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The Grand Design

By: Stephen Hawking, Leonard Mlodinow
Narrated by: Steve West
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Publisher's Summary

In the last 30 years of his life, Albert Einstein searched for a unified theory - a theory which could describe all the forces of nature in a single framework. But the time was not right for such a discovery in Einstein's day.

Neither was the time right when, in 1988, Professor Stephen Hawking wrote A Brief History of Time, in which he took us on a journey through classical physics, Einstein's theory of relativity, quantum physics and string theory in order to explain the universe that we live in. He concluded, like Einstein, that science may soon arrive at the long sought after 'Theory of Everything'.

In this groundbreaking new work, Professor Hawking and renowned science writer Leonard Mlodinow have drawn on 40 years of Hawking's own research and a recent series of extraordinary astronomical observations and theoretical breakthroughs to reveal an original and controversial theory. They convincingly argue that scientific obsession with formulating a single new model may be misplaced, and that by synthesising existing theories we may discover the key to finally understanding the universe's deepest mysteries.

Written with the clarity and lively style for which Hawking is famous, The Grand Design is an account of Hawking's quest to fuse these different strands of scientific theory. It examines the differences between past and future, explains the nature of reality and asks an all-important question: How far can we go in our search for understanding and knowledge?

©2010 Stephen W Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow (P)2010 Random House AudioBooks

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Best

Best book ever
Love the explanations love the reading love every thing about it. Best

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Comprehensive knowledge required but worth it

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I am no physics professor nor typical student however I have invested a substantial amount of time reading up on our universe, classical physics and quantum physics.

Still at times I realised that there is much more to learn and I would one day like to re-listen to this book after having read up specifically about a few more of the theories mentioned within.

Regardless it was still for me a good insight into where we are heading in our understanding of the universe and its workings. Worth a read definitely considering it is quite short.

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Not as good as expected

This was an enlightening book that takes you on the journey of the history of physics. While the story is engaging, the book tries too hard to convince the reader of a theory that seems in vogue. At times I felt like the intended audience are dissident academics rather than interested lay people.
Perhaps the book just ended on a bad note for me with what seemed to be a weak argument against 'God' : "the special conditions of our existance is not because of 'God', because 'God' is supernatural and that is not science".

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