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Stephen Hawking: Genie des Universums
Als Stephen Hawking in den frühen 1960er Jahren mit seiner Forschung begann, war sein Fach, die Kosmologie, eine verschlafene Disziplin. Als er 2018 starb, war sie das wohl aufregendste Forschungsgebiet der Physik, das einen Nobelpreis nach dem anderen einheimste. Und Stephen Hawking galt weithin als der beste Physiker, wenn nicht sogar als der klügste Mensch der Welt. Diese aufregende, zuweilen beunruhigende Biographie zeigt, wie es dazu kam.
In seiner Doktorarbeit von 1965 wies Hawking nach, dass der Urknall, aus dem das Universum entstand, ein unendlich kleiner Punkt sein muss, für den die Gesetze der Physik nicht gelten. Dieses «Singularitätstheorem» beflügelte seine Karriere. Anschließend gelangen ihm spektakuläre Entdeckungen über Schwarze Löcher und die Frühzeit des Universums, die die Kollegen verblüfften. Aufgrund von amyotropher Lateralsklerose begannen seine Kräfte zu schwinden; seit den achtziger Jahren war er vollständig gelähmt und konnte nicht mehr sprechen. Glücklicherweise war er eine internationale Berühmtheit und Autor des Bestsellers Eine kurze Geschichte der Zeit von 1988 geworden; denn nur ein reicher Mann konnte sich die Armee von Betreuern leisten, die es ihm ermöglichten, zu Hause zu leben, zu arbeiten, zu kommunizieren, Kontakte zu pflegen und die Welt zu bereisen. Die Öffentlichkeit und die Medien ignorierten weithin seine Entdeckungen, waren aber besessen von seiner Behinderung, seinem Privatleben und seinen «Äußerungen». Jeder Skandal, wie etwa seine Vorliebe für Swingerclubs, trug zur Legende bei. Der Wissenschaftsjournalist Charles Seife erklärt nicht nur Hawkings komplexe Wissenschaft anschaulicher als dieser selbst, sondern zeichnet auch das verstörende Porträt einer vorsätzlichen Mythenbildung.
In seiner Doktorarbeit von 1965 wies Hawking nach, dass der Urknall, aus dem das Universum entstand, ein unendlich kleiner Punkt sein muss, für den die Gesetze der Physik nicht gelten. Dieses «Singularitätstheorem» beflügelte seine Karriere. Anschließend gelangen ihm spektakuläre Entdeckungen über Schwarze Löcher und die Frühzeit des Universums, die die Kollegen verblüfften. Aufgrund von amyotropher Lateralsklerose begannen seine Kräfte zu schwinden; seit den achtziger Jahren war er vollständig gelähmt und konnte nicht mehr sprechen. Glücklicherweise war er eine internationale Berühmtheit und Autor des Bestsellers Eine kurze Geschichte der Zeit von 1988 geworden; denn nur ein reicher Mann konnte sich die Armee von Betreuern leisten, die es ihm ermöglichten, zu Hause zu leben, zu arbeiten, zu kommunizieren, Kontakte zu pflegen und die Welt zu bereisen. Die Öffentlichkeit und die Medien ignorierten weithin seine Entdeckungen, waren aber besessen von seiner Behinderung, seinem Privatleben und seinen «Äußerungen». Jeder Skandal, wie etwa seine Vorliebe für Swingerclubs, trug zur Legende bei. Der Wissenschaftsjournalist Charles Seife erklärt nicht nur Hawkings komplexe Wissenschaft anschaulicher als dieser selbst, sondern zeichnet auch das verstörende Porträt einer vorsätzlichen Mythenbildung.
661 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 6, 2021
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About the author
Charles Seife
14 books173 followersCHARLES SEIFE is a Professor of Journalism at New York University. Formerly a journalist with Science magazine, has also written for New Scientist, Scientific American, The Economist, Science, Wired UK, The Sciences, and numerous other publications. He is the author of Zero: The Biography Of A Dangerous Idea, which won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction. He holds an M.S. in mathematics from Yale University and his areas of research include probability theory and artificial intelligence. He lives in Washington D.C.
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July 9, 2024
Stephen has never been politically correct.
—Kip Thorne
When my children were young, I missed not being able to play with them physically.
—Stephen Hawking
Finally, I said, “I figured it out, why you have all these pictures of Marilyn Monroe on the wall. Like you, she was a person appreciated for her body and not necessarily her mind.” And he gave me this really crazy look, like, “What the fuck are you saying, Mr. Morris?” He gave me this crazy look, and then finally, there’s a click, and he says, “YES.”
—Filmmaker Errol Morris recalling a chat with Hawking during the making of A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME
تصویری که رسانهها در طول سالیان از دانشمند فقید انگلیسی پرداختهاند چه نسبتی با واقعیت زندگی علمی و شخصی او دارد؟ واقعیت این است که ها-کینگ دانشمند بسیار خوبی بود. اوج کارنامهی علمی او به میانهی دههی هفتاد و فرضیهی تابش ها-کینگ برمیگردد. در دههی هشتاد، او نهتنها روزبهروز کنترلش را بر اعضای بدنش بیشتر از دست میداد، که یک بار تا پای مرگ هم رفت و در نهایت قدرت تکلمش را برای همیشه از دست داد. از آن زمان ها-کینگ دیگر سردمدار هیچ پژوهش یا پروژهی علمی جدیدی نبود؛ دیگر در خط مقدم فیزیک تئوری جای نداشت. او حتی برای خواندن پژوهشهای دیگران و آگاهی از اینکه در دنیای فیزیک چه میگذرد، سخت وابسته به دانشجوها و دستیارانش بود. با اینهمه، ها-کینگ تا پایان عمر اعجابانگیزش یگانه سلبریتی جهان علم و «باهوشترین آدم دنیا» باقی ماند
برویم سروقت کتاب. هر کس اخبار و نوشتههای پیرامون ها-کینگ را در رسانهها دنبال کرده باشد میداند که مشتی از ژورنالیستهای احکام طهارتی* هرازگاهی او را هدف حملههای رقتانگیزشان قرار میدهند. کتاب چارلز سایف اما، بهرغم نگاه انتقادیاش به پرسونای ها-کینگ، یک اثر پژوهشی است که با هرزهنگاریهای احکام طهارتی توفیر زیادی دارد. سایف در کتاب جدیدش پژوهشی غنی از زندگی علمی و شخصی ها-کینگ عرضه کرده. او بسیاری از افسانههایی را که در طول سالها حول و حوش پرسونای ها-کینگ شکل گرفته کنار میزند و واقعیت پنهانشدهی پشتشان را پیش چشم خواننده میآورد. نتیجه، به نظرم، کتابی شده تحسینبرانگیز که خواندنش چشم و گوش دوستداران ها-کینگ را باز میکند
مشکل اصلی من با کتاب این بود که گرفتار تکرار و پرگویی است و باید حجمی کمتر از این میداشت. هرچند بخشی از این مشکل به انتخاب تایملاین روایی کتاب برمیگردد و شاید تا حدی اجتنابناپذیر بوده. توصیفهای علمی هم، اگرچه ماهرانهاند، همیشه دقت کافی را ندارند. یکی از سوالهایم در مورد زندگی شخصی ها-کینگ این است که چرا از سوی ملکه لقب سِر نگرفت. امیدوار بودم این کتاب جوابی به سوالم بدهد یا دستکم حدسی محتاطانه بزند. اما خبری نبود و این هم کمی سرخوردهام کرد
در روایتهای مربوط به ها-کینگ و جین هم گاهی سایف به سمت جین متمایل میشود که توی ذوق میزند. البته گاهی، نه همیشه. ولی جایی که سایف بهراستی به وجههی بیطرفانهاش ضربه زده، مربوط میشود به روایتی دربارهی پاراگرافی از کتاب «تاریخچهی زمان» که در آن ها-کینگ تلویحا پل استاینهارت را متهم کرده بوده به انتحال یک ایدهی علمی. سایف بر اساس گفتههای شاگرد و همکار استاینهارت و اشارهی او به مدرکی که ظاهرا اتهام انتحال را رد میکند، علیه ها-کینگ جبهه گرفته و او را متهم کرده به تهدید موقعیت شغلی استاینهارت. در صورتی که خوانندهی حواسجمع متوجه میشود که مدرک ارائهشده توسط شاگرد استاینهارت بههیچوجه قدرت ردکردن اتهام ها-کینگ را ندارد. پس عقل سلیم حکم میکرد سایف، عوض اینکه عنان از کف بدهد و سریع برضد ها-کینگ موضع بگیرد، احتیاط پیشه کند و بیطرف باقی بماند
ریویو را با نقل ماجرایی از زندگی ها-کینگ جوان پایان میدهم که مقایسهاش با شرایط امروزی حقا عبرتآموز است. موقعی که پزشکان به ها-کینگ جوان، که تازه وارد کمبریج شده بود، خبر میدهند که عمرش به دنیا نیست و دو تا سه سال دیگر چوبخطش پر میشود، فرنک، پدر ها-کینگ که خودش دانشمند موفقی بود، به ملاقات دنیس شاما، استاد راهنمای ها-کینگ، میرود. نیت فرنک این بوده که شاما را در معذوریت بگذارد تا به دلایل انساندوستانه اجازه دهد ها-کینگ زودتر از موعد فارغالتحصیل بشود. شاما زیر بار نادیدهگرفتن قواعد نمیرود. رک و پوستکنده به فرنک جواب میدهد: اگر قرار باشد استیون دکترا بگیرد، باید خودش این کار را بکند و من ارفاقی نخواهم کرد. منتها زمانی که ها-کینگ جنم و استعدادش را نشان داد، شاما همهجوره پای او ایستاد. از جمله وقتی، بعد از تز دکترا، ها-کینگ سخت در تقلای یافتن ایدهی جدیدی برای پژوهشهایش بود و فلوشیپهای دوسالهاش در کمبریج هم تمام شده بودند، شاما پا به میدان گذاشت و یک فلوشیپ ششساله برای شاگرد سابقش دست و پا کرد تا با خیال راحت و فکر آسوده پژوهشهایش را از سر بگیرد. این خلاصهای از جوهر واقعی نهاد آکادمی است پیش از آن که به تسخیر چپهای احکام طهارتی دربیاید. این را بگذارید کنار وضعیت امروز نهادهای آموزشی که در آن معلمی چون ضمایر ادعایی فلان دانشآموز را به کار نبرده، به جرم رنجاندن او و پایمالکردن احساساتش از کار برکنار میشود
*منظورم ژورنالیستهای مقید به احکام طهارت سیاسی یا پلتیکال کرکتنس است
.....
