Stephen Hawking: An Unfettered Mind

by Kitty Ferguson

An up close, captivating portrait of legendary physicist Stephen Hawking

Genres: Biography, Science, Nonfiction, Physics, Biography Memoir, Astronomy, Popular Science

270 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Kitty Ferguson, a former professional musician with a life long interest in science, is an independent scholar and lecturer who lives in Cambridge, England, and South Carolina.

Reviews

[Nazim Suzaly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I literally bought this book without reading any of Stephen's book especially the well renown A Brief History of Time, I bought this book simply out of curiosity what made this dude so famous (sorry for being such a shallow asian lol).

Anyway in general Kitty Ferguson balanced this book on Stephens personal life, findings, theories, and explanation of cosmology and science quite well. I did get lost in some of her explanations on the theories and science but I suppose that was because of my lack of knowledge in advanced science, a price I have to pay for fooling around in science class when I was young haha.

Despite this I have to say Kitty did do a good job in showing how passionate, curious, competitive and focused Stephen is in his quest of finding the Theory of Everything and just theological science. I have to say did book has ignited a dying flame inside of me towards science and now I am more interested in getting Stephen's book to find out more.

To sum things up, I found this book very detailed on Stephen Hawking's life and might be a little draggy in the parts where she tries to explain the theories sometimes.

[Mehdi Agha Lotfi · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب روایی مناسبی داشت، علاوه بر تصویر کشیدن زندگی استیو هاوکینگ، نظریه ها و تئوری ها را بخوبی شرح داد، بگونه ایکه بالاخره تونستم مفهوم سیاهچاله، ابعاد فضایی، و ... را تا حدود زیادی درک کنم و از حالا به بعد وقتی صحبتی از کهکشان بشود، برام قابل فهم و جالب خواهد بود

[marissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought there was a really good balance between Hawking's personal life and the theories that he's come up with throughout it. Until reading this, I had very little knowledge of Hawking in general, but I feel like I have a better understanding of him now. The book doesn't just focus on him - it focuses on his wife, as well, and I thought it to be very honest overall. Hawking wasn't portrayed in an over-the-top manner, but very dignified and appropriately so.

Everything was explained in an easy-to-understand description, which I appreciated, seeing as I'm hardly an expert on the subject of physics. I admit to skimming through them occasionally, but the book itself focused primarily on the person, rather than the sciences, so if you're looking for a thorough explanation of Hawking's works, An Unfettered Mind isn't the best choice. If, however, you're looking for a focus on Hawking himself, and his family, An Unfettered Mind is a great read.

[Anne Aalto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Physics for dummies!

[Болдбаатар Батбаатар · Rating 5 out of 5]

Эхний хэдэн хуудас уншихад их хэцүү санагдсан. Хэлэх гэсэн утгыг нь бүрэн гүйцэд ойлгож чадахгүйгээс өгүүлбэрийг эргэж буцаж хэд дахин унших тохиолдол олон гарч байсан. Бас зарим нэг физикийн нэршил, хэллэгийг бидний заалгаж, сурч дадсан хэллэгээс өөрөөр тайлж бичиж хэрэглэсэн нь тохиромжгүй санагдсан. Гэсэн ч цаашлах тусам улам илүү утга учрыг нь ойлгож, магадгүй би хэзээ ч ойлгохгүй байхдаа гэж бодож байсан ХАР НҮХ, Theory of everything, бүх ертөгцийн таталцал зэрэгийг маш энгийнээр тайлбарлаж өгчээ.
Энэхүү номыг уншиж байх явцад өөрийн эрхгүй Stephen Hawking-ийн бодит амьдралаас сэдэвлэн бүтээсэн "Theory of everything" киног үзэх хүсэл төрсөн. Киногоо үзчихээд буцаад номоо уншихад улам илүү сонирхолтой,бас цаг хугацаа үйл явдлуудыг төсөөлөхөд хялбар болж өгсөн.
Номноос авсан зарим нэг catch copy болон төрсөн сэтгэгдлүүдийг доор бичлээ.
-Өөрийнхөө боловсролын онгорхой цоорхойг яаралтай бөглөж таглах хэрэгтэй.P.110
-Амьд явах гэдэг ямар их үнэ цэнэтэйгээс гадна, тэр хугацаанд яасан их зүйлийг амжуулах ёстойг бүрэн ухаарч байлаа.

сэтгэгдэл: Амь насаа хайрлая. Эрсдэлтэй омог дэврүүн зангаасаа болж амь насаа алдах тэнэг болчимгүй байж болхгүй. Амьд байж эх орныхоо төлөө чадах бүхнээ хийе. Яг л чам шиг.
Одоо харин хоосон мөрөөдөх биш тархиа цэнэглэх хэрэгтэй.

