Stephen Hawking The Grand Design

[+TourSpecGolfer]

Just picked it up! lot's of controversy behind it.

How can we understand the world in which we find ourselves? Over twenty years ago I wrote A Brief History of Time, to try to explain where the universe came from, and where it is going. But that book left some important questions unanswered. Why is there a universe--why is there something rather than nothing? Why do we exist? Why are the laws of nature what they are? Did the universe need a designer and creator?

It was Einstein’s dream to discover the grand design of the universe, a single theory that explains everything. However, physicists in Einstein’s day hadn’t made enough progress in understanding the forces of nature for that to be a realistic goal. And by the time I had begun writing A Brief History of Time, there were still several key advances that had not yet been made that would prevent us from fulfilling Einstein’s dream. But in recent years the development of M-theory, the top-down approach to cosmology, and new observations such as those made by satellites like NASA’s COBE and WMAP, have brought us closer than ever to that single theory, and to being able to answer those deepest of questions. And so Leonard Mlodinow and I set out to write a sequel to A Brief History of Time to attempt to answer the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. The result is The Grand Design, the product of our four-year effort.

In The Grand Design we explain why, according to quantum theory, the cosmos does not have just a single existence, or history, but rather that every possible history of the universe exists simultaneously. We question the conventional concept of reality, posing instead a "model-dependent" theory of reality. We discuss how the laws of our particular universe are extraordinarily finely tuned so as to allow for our existence, and show why quantum theory predicts the multiverse--the idea that ours is just one of many universes that appeared spontaneously out of nothing, each with different laws of nature. And we assess M-Theory, an explanation of the laws governing the multiverse, and the only viable candidate for a complete "theory of everything." As we promise in our opening chapter, unlike the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life given in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the answer we provide in The Grand Design is not, simply, "42."

[Mjr. D]

Very cool. Might have to pick this up as well. Don't want to freak myself too much though. Sometimes not knowing is better than knowing.

[Spoon]

Sometimes not knowing is better than knowing.

i agree but we are curious beings and would like a bite of that apple:)

i will defintley pick one up myself. thanks guys

[supo]

i agree but we are curious beings and would like a bite of that apple:)

i will defintley pick one up myself. thanks guys

im done on this as well, his old one was an awsome read , the uiverse for not -so- dummies, loved it. plenty of piccys and only one equation , A physics comic book !

[+TourSpecGolfer]

This one is IMO is not as good as his last but rather updates some of the latest in M-theory with new examples but most important for me was it's short and easy to read.

anyone watch "what the bleep do we know?"

[Shambles]

Here is a subject I've never even tried to get any knowledge on. I guess a copy of this book will be on my get for myself Christmas list. It's about time I opened my eyes to new directions.

Shambles

[gus]

He is indeed a very astonishing man, taking a lot of heat over his theory on the Event Horizon, it's incredible how they utilize mathmatical theory to determine facts, WAY over my head but interesting to learn about no doubt! BB