In the years since its publication in 1988, Stephen Hawking's A Brief
History Of Time has established itself as a landmark volume in
scientific writing. It has become an international publishing
phenomenon, translated into forty languages and selling over nine
million copies. The book was on the cutting edge of what was then known
about the nature of the universe, but since that time there have been
extraordinary advances in the technology of macrocosmic worlds. These
observations have confirmed many of Professor Hawkin's theoretical
predictions in the first edition of his book, including the recent
discoveries of the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite (COBE), which
probed back in time to within 300,000 years of the fabric of space-time
that he had projected.
Eager to bring to his original text the new knowledge revealed by these
many observations, as well as his recent research, for this expanded
edition Professor Hawking has prepared a new introduction to the book,
written an entirely new chapter on the fascinating subject of wormholes
and time travel, and updated the original chapters.
In addition, to heighten understanding of complex concepts that readers
may have found difficult to grasp despite the clarity and wit of
Professor Hawking's writing, this edition is enhanced throughout with
more than 240 full-color illustrations, including satellite images,
photographs made made possible by spectacular technological advance such
as the Hubble Space Telescope, and computer generated images of three
and four-dimensional realities. Detailed captions clarify these
illustrations, enable readers to experience the vastness of
intergalactic space, the nature of black holes, and the microcosmic
world of particle physics in which matters and antimatter collide.
A classic work that now brings to the reader the latest understanding of
cosmology, A Brief History Of Time is the story of the ongoing
search for t he tantalizing secrets at the heart of time and space.