Top image: Stephen Hawking & Sir Roger Penrose.
December 7, 2022
Judging by the title, I half expected this to be some sort of tabloid takedown of Hawking’s legitimacy as a relevant and important cosmologist. I was wrong. If anything, Hawking Hawking is a biographical celebration of one of the most recognizable scientists of the 20th Century.
“…the vast majority of people who admired Hawking knew little about what he had done to deserve his reputation.” (pg 4)
Hawking’s Big Three
1. As a physicist, Hawking’s scientific legacy really began with his PhD thesis. Here he showed that the universe, in Big Bang theorem, had to have been birthed from “an infinitesimal but infinite blemish on the fabric of space and time.” A singularity. A place where all our mathematics go completely to shit.
2. Singularity aside, Hawking thought his biggest cosmological breakthrough came in the form of his quantum-mechanical calculations of universal wave-functions. This was the point in Hawking’s life where physicists cheered and theologians jeered; the point when Hawking took God and his necessity out of the equation. After Hawking successfully conceptualized a starting point for all space and time, “what place, then, for a creator?”
3. Be that as it may, the consensus among his peers is that Hawking’s biggest contribution to science was neither his singularity theorem nor his cosmological wave-functions; his most impactful breakthrough was his discovery of what is now known as “Hawking radiation” - a discovery that upended black hole cosmology and forever changed the applications of both quantum mechanics and Einstein’s relativity.
[spoilers removed]
“Hawking laid the foundations, and one after another his compatriots built an edifice upon them.” ~Kip Thorne, theoretical physicist, 2003
*Science Popularizer: (also known as science ambassadors) any person who attempts to help the public understand how science works, the findings of science, and how science relates to public policy; an interpreter of science for general audiences. Science popularizers may be scientists themselves or they may also be professional science journalists.
With the publication of his book, A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes, Hawking transitioned from relevant scientist to phenomenal celebrity. A transition that was exponentially magnified by Hawking’s degenerative disability, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
It is here, in Hawking’s dichotomy of scientist versus celebrity, where author Charles Seife’s Hawking Hawking sinks its proverbial teeth. Seife draws a stark contrast between public perception and reality. Not since Albert Einstein had anyone captured the world’s collective imagination the way Stephen Hawking did. And, much like Einstein, Hawking’s popularity overshadowed contemporaries of equal (or perhaps even greater) scientific importance.
“To compare Hawking to Newton or Einstein is just nonsense. There is no physicist alive who compares to Einstein or Bohr in ability. But those rather grottily researched little biographies of Galileo and Newton in A Brief History do rather invite you to put Hawking in that same sequence. In a list of the 12 best theoretical physicists this century Steve would be nowhere near.” ~John Barrow, theoretical physicist, 1992
This echoes a recollection Neil deGrasse Tyson, himself an astrophysicist and science popularizer, had of a physics conference in 1991:
“We all agreed that [Stephen Hawking] is a pretty smart guy, and that he is an excellent physicist. But we further agreed that he falls below a dozen other physicists from the twentieth century, most of whom the public has never heard of.” ~NdT (The Sky Is Not the Limit, pg 131)
Wherever one ranks Stephen Hawking on the 20th century’s cosmological scale of relevance, it was not Bohr or de Broglie or Dirac or Eddington or Fermi or Heisenberg or Planck or whomever that brought theoretical physics into the limelight of public consciousness, it was Stephen.
“Have you heard? Have you heard what Stephen has discovered? Everything is different. Everything is changed!” ~Martin Rees, cosmologist and astrophysicist, 1974
“…the vast majority of people who admired Hawking knew little about what he had done to deserve his reputation.” (pg 4)
Hawking’s Big Three
1. As a physicist, Hawking’s scientific legacy really began with his PhD thesis. Here he showed that the universe, in Big Bang theorem, had to have been birthed from “an infinitesimal but infinite blemish on the fabric of space and time.” A singularity. A place where all our mathematics go completely to shit.
2. Singularity aside, Hawking thought his biggest cosmological breakthrough came in the form of his quantum-mechanical calculations of universal wave-functions. This was the point in Hawking’s life where physicists cheered and theologians jeered; the point when Hawking took God and his necessity out of the equation. After Hawking successfully conceptualized a starting point for all space and time, “what place, then, for a creator?”
3. Be that as it may, the consensus among his peers is that Hawking’s biggest contribution to science was neither his singularity theorem nor his cosmological wave-functions; his most impactful breakthrough was his discovery of what is now known as “Hawking radiation” - a discovery that upended black hole cosmology and forever changed the applications of both quantum mechanics and Einstein’s relativity.
[spoilers removed]
“Hawking laid the foundations, and one after another his compatriots built an edifice upon them.” ~Kip Thorne, theoretical physicist, 2003
*Science Popularizer: (also known as science ambassadors) any person who attempts to help the public understand how science works, the findings of science, and how science relates to public policy; an interpreter of science for general audiences. Science popularizers may be scientists themselves or they may also be professional science journalists.
With the publication of his book, A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes, Hawking transitioned from relevant scientist to phenomenal celebrity. A transition that was exponentially magnified by Hawking’s degenerative disability, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
It is here, in Hawking’s dichotomy of scientist versus celebrity, where author Charles Seife’s Hawking Hawking sinks its proverbial teeth. Seife draws a stark contrast between public perception and reality. Not since Albert Einstein had anyone captured the world’s collective imagination the way Stephen Hawking did. And, much like Einstein, Hawking’s popularity overshadowed contemporaries of equal (or perhaps even greater) scientific importance.
“To compare Hawking to Newton or Einstein is just nonsense. There is no physicist alive who compares to Einstein or Bohr in ability. But those rather grottily researched little biographies of Galileo and Newton in A Brief History do rather invite you to put Hawking in that same sequence. In a list of the 12 best theoretical physicists this century Steve would be nowhere near.” ~John Barrow, theoretical physicist, 1992
This echoes a recollection Neil deGrasse Tyson, himself an astrophysicist and science popularizer, had of a physics conference in 1991:
“We all agreed that [Stephen Hawking] is a pretty smart guy, and that he is an excellent physicist. But we further agreed that he falls below a dozen other physicists from the twentieth century, most of whom the public has never heard of.” ~NdT (The Sky Is Not the Limit, pg 131)
Wherever one ranks Stephen Hawking on the 20th century’s cosmological scale of relevance, it was not Bohr or de Broglie or Dirac or Eddington or Fermi or Heisenberg or Planck or whomever that brought theoretical physics into the limelight of public consciousness, it was Stephen.
“Have you heard? Have you heard what Stephen has discovered? Everything is different. Everything is changed!” ~Martin Rees, cosmologist and astrophysicist, 1974
March 25, 2021
First of all , Thank you ! Netgally , for providing this book.
