A Brief History Of Time

First published in 1988, A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes by British physicist Stephen Hawking is a general-audience science book that describes the basic principles of the universe as scientists have come to know them. From the beginning of everything to the fate of the cosmos—with black holes, wormholes, and time arrows in between—the book describes in non-technical language how the universe works.

The 2009 edition contains a forward by the author, which replaces the forward written by Carl Sagan included in the original 1998 edition, and an appendix that updates the science described in the book. A number of diagrams, graphs, and illustrations accompany the text; the ones most relevant to the guide are described in the summaries below. The eBook version of the updated edition forms the basis for this study guide.

Summary

Hawking writes A Brief History of Time in the first-person present tense to craft an accessible history of theoretical physics. Hawking incorporates rhetorical questions and humorous asides in a friendly, approachable tone.

Chapter 1 focuses on humans’ earliest conceptions of the universe. Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle deduced features of the universe based on his observations of natural phenomena.