Stephen Hawking's phenomenal, multimillion-copy bestseller, A Brief
History of Time, introduced the ideas of this brilliant theoretical
physicist to readers all over the world.
Now, in a major publishing event, Hawking returns with a lavishly
illustrated sequel that unravels the mysteries of the major
breakthroughs that have occurred in the years since the release of his
acclaimed first book.
The Universe in a Nutshell
- Quantum mechanics
- M-theory
- General relativity
- 11-dimensional supergravity
- 10-dimensional membranes
- Superstrings
- P-branes
- Black holes
One of the most influential thinkers of our time, Stephen Hawking is an
intellectual icon, known not only for the adventurousness of his ideas
but for the clarity and wit with which he expresses them. In this new
book Hawking takes us to the cutting edge of theoretical physics, where
truth is often stranger than fiction, to explain in laymen's terms the
principles that control our universe.
Like many in the community of theoretical physicists, Professor Hawking
is seeking to uncover the grail of science -- the elusive Theory of
Everything that lies at the heart of the cosmos. In his accessible and
often playful style, he guides us on his search to uncover the secrets
of the universe -- from supergravity to supersymmetry, from quantum
theory to M-theory, from holography to duality.
He takes us to the wild frontiers of science, where superstring theory
and p-branes may hold the final clue to the puzzle. And he lets us
behind the scenes of one of his most exciting intellectual adventures as
he seeks "to combine Einstein's General Theory of Relativity and Richard
Feynman's idea of multiple histories into one complete unified theory
that will describe everything that happens in the universe."
With characteristic exuberance, Professor Hawking invites us to be
fellow travelers on this extraordinary voyage through space-time.
Copious four-color illustrations help clarify this journey into a
surreal wonderland where particles, sheets, and strings move in eleven
dimensions; where black holes evaporate and disappear, taking their
secret with them; and where the original cosmic seed from which our own
universe sprang was a tiny nut.
The Universe in a Nutshell is essential reading for all of us who
want to understand the universe in which we live. Like its companion
volume, A Brief History of Time, it conveys the excitement felt
within the scientific community as the secrets of the cosmos reveal
themselves.
