The Shortest History of Time

The Shortest History of Time is more than a lengthy commentary on the complex concepts and theories described in the legendary A Brief History of Time. Authors Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow, after 17 years, look at the many changes in astrophysics with a new perspective on eternal questions: the nature of space and time, the role of God in the creation of the world, and the past and future of the Universe. Data obtained from astronomical observatories, space telescopes, and physical laboratories have become a solid foundation for theoretical physics, which has been fighting for decades for a coherent, unified field theory that should combine all known types of interactions. Many believe this is string theory, the positions and consequences of which are exhaustively interpreted by Professors Hawking and Mlodinow. Dark matter and dark energy, of which we know only through gravitational effects, and time travel, on which the authors believe it is not yet wise to bet — all of this has been the focus of their attention. The book makes the most complex puzzles and sharp contradictions understandable, as they strive to resolve them at the forefront of the science of the Universe. The edition includes 37 illustrations that complement and enrich the text.