Dunstan
9th November 2010, 08:49 PM
The Grand Design isn't a bad book, but it seems to coast on the reputation of its lead author. At some point society seemed to agree that physicists are the world's smartest persons, and Hawking specifically was granted the title of the New Einstein.
As a result, the media breathlessly reported Hawking's recent book-tour comments that there is no need for a God to explain the universe as if it provided some new or compelling insight into the matter. Perhaps that was justified given how some readers interpreted Hawking's references to "the mind of God" in A Brief History of Time as expressing some theistic belief.
But once one puts aside Hawking's reputation, The Grand Design is anything but grand.
It's not a bad book; in fact, it's a reasonably clear, accessible account of the history of cosmology from the ancient Greeks to M-Theory and dark matter. I would recommend it to someone with little to no prior knowledge of the subject. But to anyone with even a modicum of familiarity, it's a disappointment.
First of all, there simply isn't a whole lot of content. The hardcover version is 181 pages, and even that overstates things, as the pages are relatively small and the type large for a hardcover.
Second, Hawking and Mlodinow have spread themselves too thin. The book attempts to cover the history of science, philosophy of science, Newtonian mechanics, relativity, quantum mechanics, and modern attempts at Grand Unified Theory, string theory, multiverse theory, and more. As a result, none of these topics are given more than a cursory treatment. The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics? The significance of the Higgs boson? The criticisms of string theory as untestable? These issues and more are left mostly, if not completely, unaddressed.
Finally, there simply isn't anything new or insightful here. Personally, I learned more about cosmology from a one-hour lecture by Lawrence Krauss (available on YouTube) than from Hawking and Mlodinow. Brian Greene's books are readable yet meaty. I have little more knowledge of physics than that of a typical pop-sci reader, and I simply cannot name one thing I know or understand better after reading this book.
As a result, the media breathlessly reported Hawking's recent book-tour comments that there is no need for a God to explain the universe as if it provided some new or compelling insight into the matter. Perhaps that was justified given how some readers interpreted Hawking's references to "the mind of God" in A Brief History of Time as expressing some theistic belief.
But once one puts aside Hawking's reputation, The Grand Design is anything but grand.
It's not a bad book; in fact, it's a reasonably clear, accessible account of the history of cosmology from the ancient Greeks to M-Theory and dark matter. I would recommend it to someone with little to no prior knowledge of the subject. But to anyone with even a modicum of familiarity, it's a disappointment.
First of all, there simply isn't a whole lot of content. The hardcover version is 181 pages, and even that overstates things, as the pages are relatively small and the type large for a hardcover.
Second, Hawking and Mlodinow have spread themselves too thin. The book attempts to cover the history of science, philosophy of science, Newtonian mechanics, relativity, quantum mechanics, and modern attempts at Grand Unified Theory, string theory, multiverse theory, and more. As a result, none of these topics are given more than a cursory treatment. The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics? The significance of the Higgs boson? The criticisms of string theory as untestable? These issues and more are left mostly, if not completely, unaddressed.
Finally, there simply isn't anything new or insightful here. Personally, I learned more about cosmology from a one-hour lecture by Lawrence Krauss (available on YouTube) than from Hawking and Mlodinow. Brian Greene's books are readable yet meaty. I have little more knowledge of physics than that of a typical pop-sci reader, and I simply cannot name one thing I know or understand better after reading this book.