Let me start with this, Steven Hawking is a scientific maverick in physics World. Mind like his comes in to existence once in a century. Being a Physics graduate, I was gravitated towards him from my early days. After reading his Pop-Science books , I became fascinated with his works. Meanwhile in my study I became gradually articulated with mathematical skills. Equipped with that , I started reading his scientific papers and started discussing them with my professors who were actually internationally renowned theoretical physicists . Even with my limited knowledge . I was simply blown away by the sheer brilliance of his ideas.
Few months ago, when I saw this book , I was curious . It says it's supposed to be a big expose on Hawking's life. I have always known Hawking was a bit of attention hungry person. In a world of Kardashians and Instagram or Tic Toc influencers ,his attention seeking attitude was nothing. Then when I started read this book , it started making ridiculous and infuriating assumptions by nit-picking his life stories . Just after 20 pages, it first claims , Hawking has made his life not by his virtues but by performing various media circus, it goes so far to say that projecting himself successfully to media is his actual achievement and trajectory in life. After some times, the author contradicts himself by saying " Hawking wanted to become famous for his physics , not for his personality..."
The whole book is filled with such perplexing notion which was simply ludicrous to me.
Secondly, how do I know the author understands Gravitational cosmology enough to comment on Hawking's (Singularity , Black Hole etc. ) works when he writes sentence like "The Feynman path integral method works in a manifold that has a Euclidian geometry... " . It's not only flawed but incoherent. When he writes about Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity , it becomes evident that he doesn't even understand how length contraction or time dilation works. Any reader from non science background would be completely misled by his opaque and sometimes flawed explanations. I can't even imagine the Author of zero would do such a sloppy work!
So in Conclusion, for me , reading this book was the most unproductive thing I did in this week. If you want some juicy tabloid piece about Hawking, you may read this, if you want a analytical view about Hawking's Work, this book is not for you.
Let me start with this, Steven Hawking is a scientific maverick in physics World. Mind like his comes in to existence once in a century. Being a Physics graduate, I was gravitated towards him from my early days. After reading his Pop-Science books , I became fascinated with his works. Meanwhile in my study I became gradually articulated with mathematical skills. Equipped with that , I started reading his scientific papers and started discussing them with my professors who were actually internationally renowned theoretical physicists . Even with my limited knowledge . I was simply blown away by the sheer brilliance of his ideas.
Few months ago, when I saw this book , I was curious . It says it's supposed to be a big expose on Hawking's life. I have always known Hawking was a bit of attention hungry person. In a world of Kardashians and Instagram or Tic Toc influencers ,his attention seeking attitude was nothing. Then when I started read this book , it started making ridiculous and infuriating assumptions by nit-picking his life stories . Just after 20 pages, it first claims , Hawking has made his life not by his virtues but by performing various media circus, it goes so far to say that projecting himself successfully to media is his actual achievement and trajectory in life. After some times, the author contradicts himself by saying " Hawking wanted to become famous for his physics , not for his personality..."
The whole book is filled with such perplexing notion which was simply ludicrous to me.
Secondly, how do I know the author understands Gravitational cosmology enough to comment on Hawking's (Singularity , Black Hole etc. ) works when he writes sentence like "The Feynman path integral method works in a manifold that has a Euclidian geometry... " . It's not only flawed but incoherent. When he writes about Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity , it becomes evident that he doesn't even understand how length contraction or time dilation works. Any reader from non science background would be completely misled by his opaque and sometimes flawed explanations. I can't even imagine the Author of zero would do such a sloppy work!
So in Conclusion, for me , reading this book was the most unproductive thing I did in this week. If you want some juicy tabloid piece about Hawking, you may read this, if you want a analytical view about Hawking's Work, this book is not for you.
April 6, 2021
I received a free electronic ARC of this biography from Netgalley, Charles Seife, and Perseus Books - Basic Books. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read Hawking Hawking of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work.
This book is filled with myriad facts and events taking place during the lifetime of Steven Hawking. It doesn't, however, include the most important gift Hawking gave to us. There hasn't been a challenge I or my children have faced during our lives that wasn't tackled with the knowledge that success was possible. If Steven Hawking could get out of bed day after day, we can certainly face and overcome a challenge. He was behind the perseverance, our stubborn attempts to complete a job or a goal. He was the reason we could get out of bed, day after day.
To call him simply a 'celebrity scientist' is a gross injustice. He was, to many Americans, an inspiration, as well as a challenge to give it all you have and get it done.
That said, aside from the lack of respect this is a fine collection of Hawkingisms and a mishmash of information about his life that I found quite interesting.
pub date April 21, 2021
Perseus Books - Basic Books
Reviewed on March 30, 2021, at Goodreads and Netgalley. Reviewed on April 6, 2021, at AmazonSmile, BookBub, and Barnes&Noble. Not available for review at Kobo and GooglePlay.
This book is filled with myriad facts and events taking place during the lifetime of Steven Hawking. It doesn't, however, include the most important gift Hawking gave to us. There hasn't been a challenge I or my children have faced during our lives that wasn't tackled with the knowledge that success was possible. If Steven Hawking could get out of bed day after day, we can certainly face and overcome a challenge. He was behind the perseverance, our stubborn attempts to complete a job or a goal. He was the reason we could get out of bed, day after day.
To call him simply a 'celebrity scientist' is a gross injustice. He was, to many Americans, an inspiration, as well as a challenge to give it all you have and get it done.
That said, aside from the lack of respect this is a fine collection of Hawkingisms and a mishmash of information about his life that I found quite interesting.
pub date April 21, 2021
Perseus Books - Basic Books
Reviewed on March 30, 2021, at Goodreads and Netgalley. Reviewed on April 6, 2021, at AmazonSmile, BookBub, and Barnes&Noble. Not available for review at Kobo and GooglePlay.
December 30, 2024
A one-dimensional collection of tabloid-level reporting about Stephen Hawking with a single thing in common: being negative. The author's theory is that Hawking was no genius, using the unattainable standard set by Einstein to measure against - a standard no one else in physics and perhaps all of science since Leonardo (who never published) has ever attained.
Written by a professor of journalism whose last four books were about deception and wishful thinking, the book attempts to debunk a beloved icon while maintaining plausible deniability about lack of respect for its subject — it is, after all, Hawking's fans who are expected to buy this tome.
I simply hated it. The title is single-minded in its negativity, to absurd levels. With Hawking's pursuit of fame the central tenet of the adversarial thesis, one would expect that Hawking's most significant achievements pre-dating it, such as becoming the Lucasian professor (Newton's title at Cambridge) would stand out. It ranks two disjoint paragraphs, how or why he became the Lucasian chair is glossed over in its entirety, receiving less attention in this book than Hawking's association with Richard Branson for the re-launch of Virgin Galactic.
Everything covered is framed with a negative spotlight, and sins of selective coverage are ever-present when no controversy can be attached to an episode — this is not a biography, it is the prosecution's argument, with no charge being made other than being difficult, strong-minded and living a out hard life against all odds. Sorry but not sorry: James Gleick's review of this book for the NY Review is shorter, fairer, and at three pages it delivers what one should know without charging you 380 pages worth of time for it.
Nit-picking a dead man's life stories to make assumptions on the whole is no way to make a fair or convincing argument. Adding one extra star because of the original (and convenient) plot device of narrating the man's life backwards.
Written by a professor of journalism whose last four books were about deception and wishful thinking, the book attempts to debunk a beloved icon while maintaining plausible deniability about lack of respect for its subject — it is, after all, Hawking's fans who are expected to buy this tome.
I simply hated it. The title is single-minded in its negativity, to absurd levels. With Hawking's pursuit of fame the central tenet of the adversarial thesis, one would expect that Hawking's most significant achievements pre-dating it, such as becoming the Lucasian professor (Newton's title at Cambridge) would stand out. It ranks two disjoint paragraphs, how or why he became the Lucasian chair is glossed over in its entirety, receiving less attention in this book than Hawking's association with Richard Branson for the re-launch of Virgin Galactic.
Everything covered is framed with a negative spotlight, and sins of selective coverage are ever-present when no controversy can be attached to an episode — this is not a biography, it is the prosecution's argument, with no charge being made other than being difficult, strong-minded and living a out hard life against all odds. Sorry but not sorry: James Gleick's review of this book for the NY Review is shorter, fairer, and at three pages it delivers what one should know without charging you 380 pages worth of time for it.
Nit-picking a dead man's life stories to make assumptions on the whole is no way to make a fair or convincing argument. Adding one extra star because of the original (and convenient) plot device of narrating the man's life backwards.
May 26, 2021
A biography that purports to talk about Hawking the real man by a friend Charles Seife it’s not a bad biography but still distant because Hawking couldn’t communicate well. Author seems to know most of his scientific work in early days and his first family whom he interviews. His later years is more hazy. I found it pleasant even though I still feel detached from Hawking.
