The world-famous cosmologist and #1 bestselling author of A Brief History of Time leaves us with his final thoughts on the biggest questions facing humankind.
Brief Answers to the Big Questions came out seven months after [Hawking's] death and put to rest concerns that it would be just a mishmash of recycled material ... Most of the chapters, but particularly Chapter 6, 'Is Time Travel Possible?' and Chapter 10, 'How Do We Shape the Future?,' are vintage Hawking — with the straightforward, engaging style of A Brief History of Time and The Universe in a Nutshell ... Hawking’s colleagues, friends and family, laboring out of deep respect for him, doing their best to achieve what he intended, have produced a splendid book. Enjoy it, learn from it, and regret that it is Hawking’s last.
The book is quintessential Hawking ... his optimism permeates every page ... Some may criticize Hawking's optimism and trust in humanity's wisdom and scientific prowess as naïve or too simplistic. To that he would probably ask, in his computerized voice and with a twinkle in his eyes, 'And what would you suggest instead?'
The newly-published book, Brief Answers to The Big Questions, finished by Hawking's family in the wake of his death earlier this year, includes insightful answers on topics like 'how did it all begin?' and 'will we survive on Earth?' ... few, if any, of the questions in the book are ones Hawking had not answered before. Brief Answers to The Big Questions was put together as an archive of Hawking’s notes, from answers he had given in speeches, interviews and essays.
