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.

Hawking is TERRIBLE.

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.

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.

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!

Hawking.

 

Gets.

 

The.

 

Physics.

 

Wrong.

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

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.

Retarded, lol.

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.

MrL_JaKiri said in post #6 :

Hawking.

 

Gets.

 

The.

 

Physics.

 

Wrong.

 

 

You'll.

Have.

To.

Do.

More.

Than.

Make.

The.

Claim.

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

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.

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

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.

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

'Hawking is infallible' shocker. Pope resigns post, Hawking crowned king of the world and adopts the moniker 'New Jesus'.

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.

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

 

btw MrL is teh authoriteh!

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

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.

lies. were't you one of the hobbit stand ins in the recent LOTR movie where they could't be bothered to scale the actors down?

Sayonara knows different!

Indeed, they used midgets for those scenes.

 

Last time I saw MrL he was THE ANTIMIDGET.

Dude, I've only killed 5 midgets this week. Don't put ideas into peoples' heads.