#000628
Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays
Stephen Hawking
A collection of essays and talks in which the most famous physicist of his era steps out from behind the equations. Alongside pieces on black holes, the origin of the universe, imaginary time, and the arrow of time, Stephen Hawking offers unexpectedly personal reflections, on his childhood, his diagnosis with motor neurone disease, life with disability, and his own scientific development, including the autobiographical essay that gives a sense of the man behind *A Brief History of Time*. Published by Bantam in 1993, the book is lighter and more varied than his blockbuster, mixing cosmology with wit and memoir. It suits readers who want Hawking's ideas in bite-sized form, and a rare glimpse of his voice on subjects beyond the physics.
more…less ▴
The author
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) was a theoretical physicist at Cambridge whose work on black-hole radiation and the origins of the cosmos made him a scientific icon, and whose survival for decades with ALS, communicating through a speech synthesizer, made him a global public figure. A Brief History of Time had already turned him into an unlikely bestseller before this collection appeared.
The book
Black Holes and Baby Universes gathers thirteen essays and lectures from 1976 to 1992. Some are popular science, on black holes, the no-boundary proposal, and whether the universe had a beginning; others are personal, recounting his life, illness, and views on everything from determinism to the value of theoretical physics. An interview transcript closes the book.
How it reads
Because the pieces were written for different occasions, there is repetition, and the science is pitched for general readers rather than specialists. But that variety is the charm: the memoir essays humanize a figure often reduced to a symbol, and Hawking's dry humor comes through. It has aged as a warm, accessible companion to his more systematic books.
For more context
Pair with A Brief History of Time for the sustained argument and with the later memoir My Brief History for more of the personal story.
Sources
- Type
- Book
- Author / Maker
- Stephen Hawking
- Publisher
- Bantam Books
- Place of publication
- New York
- Year
- 1993
- ISBN
- None
- Shelf
- Science
- Location
- Colorado