April 29, 2021
Hawking Hawking provides a fascinating and multi-faceted portrayal of one of the legends of our time. As one who grew up in the 90'/00's with a love of STEM, Stephen Hawking seemed like an exiled king, a man of prestige and influence but who was lacking a kingdom to rule. I knew of his contributions to black hole theories decades before I was born, and I had (and read) The Brief History of Time, but beyond that I didn't really know who he was beyond the iconic pictures of him in a wheelchair or soundbites of his 'voice'.
Going into this book, I was a little worried based on the title (with the negative connotations of the word 'hawking') that Selfe would take a more argumentative or hostile perspective in his biography to tear down this icon of science, but as I read further, that did not appear to be the case. While the implied thesis of the title (the highly likely self-celebritization of Hawking) does certainly factor throughout the book, I thought Selfe did an admirable job giving Hawking and everyone who featured in the book a fair shake, even providing multiple accounts at times where differing perspectives yielded different recollections of history. I am particularly impressed given the author's note at the end regarding the difficulty there exists to glean any personal history of the author from archived sources as the book as a whole felt very solidly researched and substantiated. In addition to covering Hawking the person, Selfe proves himself a good communicator of science, managing to take the rather mindbending content of Hawking and others' works (fundamental physics, black holes, LIGO, etc.) and break it down into easy to digest pieces that I expect would make this heady science understandable by most who may pick up this book. Contentwise, I would give this book a full 5-stars.
Where the book was a bit lacking for me was the structure. While I do give props to Selfe for taking a risk and structuring the book itself in homage to Hawking's reversal of the arrow of time hypothesis by starting at the end of Hawking's life and moving backwards in time, this led to particular problems in the later half of the book as the human brain does not think/process backwards as well, something Selfe accounts for in his writing. The two biggest problems I noted that emerged from this conflict were repetition and confusion of the material. If one wants to describe an event "C" in a person's life, one may have to explain earlier related events "B" and perhaps "A" for proper context. When written chronologically, there is no problem. However, in this book, you would read ABC, then AB, then A, Additionally, if ABC is the evolution of a scientific theory, it can become rather confusing when one emerges from the book which theories were proven right or wrong as information is lost as you work backwards. Because of both of these problems, the second half of the book drags at times and proves a frustrating read at others despite the good and interesting information provided in each chapter. Every chapter by itself was very well written, but as a whole, I do think the book suffers, requiring a much greater page count (due to the repetition) and readers' energy as they untangle the 'new' old developments from the recent new developments in both science and personal relationships. In the end, I think he could have both paid tribute and written a better book by writing the book normally then having it printed backwards, even if I had to hold a mirror to the book to read it all the while.
Overall, I found this an excellent read full of interesting anecdotes that humanizes a mythological figure though the structure may prove frustrating to some. I do expect that having read this work, I will be reading other books by Selfe in the near future. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Going into this book, I was a little worried based on the title (with the negative connotations of the word 'hawking') that Selfe would take a more argumentative or hostile perspective in his biography to tear down this icon of science, but as I read further, that did not appear to be the case. While the implied thesis of the title (the highly likely self-celebritization of Hawking) does certainly factor throughout the book, I thought Selfe did an admirable job giving Hawking and everyone who featured in the book a fair shake, even providing multiple accounts at times where differing perspectives yielded different recollections of history. I am particularly impressed given the author's note at the end regarding the difficulty there exists to glean any personal history of the author from archived sources as the book as a whole felt very solidly researched and substantiated. In addition to covering Hawking the person, Selfe proves himself a good communicator of science, managing to take the rather mindbending content of Hawking and others' works (fundamental physics, black holes, LIGO, etc.) and break it down into easy to digest pieces that I expect would make this heady science understandable by most who may pick up this book. Contentwise, I would give this book a full 5-stars.
Where the book was a bit lacking for me was the structure. While I do give props to Selfe for taking a risk and structuring the book itself in homage to Hawking's reversal of the arrow of time hypothesis by starting at the end of Hawking's life and moving backwards in time, this led to particular problems in the later half of the book as the human brain does not think/process backwards as well, something Selfe accounts for in his writing. The two biggest problems I noted that emerged from this conflict were repetition and confusion of the material. If one wants to describe an event "C" in a person's life, one may have to explain earlier related events "B" and perhaps "A" for proper context. When written chronologically, there is no problem. However, in this book, you would read ABC, then AB, then A, Additionally, if ABC is the evolution of a scientific theory, it can become rather confusing when one emerges from the book which theories were proven right or wrong as information is lost as you work backwards. Because of both of these problems, the second half of the book drags at times and proves a frustrating read at others despite the good and interesting information provided in each chapter. Every chapter by itself was very well written, but as a whole, I do think the book suffers, requiring a much greater page count (due to the repetition) and readers' energy as they untangle the 'new' old developments from the recent new developments in both science and personal relationships. In the end, I think he could have both paid tribute and written a better book by writing the book normally then having it printed backwards, even if I had to hold a mirror to the book to read it all the while.
Overall, I found this an excellent read full of interesting anecdotes that humanizes a mythological figure though the structure may prove frustrating to some. I do expect that having read this work, I will be reading other books by Selfe in the near future. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
April 19, 2022
Stephen Hawking was more than his public image. It is wrong to think he was a genius: after all, he didn't even get the Nobel prize. These appear to be the premises of this book.
As a reader, I feel heavily undermined by the premise that I don't understand that public image isn't the whole person. Of course people have sides we don't know about - even the ones we live with.
And so what if he did not get the Nobel? Most scientists don't even if they do genius work. Science is about curiosity, trying, failing, trying again, discussing, arguing and testing. It is clear, even according to this book, that not many scientists are able to talk about science in an understandable and interesting way. That's what Hawking was: an interesting science lecturer, a charismatic speaker everyone wanted to hear. It seems many envy him for that extraordinary talent.
As a disabled person and disability activist I find this book very disturbing. It promises to tell what Hawking was really like - and everything seems to come down to his disability, even things that have nothing to do with it. And the way disability presented is as fresh as mould. Seife keeps reminding how helpless and unable to speak Hawking was. Needing assistance does not make a person helpless if they have assistance. Independency is all about making decisions, and that Hawking certainly did - even to the point of being called stubborn in a bad way (I think being stubborn is quite essential for a disabled person, nothing wrong with that). Also: assistive devices like wheelchair and speech simulating computer make things possible instead of being traps people are imprisoned in. For Hawking, the other option would have been to stay in bed and remain silent.
The structure of the book is unusual. It goes from the end of Hawking's life to its beginning - yet there is a conclusion in the end. The order makes the book more difficult to follow, unfortunately.
I didn't get the idea of this book. What's the point, besides disgracing an intellectual, brave and deeply human person?
As a reader, I feel heavily undermined by the premise that I don't understand that public image isn't the whole person. Of course people have sides we don't know about - even the ones we live with.
And so what if he did not get the Nobel? Most scientists don't even if they do genius work. Science is about curiosity, trying, failing, trying again, discussing, arguing and testing. It is clear, even according to this book, that not many scientists are able to talk about science in an understandable and interesting way. That's what Hawking was: an interesting science lecturer, a charismatic speaker everyone wanted to hear. It seems many envy him for that extraordinary talent.
As a disabled person and disability activist I find this book very disturbing. It promises to tell what Hawking was really like - and everything seems to come down to his disability, even things that have nothing to do with it. And the way disability presented is as fresh as mould. Seife keeps reminding how helpless and unable to speak Hawking was. Needing assistance does not make a person helpless if they have assistance. Independency is all about making decisions, and that Hawking certainly did - even to the point of being called stubborn in a bad way (I think being stubborn is quite essential for a disabled person, nothing wrong with that). Also: assistive devices like wheelchair and speech simulating computer make things possible instead of being traps people are imprisoned in. For Hawking, the other option would have been to stay in bed and remain silent.
The structure of the book is unusual. It goes from the end of Hawking's life to its beginning - yet there is a conclusion in the end. The order makes the book more difficult to follow, unfortunately.
I didn't get the idea of this book. What's the point, besides disgracing an intellectual, brave and deeply human person?
July 25, 2021
The basic premise of the book can be put simply as follows:
Hawking was throughout his career a very good theoretical physicist, and wrote a number of great papers. There are also many other very good theoretical physicists and scientists who have written a number of great papers. Hawking was the biggest scientific celebrity since Einstein, and all those other scientists (with a few exceptions) aren't even in the ballpark - as a small example, just consider Hawking as compared to the other three Lucasian Professors of Mathematics since Paul Dirac.
