Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Guest Prof.
Posted

Has anyone here read Stephen Hawking's 'The Universe in a Nutshell'? It is very well written, and explains the views and theories of past scientists with gret detail and clarity.

Posted

I have read it. Of course, I'm not knowledgable in any of that stuff, so he could be pulling my leg and I'd believe every word of it :)

 

 

Seemed like a good book though, he does a good job of explaining things.

Posted

It has wonderful pictures. Some of these artists working on images for physics books (and CNN's space website) can make a mediocre book worthwhile. But maybe I just like that kind of art more than most folks.

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

I almost bought that book. I've heard of mixed opinions, so I don't know if I'll ever read it. Just from flipping through the book I could easily see how the book would be a great read.

 

I agree with clown. good pictures + physics = I understand!

  • 3 months later...
Posted

who exactly is stephen hawking? i hear he's retarded but then he writes these books and stuff...and from what ive read of them they are pretty good.

 

and yes, im new to these forums :D

Posted

MrL,

 

Do you have any examples of what he gets wrong? As far a I knew he is pretty well respected so I would like to know a little reasoning behind you claim.

Posted
booper54 said in post #7 :

who exactly is stephen hawking? i hear he's retarded but then he writes these books and stuff...and from what ive read of them they are pretty good.

 

Uh, no. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (aka Lou Gehrig's disease)

 

Body breaks down, mind still works.

Posted
swansont said in post #10 :

 

Uh, no. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (aka Lou Gehrig's disease)

 

Body breaks down, mind still works.

 

 

oooh, ok. thanks for clearing that up :)

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

Umm...MrL you cant just say something like that and not back it up. examples.

 

anyways, im reading Hawking's "The Theory of Everything" right now and its great. I read half of it the first night i got b/c i couldnt put it down. And yes he is very well respected, i would really like to know what MrL is talking about.

Posted

I would say that nutshell was okay. It was a little light. It was good when explaing relativity. I guess it is fine for physics intro but there are better books for superstring/m-theory aka Elegant Universe. I still haven't found a "great" quantum book. A shortcut through time was about quantum computers and I would say that did a better job then any other book I've read. I just started 3 Roads to Quantum Gravity good so far. Nutshell's pictures are pretty good though.

 

PS any quantum book recommendations

Posted

Can't remember offhand, but here's a post from Radical Edward (who's currently studying for a PhD):

 

Radical Edward said in post #24 :

steven hawking is full of crap.

 

personally I prefer penrose.

 

I may give some actual examples, because one of the problems of being a physicist is that everyone decides to give you a sodding hawking book for christmas. I have about 8 of the bastard things.

 

They never even stop to think whether getting a pop physics book for the layman for a physics student is a great idea.

Posted

A little light but a good grounding in the fundamentals.

 

And Hawking does not get the physics wrong. He just tones them down so your average jaki can understand them

Posted
multi said in post #16 :

A little light but a good grounding in the fundamentals.

 

And Hawking does not get the physics wrong. He just tones them down so your average jaki can understand them

 

He tones down in a similar way to MS Paint; if you do it too much, you get something that bears no resemblence to the original.

Posted

Jakiri I ment to put an emoticon there with the laughing guy but could not find them and was too lazy to look.. :) No offence intended

Posted
Radical Edward said in post #19 :

If you want to read about the universe, read The Elegant Universe. it has knobs on.

 

btw MrL is teh authoriteh!

 

Well, I am The Tallest.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.