This book written in 1988 by Steven Hawking was surprisingly quite enjoyable! I learned soo much and still was incredibly fascinated. People would look at the book and go "oh wow, black holes, Quantum mechanics, astro-physics... Uhm is that for school? There is no way you are reading that for fun." But I was really liking it. I wanted to read it after having numerous conversations with my roommate and his cousin about black holes and space-time, and although I could gather and even add a couple things here and there in the conversation, I felt like I wasn't grasping the theories. I'm still no professor, but I feel informed.
The book is laid out in such a way that if you just put even a small amount of effort in absorbing information, you actually feel you understand it. Yes even me, who took algebra 1 twice could start to grasp quantum mechanics, black holes, worm holes, and even thinking about the 4th dimension(of course I learned about the concepts, not the math!)
I read updated/tenth anniversary edition of the book and it is broken down into twelve chapters:
One- Our Picture of the Universe
Two- Space and Time
Three- The Expanding Universe
Four- The Uncertainty Principle
Five- Elementary Particles and the Forces of Nature
Six- Black Holes
Seven- Black Holes Ain't So Black
Eight- The Origin and Fate of the Universe
Nine- The Arrow of Time
Ten- Wormholes and Time Travel
Eleven- The Unification of Physics
Twelve- Conclusion
I think you should get used to me saying this, but everyone should at least glance at this book. It is not too difficult of a book to read, and Hawking does an amazing job at making sure an average person can understand some of the most complicated things in the universe! A really cool read, I give it two enthusiastic thumbs up. I only wish I had read it sooner.
Total Pages Read: 617
The first book I have read this year is called Watchmen. It is a graphic novel written in the 80's by Alan Moore. It is set in an America on the brink of a nuclear war. The story line follows a group of former costumed heroes called The Minutemen, and their life after the Keene Act which outlawed masked vigilantes.
The story begins when one of the former members of the Minutemen, Edward Blake aka the Comedian(smoking the cigar in the picture) is killed. Rorschach(front and center), another masked avenger, suspects a mask killer conspiracy rather than a political killing.Another aspect of the story follows Dr. Manhattan(the Blue man in the photo), a former scientist who because of an accident with some equipment was blasted into just particles. After this he was presumed to be dead, but he somehow recollected himself and became almost like a god. He is able to control matter, teleport, and multiply himself(did I mention he knows the future). He and the Comedian were soon hired by the united states government to work in Vietnam, perform experiments, and serve as a military defensive weapons.
The book also goes back to tell the back stories of the other members of the Minutemen, like Nite Owl, Rorschach Captain Metropolis, Ozymandias, and Silk Spectre. All of the group, except for Ozymandias, went back to their normal lives. Well except for Rorschach, and Ozymandias. Rorschach refused to give up his life of fighting crime after the Keene act an continued to work outside of the law. Ozymandias on the other hand gave up crime fighting and began marketing himself, becoming the richest man in the world.
Nite Owl and Silk Spectre put on their suits once again when Rorschach was framed with a murder an thrown into jail. Nite Owl, convinced of his innocence gets dressed up once again to help his 'friend'.
I would continue with an explanation but I just want to give a short intro, not a school paper. Also, I wouldn't know when to stop without giving too much away. I encourage everyone to read it(it only took me about two days), or at the very least see the movie that comes out later this year, which from the previews seems to follow the novel pretty closely.
Total Pages Read:416
Next Book: A Brief History Of Time By: Steven Hawking