I think that much ought to be uncontroversially true, although some other reviewers here seem to find something disagreeable in it. Murkier waters surround the question of why Hawking was so uniquely famous, and what the nature of his fame was; it is, at the least, different than the nature of Einstein's fame. Some of the answers, including his singular life story, his bestselling book, and the popular curiosity around the themes of his research, are obvious to everyone. But those answers plainly aren't able to account for Hawking's reputation as the scientific genius of the last fifty years, much less as the #1 Biggest Brained Person on the planet.
There are several deeper components at play, from Hawking's intellectual elitism (and, on some specific fronts, intellectual laziness) to the extreme cost of his medical needs, which forced him to look for extra money wherever he could (hence the first "Hawking" of the book title). I learned that many of Hawking's books, including his surprisingly bad compendiums like "God Created the Integers" and "On the Shoulders of Giants," can be explained in this way; Hawking himself did little of the writing, with much of the content having been copied or recycled from elsewhere. Seife's account of this is clearly fact based and not tabloid fodder like some other reviewers have suggested.
One of Hawking's most important collaborators at the end of his career summed up a part of it by saying “Stephen wasn’t afraid of simplifying our work to get to the essence of it and to convey the excitement, but sometimes he said some things that were, you know, 'We’ve solved the black hole [problem].'” It would be interesting to view this directly as a striking case study of both not-uncommon academic attitudes and of how the vulgarity of extreme health care costs (and maybe even more broadly of capitalism) only breeds further vulgarity even in seemingly remote ways -- but the book's aims are modest and focused entirely around Hawking.
Hawking was throughout his career a very good theoretical physicist, and wrote a number of great papers. There are also many other very good theoretical physicists and scientists who have written a number of great papers. Hawking was the biggest scientific celebrity since Einstein, and all those other scientists (with a few exceptions) aren't even in the ballpark - as a small example, just consider Hawking as compared to the other three Lucasian Professors of Mathematics since Paul Dirac.
I think that much ought to be uncontroversially true, although some other reviewers here seem to find something disagreeable in it. Murkier waters surround the question of why Hawking was so uniquely famous, and what the nature of his fame was; it is, at the least, different than the nature of Einstein's fame. Some of the answers, including his singular life story, his bestselling book, and the popular curiosity around the themes of his research, are obvious to everyone. But those answers plainly aren't able to account for Hawking's reputation as the scientific genius of the last fifty years, much less as the #1 Biggest Brained Person on the planet.
There are several deeper components at play, from Hawking's intellectual elitism (and, on some specific fronts, intellectual laziness) to the extreme cost of his medical needs, which forced him to look for extra money wherever he could (hence the first "Hawking" of the book title). I learned that many of Hawking's books, including his surprisingly bad compendiums like "God Created the Integers" and "On the Shoulders of Giants," can be explained in this way; Hawking himself did little of the writing, with much of the content having been copied or recycled from elsewhere. Seife's account of this is clearly fact based and not tabloid fodder like some other reviewers have suggested.
One of Hawking's most important collaborators at the end of his career summed up a part of it by saying “Stephen wasn’t afraid of simplifying our work to get to the essence of it and to convey the excitement, but sometimes he said some things that were, you know, 'We’ve solved the black hole [problem].'” It would be interesting to view this directly as a striking case study of both not-uncommon academic attitudes and of how the vulgarity of extreme health care costs (and maybe even more broadly of capitalism) only breeds further vulgarity even in seemingly remote ways -- but the book's aims are modest and focused entirely around Hawking.
April 19, 2021
The author is obviously jealous of hawking. Hawking was a genius and should be seen in that light. I did not appreciate how Seife ripped apart Hawking.
February 23, 2022
An excellent biography of Stephen Hawking. The author cleverly uses a reverse chronology, starting from his death and working backwards with each chapter covering periods of about five years. It mixes his personal life with his professional life, showing how one affected the other through the years. The exposition of the physics surrounding Hawking's work from relativity to quantum mechanics to black holes is done extremely well. The author shows that after age 40, with his best work behind him, it made him become a science communicator, a high priest of science, a metaphor for pure rationality, which he embraced to earn enough money to afford the round the clock care that he needed to stay alive. The penultimate chapter of his youth is a collection of short vignettes, beautifully written, with a poetic quality.
March 29, 2021
I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I would have said that I knew a decent amount about Hawking before I read this but after reading it, it's clear to me that all I knew was the crafted public image. It was beyond interesting to see the ways in which the "real" man was either actively hidden or buried away. A bit of the science was slightly dense but Seife seemed to do the best job he could in conveying it in a way for any layman to better understand. It was an objective look at a man who was both hated and loved and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
December 31, 2021
This is a rather disappointing bio of Hawking by Charles Seife. Some of the details of Hawking's personal life were known, although they were rarely publicized. Hawking's books were popular in large part because of who he was, rather than their subject matter. So it was important that the Hawking persona was carefully managed and nurtured. The details of Hawking's personal life are not that salacious: he visited a sex club in a wheelchair one time, he had an affair with his nurse (but his wife also had a lover), he overworked his PhD students, he had an academic wrangle with a colleague. Seife tries hard to collect these tidbits and make of them into something more than what they were: a brilliant scientist who has an imperfect human being. Unfortunately, the parts of the book not dealing with Hawking's personal life are not that insightful either. So, in the end, there is not much in the book that contributes to our understanding of Hawking either as a man or a scientist.
December 31, 2021
Whew, there is a fair amount of physics in this biography, and that is not an easy read for this reader. I don't know that I really understand singularities and event horizon, but here I am. Physics is a gas, man (no, its not).
This book is presented in reverse chronological order, I suppose a nod to the unfolding of the universe and spacetime; far more is described in the 1980's and onward, compared to Hawking's early life. Hawkings was a celebrity scientist, an image he cultivated and enjoyed, lest it not take away from his talents and gifts in mathematics and serious physics.
This book is presented in reverse chronological order, I suppose a nod to the unfolding of the universe and spacetime; far more is described in the 1980's and onward, compared to Hawking's early life. Hawkings was a celebrity scientist, an image he cultivated and enjoyed, lest it not take away from his talents and gifts in mathematics and serious physics.
March 26, 2021
Given that the subtitle of this book is "The Selling of a Scientific Celebrity," I expected that to be the focus of this book. In fact, that's just a small portion of it. This is a long, thorough biography covering Hawking's life and work. It's a fascinating tale, honest and compassionate, which leaves the reader with a fuller understanding of Hawking's science and his humanity. I highly recommend it.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.
August 8, 2021
I just did not enjoy this book. So much so that I abandoned it at about the 3/4 mark.
The investment of time was just not worth the quality of the information.
Was Hawking flawed?
Aren't we all.
This did seem to me to be a book about revealing the extent of the commercialization as it was a mud flinging match. The problem with that is the recipient is dead and unable to defend his reputation.
The investment of time was just not worth the quality of the information.
Was Hawking flawed?
Aren't we all.
This did seem to me to be a book about revealing the extent of the commercialization as it was a mud flinging match. The problem with that is the recipient is dead and unable to defend his reputation.
June 1, 2022
Great detail on Hawking's life. The author went into a lot of Hawking's work in physics - the singularity theorems with Roger Penrose, area theorem, Hawking radiation, no-boundary proposal - and tried to do so in a way that conveyed the ideas to a layperson. I think he was moderately successful at this.
He was quite successful at conveying Hawking's relationships with his wives (Jane and Elaine) and his (lack of) relationships with his children. Mostly he was extremely successful in demonstrating how Hawking, despite not having contributed in any meaningful way to physics during the final 35 years of his life, was a larger-than-life celebrity. "A Brief History of Time" made Hawking a superstar, one that never really dimmed until he passed away in 2018.
That said, I think the book suffers greatly from the author's choice to cover Hawking's life in reverse: it starts with his death in 2018 and the celebrities at his funeral in Westminster Abbey. It notes how he is buried just feet away from Isaac Newton, in comparison to whom Hawking is mentioned throughout the book - not that Seife or anyone, including Hawking, believed Hawking was anywhere close to Isaac Newton, but the comparisons were made by the media incessantly.
Back to my point: the book starts in 2018 and works its way back in stages, approximately 5-7 years at a time where there something different going on in Hawking's life. I guess the author's intent was to hearken back to Hawking's Ph.D. thesis where he realized that the Big Bang was, in a sense, a black hole in reverse (in a loose mathematical sense - the author goes into more detail). Whatever the reason, I don't think it works. I thought it was annoying that Seife referred to things like Hawking radiation in 2018 (the equation for which is inscribed on Hawking's tombstone) and you don't actually learn what it is until the final chapters because Hawking discovered the equation in 1974. I think the book would have been much better had it been done in chronological order. There is a reason why biographies are written in chronological order - because it makes sense to view things later as a result of things earlier - and the author's attempt at trying a new approach doesn't quite work.