Энэ номонд бас бурхны тухай дурьдагдаж байсан. Тэр хэлхдээ:
-Бид бол 100 мянган сая глактикийн хаа нэгэн хязгаарт орших бага шиг оддын бүрэлдэхүүн болох жижигхэн гараг дээр суурьшин амьдрах өчүүхэн амьтад билээ. Ийм байтал бурхан зөвхөн бидний төлөө сэтгэлээ чилээн, биднийг асран тэтгэдэг гэдэгт итгэхэд бэрх. Харин ч БИДНИЙГ ОРШИН БАЙДАГ ГЭЖ САНАЖ БАЙВАЛ ИХ ЮМ.
Үүнийг хөөрхий эхнэр нь уншаад дотор нь их л бачимдаж байсан байхдаа.

[Gendou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stephen Hawking is fun to read about, he's an interesting fellow.
Though this book is brief on science, it does a good job at covering the broad range of his work.
Don't expect to get a deep understanding of the physics.
For that, read:
The Black Hole War
Black Holes and Time Warps
Black Holes and Baby Universes
The Grand Design

I have to rant about one thing:
Kitty Ferguson repeats a sickening myth that the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster was "deadly".
The TSUNAMI was deadly, killing tens of thousands!
The reactor meltdown was NOT deadly, only 2 workers taken to hospital with radiation burns.
You cannot call that deadly in the shadow of death caused by the Tsunami.

[Joris Raeymaekers · Rating 2 out of 5]

On the whole a fun and well-written book, giving us the insights into the man's personal life which we crave so much, without crossing into gutter journalism territory. As often with such books a lot of time is wasted on questions in the 'who gives a fuck' category, such as 'is there a place for god in current science'. As for the 'scientific' explanations - don't believe any of them :) Reading this book you will come away with a lot of wrong notions: that antimatter anti-gravitates, that the graviton (a spin 2 particle) sees the world returned to normal after a rotation over 180 degrees etc.

[Letande D'Argon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly good and well-written. Scientists would probably find it boring, but for people, who don't know a thing about both Stephen Hawking and his theories, this book is a really good start. It's easy to read, the part about personal life is very interesting (Kitty Ferguson added enough personal info to make the book interesting without going too deep into the dirty laundry), while scientific part is extremely easy to understand. You may call this book "Stephen Hawking for dummies", but since it's surprisingly nicely written, it deserves more than that. So... yeah. This book is for certain kind of people, but it does its job almost perfectly.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reminded me of the reason i received a "D" in the one and only physics class i took in college. Even though this book is written so "average people" can understand physics, well, i don't like to think I'm below average but... However, it was still a very interesting book about a very interesting man. Lots to think about in regards to how the universe began and the possibility of a God and what's God's role may or may not have been.

[Hadrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

An accessible and fascinating biography of the worlds most famous living physicist. Combines charming and tragic anecdotes of his life with lucid and coherent explanations of his work, second perhaps only to his own descriptions.

Here's to Hawking's 70th birthday, and beyond.

[Madeline R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stephen Hawking is one of the brightest minds in terms of space science in our world today. He has motor neuron disease, which leaves him stuck in a wheelchair, barely able to move. But it didn't start that way. He was an capable young man, who liked to mess around. He was often quite lazy, though. He had joined a rowing team as the caller when he started to notice that he was frequently having accidents, like falling on stairs. Stephen was diagnosed with motor neuron disease, which is digressive and for which there still is no known cure. He started thinking more about space, since his condition didn't affect his mind and it seemed interesting. He came up with some of the more well known theories about black holes and the universe's formation. He married a girl named Jane, but they got a divorce after a few decades or so. He later married one of his nurses, Elaine, but they also got a divorce. Stephen's condition worsened, and he was capable of almost no movement or speech, but he continued to study the mysteries of the universe.

Stephen had a lazy personality, but a very intrigue mind. His disability affected the mind only, so he was very glad for that. Because he couldn't do anything that required physical strength and effort, Stephen studied to become mentally strong. His personality changed for this reason. He became more quiet and studious. Lots of people completely underestimated him, giving Stephen an enormous drive to succeed. Ultimately, he really did succeed in a career of space science. This caused everyone to gain a new respect for the man in a wheelchair that looks pretty useless, but came up with a lot of the theories used now.

I liked this book, and would recommend it to anyone looking to learn a lot about one of the most famous scientists of our time. I liked it because it was very well written. All the scientific explanations and diagrams were easy to understand. I knew nothing about that sort of science, and the book made perfect sense to me. Altogether, this was a very good book.

[Pablo Gil Pereira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stephen Hawking is one of the brightest minds of the XX century and this books presents him as a endless source of willpower, being able to overcome the obstacles resulting from his muscular atrophy partly thanks to his stubbornness. This book presents his life from a very close and personal point of view, making easy to empathize with the character.

Main breakthroughs on theoretical physics in the last decades are presented throughout Hawking's life. Graphical examples are displayed to introduce bizarre concepts such as blackholes, multiverses, time travel and wormholes, so that this is also a very good introduction to the mysteries beyond the starts for those who are not familiar with physics.

