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A review by ericbuscemi
The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking, Leonard Mlodinow
4.0
Although some of the more complicated theories and scientific explanations mentioned in the book went a bit over my head -- quarks, string theory, m-theory, multiverses, etc. -- I enjoyed reading The Grand Design, as it gave a short history of science and philosophy and its quest to try to explain how the universe came to be and what exactly we are doing here.
It shows how Hawking has continued where great minds like Einstein, Faraday, Newton, Descartes, Galileo, Archimedes, Aristotle, Plato and Socrates tread before him, albeit now with complicated math and physics that belie what our senses would tell us.
It definitely succeeded in making me think, and kept me interested throughout with examples of how these theories could be applied to a layperson such as myself. My personal favorite was the explanation for how the fish's model of reality is just as valid as our own, despite the fish living in a round fishbowl that would warp everything it sees.
There seems to be a lot of concern as to what Hawking wrote about God in the book, although to me I fail to see the controversy, since all he said was that he did not believe the universe necessitated a higher power -- "[the universe] does not require the intervention of some supernatural being or god" -- not say that science has disproved the existence of God.
It shows how Hawking has continued where great minds like Einstein, Faraday, Newton, Descartes, Galileo, Archimedes, Aristotle, Plato and Socrates tread before him, albeit now with complicated math and physics that belie what our senses would tell us.
It definitely succeeded in making me think, and kept me interested throughout with examples of how these theories could be applied to a layperson such as myself. My personal favorite was the explanation for how the fish's model of reality is just as valid as our own, despite the fish living in a round fishbowl that would warp everything it sees.
There seems to be a lot of concern as to what Hawking wrote about God in the book, although to me I fail to see the controversy, since all he said was that he did not believe the universe necessitated a higher power -- "[the universe] does not require the intervention of some supernatural being or god" -- not say that science has disproved the existence of God.