That said, it's hard to imagine a more honest - positive and negative - view into Hawking's fascinating life.
He was quite successful at conveying Hawking's relationships with his wives (Jane and Elaine) and his (lack of) relationships with his children. Mostly he was extremely successful in demonstrating how Hawking, despite not having contributed in any meaningful way to physics during the final 35 years of his life, was a larger-than-life celebrity. "A Brief History of Time" made Hawking a superstar, one that never really dimmed until he passed away in 2018.
That said, I think the book suffers greatly from the author's choice to cover Hawking's life in reverse: it starts with his death in 2018 and the celebrities at his funeral in Westminster Abbey. It notes how he is buried just feet away from Isaac Newton, in comparison to whom Hawking is mentioned throughout the book - not that Seife or anyone, including Hawking, believed Hawking was anywhere close to Isaac Newton, but the comparisons were made by the media incessantly.
Back to my point: the book starts in 2018 and works its way back in stages, approximately 5-7 years at a time where there something different going on in Hawking's life. I guess the author's intent was to hearken back to Hawking's Ph.D. thesis where he realized that the Big Bang was, in a sense, a black hole in reverse (in a loose mathematical sense - the author goes into more detail). Whatever the reason, I don't think it works. I thought it was annoying that Seife referred to things like Hawking radiation in 2018 (the equation for which is inscribed on Hawking's tombstone) and you don't actually learn what it is until the final chapters because Hawking discovered the equation in 1974. I think the book would have been much better had it been done in chronological order. There is a reason why biographies are written in chronological order - because it makes sense to view things later as a result of things earlier - and the author's attempt at trying a new approach doesn't quite work.
That said, it's hard to imagine a more honest - positive and negative - view into Hawking's fascinating life.
February 9, 2023
7 Σεπτεμβρίου 1998. Ο Χόκινγκ προσκεκλημένος από το πανεπιστήμιο Κρήτης, έδωσε στο αμφιθέατρο της Ιατρικής Σχολής μια εμβληματική ομιλία που άφησε εποχή. Φοιτήτρια εγώ ακόμα μόλις το έμαθα φυσικά πέταξα τη σκούφια μου έβαλα τα καλά μου και βρέθηκα και εγώ ανάμεσα σε τόσους και τόσους φοιτητές για να τον ακούσουμε. Ήταν πάντα ένας από τους ήρωές μου, από τους ανθρώπους που θαύμαζα, όχι μόνο για το επιστημονικό του μεγαλείο, αλλά πολύ μου άρεσε αυτό επιστημονικό μούτρο που κοίταγε περιπαιχτικά όσους τον περίμεναν να μας αφήσει κάποιες δεκαετίες πριν, αυτό το ανήσυχο πνεύμα που δεν άφηνε τις δυσκολίες που του δημιουργούσε η ασθένειά του να τον κρατήσουν στην άκρη. Με διάγνωση για ALS από τα 20 και με προσδόκιμο ζωής λίγων χρόνων, είχε καταφέρει να ανατρέψει πολλά! Πολλές θεωρίες νέες, πολλές ανατρεπτικές ιδέες τις ξεκίνησε ο ίδιος, αρκετές φορές μέσα από πλάκα και επιστημονικά στοιχήματα, είχε γίνει viral στο πανεπιστημιακό campus όπου εργαζόταν ως ο αιώνιος έφηβος, το όνομα του ήταν πλέον trade mark και απέφερε μεγάλα ποσά χρηματοδοτήσεων όπου χρησιμοποιούνταν και επιπλέον είχαν περάσει 50 χρόνια πάνω από το όριο ζωής που του είχαν δώσει. Μέσα σε όλα αυτά δεν έχασε ποτέ το χιούμορ του (ήταν πάντα κάτι που τον χαρακτήριζε) ούτε την όρεξη για ζωή. Όταν του έδιναν συγχαρητήρια για το θάρρος του και τη δύναμή του να συνεχίζει, εκείνος τα απέρριπτε λέγοντας «Δεν μου αξίζουν συγχαρητήρια. Δεν είναι ότι έχω επιλογή και επέλεξα τον δύσκολο δρόμο»
Όταν λοιπόν έλαβα αυτό το βιβλίο καταλαβαίνετε πως η χαρά μου ήταν μεγάλη!!!
Σε αυτή την αντίστροφης χρονολογικής σειράς βιογραφία, ο Charles Seife ξεκινά από το τέλος, τον ιδιοφυή επιστήμονα Χόκινγκ για να καταλήξει στα πρώτα χρόνια, στον Στίβεν, στον άνθρωπο που έχτισε τον μύθο και που ξετύλιξε τα βαθύτερα μυστήρια του σύμπαντος.
Αρκετές είναι οι επιστημονικές αναφορές και τεχνικές αναλύσεις του έργου του και αν δεν είσαστε σχετικά εξοικειωμένοι με τέτοιου είδους αναγνώσματα ίσως σας δυσκολέψει. Αρκετές είναι και οι λεπτομέρειες για τη ζωή του, που ίσως να μην γνωρίζετε. Πολλές οι όψεις του Χόκινγκ που παρουσιάζονται μέσα στο βιβλίο: ως διακεκριμένου επιστήμονα, ως φυσικού, ως σελέμπριτι, ως σόουμαν, ως σύζυγος, ως πατέρας, ως άνθρωπος.
Προσωπικά το λάτρεψα!
Όταν λοιπόν έλαβα αυτό το βιβλίο καταλαβαίνετε πως η χαρά μου ήταν μεγάλη!!!
Σε αυτή την αντίστροφης χρονολογικής σειράς βιογραφία, ο Charles Seife ξεκινά από το τέλος, τον ιδιοφυή επιστήμονα Χόκινγκ για να καταλήξει στα πρώτα χρόνια, στον Στίβεν, στον άνθρωπο που έχτισε τον μύθο και που ξετύλιξε τα βαθύτερα μυστήρια του σύμπαντος.
Αρκετές είναι οι επιστημονικές αναφορές και τεχνικές αναλύσεις του έργου του και αν δεν είσαστε σχετικά εξοικειωμένοι με τέτοιου είδους αναγνώσματα ίσως σας δυσκολέψει. Αρκετές είναι και οι λεπτομέρειες για τη ζωή του, που ίσως να μην γνωρίζετε. Πολλές οι όψεις του Χόκινγκ που παρουσιάζονται μέσα στο βιβλίο: ως διακεκριμένου επιστήμονα, ως φυσικού, ως σελέμπριτι, ως σόουμαν, ως σύζυγος, ως πατέρας, ως άνθρωπος.
Προσωπικά το λάτρεψα!
August 8, 2022
Celebryta i naukowiec
Stephen Hawking jest jedną z najbardziej rozpoznawalnych osób świata nauki. Trudno nie zauważyć jego celebryckich zapędów i chociaż celebryci najczęściej są znani tylko z tego, że są znani, Hawkinga wyróżniają osiągnięcia naukowe, a przede wszystkim popularyzacja astrofizyki.
Stephen Hawking przez większość swojego życia zmagał się z nieuleczalną chorobą, zostając przy tym dla wielu symbolem niezłomności w walce o normalne życie. Chociaż stwardnienie zanikowe boczne całkowicie odebrało mu sprawność fizyczną, zdolność poruszania się, mówienia, Hawking przez kilkadziesiąt lat prowadził pracę naukową, dawał liczne wykłady, publikował oraz prowadził życie rodzinne.
Jest grono naukowców krytykujących osiągnięcia Hawkinga i umniejszających jego wkład w rozwój astrofizyki. Z biografii Charlesa Seifego faktycznie wyłania się obraz najbardziej rozpoznawalnego fizyka, ale niekoniecznie najwybitniejszego. Hawking był symbolem uporu i wytrwałości, człowiekiem przybliżającym zwykłym śmiertelnikom tajemnice wszechświata, ale czy naukowcem na miarę Einsteina?
Charles Seife największy nacisk kładzie na publikacje naukowe Hawkinga i to one stanowią oś opowieści. Nie brakuje oczywiście opisów skomplikowanego życia rodzinnego, dominującej roli choroby w życiu naukowca oraz skandali – lecz w ostatnim przypadku trzeba przyznać, że autor naprawdę starał się pisać z wyczuciem, raczej wspominając afery z udziałem Hawkinga, zamiast plotkarskiego pastwienia się nad bohaterem.
