A Brief History of Time
Stephen Hawking wrote this 1988 book to explain modern cosmology to general readers, and it became one of the best-selling science books ever published. He walks through the history of how people have understood the universe, then moves to the Big Bang, the expansion of space, the nature of time, and the strange behavior of black holes. Hawking famously included only one equation, Einstein's E=mc squared, on the theory that each formula would cut his readership in half. He ties the big questions of physics to questions people already wonder about, such as whether the universe had a beginning and whether time can run backward. The book made Hawking a public figure and helped a generation of readers grasp ideas from relativity and quantum mechanics without needing technical training.
What you might want to know about A Brief History of Time
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A physicist explains the origin and structure of the universe, from the Big Bang to black holes, for readers with no math background.
No. Hawking wrote the book for general readers and used almost no math, relying on plain explanations and analogies instead.
It first appeared in 1988 and went on to sell more than ten million copies, with later updated editions adding new findings.
A Brief History of Time was written by Stephen Hawking, published in 1988 by Bantam Books.
A Brief History of Time is 198 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, A Brief History of Time takes most readers 3 to 4 hours to finish.
A Brief History of Time is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