Personally, I found Hawking's debates on philosophy of science very interesting. Major breakthroughs, such as Einstein's relativity, come from skeptical thinking with regards to preset scientific models. Hawking suggests there might not be a single model explaining the world that surrounds us, so that they should not be considered as an immutable truth. This kind of skeptical thinking is essential in science and this book might inspire young scientists.

[Ben Choi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This biography about Stephen Hawking goes over what drove him to become a physicist and cosmologist. His ALS didn’t stop him from trying to find answers to the questions he’d been asking from the beginning. Where did the universe come from? Why was it created in the first place? Despite being such unexplored fields, Stephen Hawking continued to find answers in quantum mechanics and cosmology. This constant curiosity makes Ferguson’s book interesting to read with its easy to understand analogies for concepts in physics.

[Ralph · Rating 3 out of 5]

As several other reviews state, this is a balance between biography and science. I focused on the biography aspect and, therefore, skipped over much of the science. Still, a good read about an amazing man.

I note that there are two sets of photographs include in the book. However, I have to also note that the two sets are identical. The same 18 photos are shown twice.

[Munhhuslen]

Стивен Хокины тухай мэдлэг мэдээлэл олж авахыг хүссэн хүн бүрийн заавал унших ёстой ном. Магадгүй хүн бүхэн л хэзээ нэгэн цагт дэлхий ертөнц, амьд амьдрал хэрхэн үүссэн талаар бодож үзэж байсан байх. Харин тэр асуултанд хамгийн товч бөгөөд тодорхой хариулт өгч чадсан агуу эрдэмтний амьдрал замнал, гайхалтай түүхүүд маш гүн сэтгэгдэл үлдээлээ.

[marjan makshut · Rating 4 out of 5]

Математик болон физикийн мэргэжлийн хүнд хэллэгүүдийн учрыг тайлж унших гэж "гурийсээр" байгаад бүтэн 2 сар энэ номтой найзаллаа 😅

Зарим хэсгийн ойлгоод, зарим хэсгийн учрыг олохгүй байсаар таарлаа даа, хөөрхий Маржан.

Өөр ертөнц рүү аялаад ирсэн мэт мэдрэмж авлаа.

Орчлон ертөнцийн талаар бага ч гэсэн мэдэж, ойлгож амьдрах юмсан. 😊

[Simone K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kitty Ferguson combines a biography of Stephen Hawking with easy to understand scientific theories he has worked on. This is a brilliant read for someone not only interested in Stephen Hawking's life, but also his mind.

[Geophile · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was interesting but a slow slog. In addition to the biographical information about Hawking, the reader needs to get her mind around Hawking's theories, which are well explained here, but it's still a slow process to absorb them.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everything about him is interesting but we must still await the definitive biography

[Mohamed Gaber · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author tried to define a lot of theories at the beginning which was really boring, so many theories like a physics lecture not a biography

[Marcus Egues · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice to know about the details of his journey. The parts that try to explain the physical theories is not possible to really understand.

[Brij Kishor · Rating 5 out of 5]

H

[Sam Stanley-Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent way to start off my interest in Hawking.

[Nikkie]

Very good & interesting book

[Oyuntsetseg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Мэдэхгүй юм даа. Хүний амьдарлаа гэж… Олон ч юм бодож уншлаа

[Gereltsetseg Otgonpurev · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are the smallest creature in the universe. I just want to say thank you. I love it <3

[Ezequiel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nostálgico, tendría que releerlo.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not going to pretend that I fully comprehend all the physics, but she does a good job of explaining them well and not making their understanding the focus of the book. 3.8 stars ish rounded up.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Giant of our Time

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw "The Theory of Everything," enjoyed it a great deal, and took up again Stephen Hawking's "The Illustrated A Brief History of Time." I'd started it 5 years ago. This time I worked my way through it. getting a lot of what he was saying -- not at a deep level but as a general reader. The particles chapter, sure, I should go over it again, but I got the idea. It seemed he was writing for the ordinary person, and he really cared about people such as me grasping the big picture; not a hint of condescension. He really seems to believe in the value of ordinary folks getting a grasp of the wonders of our multiverse. That's a good teacher.

I picked up Kitty Ferguson's biography next: "Stephen Hawking - An Unfettered Mind." For all the challenges of the motor neuron disease that has paralyzed him for more than four decades, this physicist says: "...In my mind, I am free." What a remarkable thing to be able to say! Yes, he's a rock star in cosmology, and no, as a physicist reviewer said in another GoodReads review, he may not be next to Einstein in his accomplishments. But he has opened up the wonders of black holes, baby universes, and m-theory to many non-physicists. What he is doing is doing physics, following his curiosity, pushing his ideas, not afraid to change his mind and say so, and to share his teachings with millions of people who have bought his books in an airport book store and given them a try.

Kitty Ferguson has done a strong job in making his key ideas clear to the general reader. She sketches a balanced assessment of his work and his value as a popular teacher of cosmology. She examines large philosophical questions of the role of God beyond Hawking's science also in a balanced manner. A very helpful book.