"Hawking, Hawking" to naprawdę fascynująca lektura o fascynującym człowieku, nawet jeśli momentami przerasta mnie na poziomie intelektualnym teoriami o czarnych dziurach, czasie i przestrzeni. Odniosłam wrażenie, że autor nie do końca potrafi odsiać informacje, które faktycznie powinny znaleźć się w biografii naukowca od tych, które dla czytelnika nieobytego w temacie będą przytłaczające. Nie zmienia to jednak faktu, że Seife naprawdę przybliża postać Hawkinga, tłumaczy jego fenomen oraz fascynację z którą budził.
Stephen Hawking jest jedną z najbardziej rozpoznawalnych osób świata nauki. Trudno nie zauważyć jego celebryckich zapędów i chociaż celebryci najczęściej są znani tylko z tego, że są znani, Hawkinga wyróżniają osiągnięcia naukowe, a przede wszystkim popularyzacja astrofizyki.
Stephen Hawking przez większość swojego życia zmagał się z nieuleczalną chorobą, zostając przy tym dla wielu symbolem niezłomności w walce o normalne życie. Chociaż stwardnienie zanikowe boczne całkowicie odebrało mu sprawność fizyczną, zdolność poruszania się, mówienia, Hawking przez kilkadziesiąt lat prowadził pracę naukową, dawał liczne wykłady, publikował oraz prowadził życie rodzinne.
Jest grono naukowców krytykujących osiągnięcia Hawkinga i umniejszających jego wkład w rozwój astrofizyki. Z biografii Charlesa Seifego faktycznie wyłania się obraz najbardziej rozpoznawalnego fizyka, ale niekoniecznie najwybitniejszego. Hawking był symbolem uporu i wytrwałości, człowiekiem przybliżającym zwykłym śmiertelnikom tajemnice wszechświata, ale czy naukowcem na miarę Einsteina?
Charles Seife największy nacisk kładzie na publikacje naukowe Hawkinga i to one stanowią oś opowieści. Nie brakuje oczywiście opisów skomplikowanego życia rodzinnego, dominującej roli choroby w życiu naukowca oraz skandali – lecz w ostatnim przypadku trzeba przyznać, że autor naprawdę starał się pisać z wyczuciem, raczej wspominając afery z udziałem Hawkinga, zamiast plotkarskiego pastwienia się nad bohaterem.
"Hawking, Hawking" to naprawdę fascynująca lektura o fascynującym człowieku, nawet jeśli momentami przerasta mnie na poziomie intelektualnym teoriami o czarnych dziurach, czasie i przestrzeni. Odniosłam wrażenie, że autor nie do końca potrafi odsiać informacje, które faktycznie powinny znaleźć się w biografii naukowca od tych, które dla czytelnika nieobytego w temacie będą przytłaczające. Nie zmienia to jednak faktu, że Seife naprawdę przybliża postać Hawkinga, tłumaczy jego fenomen oraz fascynację z którą budził.
September 6, 2022
My friend recommended this to me by saying, "It's not technical at all! It's almost more of a publishing story than it is about physics..." & lemme tell you, my friend lied. Not coincidentally: my friend is a physicist. I think he really believed it when he said it.
This is not an easy read. It's pretty fascinating, and the central premise is accessible: that Stephen Hawking existed both as a man and as a cultural icon, and that the two were quite different. The book's reverse chronology is a brilliant way of illustrating this point. It starts at the end, when the icon has completely eclipsed the man. For the reader, it's familiar. You pick up the book and start reading about the Stephen Hawking you know.
Chapter by chapter, Seife chips away at that iconic image & reveals the man beneath. And all the while, Hawking himself becomes more active, more capable of expressing himself, capable of crafting the persona that ultimately eclipsed his science, and capable of doing the science that sparked his rise to fame.
Seife is not sparing of Hawking's flaws, but he is empathetic toward them. He does a really good job of showing how Hawking used others, but could be used in turn; how Hawking's narcissism both made his personal life difficult & made his career possible. It's a complex portrait, not a character assassination or a hagiography.
I enjoyed a LOT about this book. It's well-written, with a unique structure that utterly justifies itself, and compelling subject matter. But I finished it having read a whole lot about astrophysics and understanding very, very little more than when I started. If I had more background in the subject, it would have been an entirely different book.
This is not an easy read. It's pretty fascinating, and the central premise is accessible: that Stephen Hawking existed both as a man and as a cultural icon, and that the two were quite different. The book's reverse chronology is a brilliant way of illustrating this point. It starts at the end, when the icon has completely eclipsed the man. For the reader, it's familiar. You pick up the book and start reading about the Stephen Hawking you know.
Chapter by chapter, Seife chips away at that iconic image & reveals the man beneath. And all the while, Hawking himself becomes more active, more capable of expressing himself, capable of crafting the persona that ultimately eclipsed his science, and capable of doing the science that sparked his rise to fame.
Seife is not sparing of Hawking's flaws, but he is empathetic toward them. He does a really good job of showing how Hawking used others, but could be used in turn; how Hawking's narcissism both made his personal life difficult & made his career possible. It's a complex portrait, not a character assassination or a hagiography.
I enjoyed a LOT about this book. It's well-written, with a unique structure that utterly justifies itself, and compelling subject matter. But I finished it having read a whole lot about astrophysics and understanding very, very little more than when I started. If I had more background in the subject, it would have been an entirely different book.
March 27, 2021
I received this book as an advance copy. Thank you
I enjoyed this book and find Stephen Hawking a fascinating person. I will be quite honest though, there were many sections that I had to skim over simply because I don't have enough science background to truly appreciate some sections in the book. For example: Here is one paragraph, "The geometric properties of Einsteinian, Lorentzian spacetime are very different from those of the ordinary, Euclidean space that we're used to. The formula to measure distance in spacetime (which I can't copy since my computer doesn't have the right keys) has a minus sign next to the time coordinate, t, and this means that the manifold of spacetime behaves in a way that defies ordinary geometric expectations. This sign difference forces a departure from the ordinary, Euclidean geometry that we're used to; spacetime is not a manifold whose geometry is Euclidean, but Lorentzian instead." Gulp, I was a liberal arts major way back when, and basic geometry was an issue for me, never mind Euclidean or Lorentzian!
In fairness, there is an equal mix about his personal life and his professional life. The personal aspects I found very interesting.
This book was also written in a very interesting way. It started at the end of his life and worked back. I decided I might have more luck understanding some of the science if I started when he was young and followed as he learned more, so I read the book backwards. Admitting my ignorance, he probably outpaced my understanding of math and science shortly after toddlerhood, haha.
Nonetheless, I did enjoy it.
I enjoyed this book and find Stephen Hawking a fascinating person. I will be quite honest though, there were many sections that I had to skim over simply because I don't have enough science background to truly appreciate some sections in the book. For example: Here is one paragraph, "The geometric properties of Einsteinian, Lorentzian spacetime are very different from those of the ordinary, Euclidean space that we're used to. The formula to measure distance in spacetime (which I can't copy since my computer doesn't have the right keys) has a minus sign next to the time coordinate, t, and this means that the manifold of spacetime behaves in a way that defies ordinary geometric expectations. This sign difference forces a departure from the ordinary, Euclidean geometry that we're used to; spacetime is not a manifold whose geometry is Euclidean, but Lorentzian instead." Gulp, I was a liberal arts major way back when, and basic geometry was an issue for me, never mind Euclidean or Lorentzian!
In fairness, there is an equal mix about his personal life and his professional life. The personal aspects I found very interesting.
This book was also written in a very interesting way. It started at the end of his life and worked back. I decided I might have more luck understanding some of the science if I started when he was young and followed as he learned more, so I read the book backwards. Admitting my ignorance, he probably outpaced my understanding of math and science shortly after toddlerhood, haha.
Nonetheless, I did enjoy it.
November 20, 2024
As someone deeply intrigued by cosmology and the mysteries of the universe, Hawking, Hawking by Charles Seife was an absolutely captivating read for me. The author spends significant time delving into how Stephen Hawking, a groundbreaking cosmologist, transformed into a global icon and leveraged his fame to generate wealth. However, this book is much more than an exploration of Hawking's celebrity status. It is a serious and nuanced biography of a notable scientist, unafraid to delve into the complexities of his personality and work. Seife masterfully balances the intricate scientific concepts with Hawking's human side, even tackling some of the math in an accessible manner. One of the book's strengths is its honest portrayal of Hawking acknowledging his genius while also critiquing his flaws. Importantly, Seife avoids sanctifying Hawking for enduring a debilitating disease, presenting him as a multidimensional figure instead. The reverse chronology, which might seem unconventional at first, is handled deftly and adds an engaging layer to the narrative. While the book isn’t without its minor shortcomings such as not fully exploring Hawking’s political inclinations, it nonetheless provides a rich and fairly comprehensive portrait of both the man and his contributions to science. Seife’s ability to weave together Hawking's scientific achievements, personal life, and cultural impact made this book a standout for me. It’s a must-read for anyone curious about the interplay between science, human ambition, and the nature of fame.
