This Book Will Light a Fire!

Reading The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow is a little like reading the grandest fairy tale only it’s real. Your imagination is totally hijacked to find out such things as we are made from the same ingredients as stardust and we contain more atoms within our bodies--so small in relation to our astral cousins--than there are stars in the universe. And it is only by this very specific arrangement of certain events, through a particularly mixed concoction of ingredients, that life such as ours is even possible. And the cosmos doesn’t have a single history but a multiplicity of histories, of possibilities. Within its potentially infinite grasp lie endless, numberless, fantastic capabilities. Okay, so maybe I’m reading my own take into what is actual fact. I don’t even pretend to understand the scope of what is contained in this book. But I loved it, every word. I wrote in the margins and on the end pages. It caught fire inside and raised gooseflesh on my skin! And the peeks of humor were a delight and unexpected, like the effect of champagne bubbles. Who knew physics could make you laugh?

You don’t have to “get” physics to get the gift from this book. There is something in the language that resonates, that automatically ignites the mind and sends it rattling down previously unknown or unseen avenues. It is a mind-opening adventure, a journey in words and ideas, a magical, mystery tour that I can highly recommend.

Comments

Colleen Thompson said…

It's not too often someone makes me want to get out there and read physics! Great review, and it sounds like an amazing book.

7:30 PM

Unknown said…

I love Hawking! Sometimes, he loses me, but I keep forging ahead. I really like Elegant Universe too. All of these things fascinate me.

9:37 PM

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