“My first popular book, ‘A Brief History of Time,’ aroused a great deal of interest, but many found it difficult to understand.”
- January 8, 1942 – March 14, 2018
- British
- Theoretical physicist, science writer
- Announced the black hole singularity theorem and Hawking radiation, and contributed to the popularization of science with his book “Talking about the Universe”
Quote
“My first popular book, ‘A Brief History of Time,’ aroused a great deal of interest, but many found it difficult to understand.”
Explanation
In this quote, Stephen Hawking reflects on the initial reception of his groundbreaking book, A Brief History of Time, which was first published in 1988. The book aimed to explain complex concepts in cosmology and theoretical physics—such as the nature of time, the origins of the universe, and black holes—in a way that was accessible to a general audience. Despite its success and widespread interest, Hawking acknowledges that many readers found it challenging to grasp the scientific concepts it presented.
The difficulty arose in part because of the book’s attempt to simplify highly abstract and complex theories, such as quantum mechanics, general relativity, and the Big Bang theory, for non-experts. While the book was praised for its ambition and intellectual scope, its lack of technical detail and the use of advanced concepts in an accessible form made it difficult for some readers to follow. Hawking himself has mentioned that the inclusion of equations in the book—particularly the famous Einstein field equations and his own equation for the wave function of the universe—diminished its appeal for many, as it made the text less approachable to the average reader.
This early feedback from readers led Hawking to revise his approach in later editions, especially when writing for a broader audience. His goal was to make science, especially the complex areas of cosmology and theoretical physics, accessible to as many people as possible. The book became an international bestseller, but more importantly, it sparked widespread public interest in the workings of the universe and the role of science in explaining the natural world. Despite the challenges it posed to some readers, A Brief History of Time is often credited with helping to make science more accessible to the general public, which in turn inspired a new wave of curiosity and interest in the mysteries of the cosmos.
