theories and their origins.

While I certainly did not agree with the theories of how our universe began, I did enjoy gaining a better understanding of these theories. I will probably listen to this book again to hopefully get a better grasp on all these concepts. Plus, I really enjoyed Stephen Hawking's sense of humor and down to earth style of writing. I've never read any of his other books so I don't know if this is typical of all his writing but it was a definite strong point in this book.

This book has really helped expand my view of the universe and the God Who created it. With our many theories and discoveries and all we think we know what we have really found out is how little truly do know. Their is a vastness and greatness so far beyond our comprehension that I find myself almost overwhelmed with awe that I am even a small part of the grand design.