December 7, 2023
Recentemente o meu filho mudou de lugar do banco traseiro do carro, passado para o lado oposto e imediatamente atrás de mim. Nas primeiras vezes que fizemos alguns dos nossos percursos normais repetiu várias vezes que, apesar de ser o mesmo caminho, o via agora de um ângulo bastante diferente. Pois bem, é exatamente isso que esta biografia de Stephen Hawking um ângulo diferente sobre o uma realidade que, parece, conhecemos bem, mas que pode afinal ser vista por uma perspetiva diferente, mais terrena e menos cinematográfica se assim podemos dizer.
Não se trata aqui de diminuir aquilo que Hawking fez e menos ainda as condições em que o atingiu, mas antes de dar visibilidade ao mundo de Hawking menos conhecido, mais humanos e menos sujeito aos holofotes aos mesmo tempo que explica como ele se constituiu como uma celebridade científica.
Trata-se de um livro muito bem escrito e que contou com a revisão cientifica do Prof. Carlos Fiolhais, que para quem tiver interesse, escreveu também ele um ótimo texto sobre o livro que pode ser lido no seu blog dererummundi.blogspot.com (post de 2 de julho).
Mais do que uma excelente leitura este livro foi também uma descoberta. Uma nova perspetiva sobre alguém que nos parecia ser totalmente conhecido. Outro ângulo de observação. Muito bom. Recomendo vivamente.
Não se trata aqui de diminuir aquilo que Hawking fez e menos ainda as condições em que o atingiu, mas antes de dar visibilidade ao mundo de Hawking menos conhecido, mais humanos e menos sujeito aos holofotes aos mesmo tempo que explica como ele se constituiu como uma celebridade científica.
Trata-se de um livro muito bem escrito e que contou com a revisão cientifica do Prof. Carlos Fiolhais, que para quem tiver interesse, escreveu também ele um ótimo texto sobre o livro que pode ser lido no seu blog dererummundi.blogspot.com (post de 2 de julho).
Mais do que uma excelente leitura este livro foi também uma descoberta. Uma nova perspetiva sobre alguém que nos parecia ser totalmente conhecido. Outro ângulo de observação. Muito bom. Recomendo vivamente.
December 16, 2020
Charles Seife looks at Hawking, as Hawking looked at the Universe - backward in time. A homage to Hawking and his phD thesis. At times critical of his contributions to science or his general attitude to people in life makes this a biography worthwhile reading. Of course, similar like Isaacson's biography on Einstein, expect to be overwhelmed with some of the theoretical physics in the book. Total forgiveness to the author on that one, as you cannot tell Hawking's story without it. It is neither Einstein's, Hawking's or Seife's fault that it just is so complicated.
While I understand Charles choice to tell the story backwards, ending in Hawking's biological singularity, it does not help comprehension of the story. Artistically pleasing is not what I am seeking in non-fiction writing. As one progresses in the book, you feel that the next chapter is sort of a flashback to the previous chapter, which connects at the end of each chapter to the ending of the previous one. Telling the story linear would have made the book easier to read, some aspects are difficult enough already. One star deduction for this, for an otherwise great read and a great conclusion to the life of the greatest physicist of the 2nd half of the 20th century.
While I understand Charles choice to tell the story backwards, ending in Hawking's biological singularity, it does not help comprehension of the story. Artistically pleasing is not what I am seeking in non-fiction writing. As one progresses in the book, you feel that the next chapter is sort of a flashback to the previous chapter, which connects at the end of each chapter to the ending of the previous one. Telling the story linear would have made the book easier to read, some aspects are difficult enough already. One star deduction for this, for an otherwise great read and a great conclusion to the life of the greatest physicist of the 2nd half of the 20th century.
February 7, 2022
I challenged myself to read a biography for once, and I am surly glad I have picked up this one. Contrary to what is suggested in the summary, Seife does not claim that Stephen Hawking did not make a difference in the world of physics and cosmetology, he instead slowly disconnects the public persona of Hawking from the personal one, admirable and brilliant still.
The biography is written backwards in time, which works wonderfully when talking about Stephen's personal life and in understanding how his image came to be, but not in terms of the physics. Because the theories are built on top of each other, Seife talks about them twice, when explaining the backround to recent theories and again in later chapters of the book (which talk about earlier years). That makes the already tough physics theories repetitive and hard to follow.
That said, the explanations were easy to understand and were kept interesting because we were getting the well written backstorys and a glimps into the lives of physicists in the academia. I finished the book with the feeling that I have gained a lot of knowledge into an area that I did not know much of before and a new admiration for Halking the person.
The biography is written backwards in time, which works wonderfully when talking about Stephen's personal life and in understanding how his image came to be, but not in terms of the physics. Because the theories are built on top of each other, Seife talks about them twice, when explaining the backround to recent theories and again in later chapters of the book (which talk about earlier years). That makes the already tough physics theories repetitive and hard to follow.
That said, the explanations were easy to understand and were kept interesting because we were getting the well written backstorys and a glimps into the lives of physicists in the academia. I finished the book with the feeling that I have gained a lot of knowledge into an area that I did not know much of before and a new admiration for Halking the person.
October 16, 2022
I wasn't sure if I would learn much new here, having seen the Hawking film and read articles about him over the years. Turns out I did, so the read was worthwhile. The author makes the bold move of telling Hawking's story in reverse, presumably in an attempt to show his life with decreasing entropy. It has the effect of placing his later, more familiar life first, even though his major scientific work occurred early on. Yet it lets us see him at the height of fame first and work back to how he got there. The tradeoff, though, is that the author often has to explain later events to put them in context, which means there is a lot of repetition. Frankly, whole passages are repeated nearly verbatim, first when they are needed to explain context, later when they actually appear in the reverse narrative. This was disappointing. I often had to put the book down to get over this, then pick it up again the next day. All in all, it was worth a read and I give it an A for effort (but a C for execution).
May 24, 2021
A VERY technical (discussions of black holes and supernovas, among other things cosmic) and titillating biography of the late celebrity scientist Stephen Hawking. The book titillates thanks to Seife's warts-and-all descriptions of Hawking's messy yet eventful personal life. Throughout his existence, Hawking attracted and alienated just about everyone he interacted with -- academic colleagues, fellow scientists, even his own family -- with tremendous flair. This despite his indescribable impairment (motor neurone disease). But intellectually, Hawking was truly a beautiful mind. "In [Hawking's] shriveled body," Seife writes, "he was a pure mind; a Tiresias whose crushing physical disability was more than repaid by a divine gift of insight." And insight is what Seife delivers in spades. This is a completely full portrait of Hawking in all of his gallant and galling glory.
October 4, 2024
I listened to a digital audio book version of Hawking Hawking.
When the author talks about some of the science Stephen hawking worked on I did not understand those parts that good. What I liked most about Hawking Hawking was learning about the man himself.
One thing about Stephen that surprised me was that he had money problems. I had never stopped to consider that with his medical problem that it would have cost him a lot of money to be taken care of.
After listening to the book it amazes me that Hawking was able to do as much as he did with the physical problems he had. And listening to the book also made me wish I know more about physics and math.
So for me I think Hawking Hawking was an Ok, book about a Brilliant and interesting scientist who had to overcome a lot of challenges to do science.
When the author talks about some of the science Stephen hawking worked on I did not understand those parts that good. What I liked most about Hawking Hawking was learning about the man himself.
One thing about Stephen that surprised me was that he had money problems. I had never stopped to consider that with his medical problem that it would have cost him a lot of money to be taken care of.
After listening to the book it amazes me that Hawking was able to do as much as he did with the physical problems he had. And listening to the book also made me wish I know more about physics and math.
So for me I think Hawking Hawking was an Ok, book about a Brilliant and interesting scientist who had to overcome a lot of challenges to do science.
November 21, 2021
Two physics books back to back. My mind feels kind of, well, stretched. I'm not a big biography reader, so for me to read a biography from cover to cover, and in 2 days at that, it has to be pretty engrossing. This really captured Hawking the person. It felt well researched, and the physics part was smoothly integrated. I especially liked the tone of the narrator: direct but gentle. The device of telling the story in reverse chronological order worked, most of the time, and was especially powerful towards the end of the book. Sometimes it required redundancy in the story-telling, though.
September 30, 2021
This not an easy book to read, unless you find black holes, quantum physics and singularity theorems fascinating. I do not and probably should have just stuck with the movie. Stephen Hawkins is a fascinating man, but still a man, and he had his flaws; stubborn, egocentric and jealous. He did like the lime light but in today’s age of a Kardashian famous for being a Kardashian, at least Hawkins promoted science.
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