A Brief History of Time Read-along

[Charbel]

A Brief History of Time is considered as one of Stephen Hawking's greatest works, as well as the timeless book that introduced cosmology to a large and general audience.
It's going to be me and Jenny, and anyone else is welcome to join in.
We'll start on April 1st.

[Charbel]

I'll be starting this tomorrow! Can't wait!

[Jenny]

I've started today. I am listening to it, so I am unfortunately missing out on all the helpful illustrations but I will just have to google myself to them if needed. I think this will be fun (and a bit of exercise for the grey matter)

[Kristen]

I've been wanting to read this for ages, so I'll read along with you too! I'll start tonight. And warning: I'm definitely a lightweight on this subject so this will be a welcome education!

[Jenny]

Don't worry Kristen, I have to really focus on this one to follow, but he's doing a pretty good job at explaining or giving examples that illustrate the theories well enough in order to help us 'lightweights' understand :)

[Charbel]

I just started! I want to take my time with one as a book like this needs to be savored.
Welcome to the readalong Kristen! Don't worry Hawking is great at explaining the difficult concepts for the general reader. Plus this book was not written for the scientist, but for curious individuals who want to understand the universe and quantum mechanics without going into the complex math!

[Gökhan]

I am currently reading Brian Greene`s "The Hidden Reality". (sorry, can`t link it with the mobile version of GR) It is a fascinating about astrophysics and the cosmos and very informative. I`ll hopefully read Hawkings book someday.

[Jenny]

Liking this very much so far, though it illustrates nicely the corners my mind ISN'T capable of bending around. It is so interesting how science and real life perception of the same things just often differ to the point where it becomes almost impossible to imagine or comprehend, because there's no 'file' for it in your brain that helps you envision. One of the most obvious examples being infinity, or like in this case, the relativity of time.

[Charbel]

Progressing through this slowly because I haven't been getting many opportunities to read. But what a fun book this is! Hawking can explain anything!

[Jenny]

I agree! Finished it a while ago and liked it much better than I thought I would. I find it so interesting how people often lean towards a specific kind of comprehension headache. I find Russell and Plato & Co. much easier to follow than quantum physics, and I know many people who would claim the opposite for themselves (and a whole lot of people who'd rather have their toe-nails pulled than having either of them). Both kinds of disecting reality seem rather alike to me in the way they treat logic and the idea of imagening things beyond the comfort zone of our minds though don't you think?

[Charbel]

Jenny wrote: "I agree! Finished it a while ago and liked it much better than I thought I would. I find it so interesting how people often lean towards a specific kind of comprehension headache. I find Russell an..."

Absolutely. It all actually stems from logic. Physics uses math which is the language of logic, as well as experimental data, to support ideas, and philosophy is mankind's first attempt at reason, isn't it?
Personally, I am on the quantum mechanics side of the spectrum. And though philosophy is fun to think about,it has a tendency to whoosh past me. But I like the idea of a world so chaotic that we have to resort to probability to solve it. But both require a fair amount of reason, considerable imagination, and a willing spirit.

[Charbel]

I'm hoping to finish this tomorrow. Just picked it up again after a period of exams, but I can't believe how easy it was to just to get back in and pick up where I left off.

[Jenny]

Enjoy the last bit! Looking forward to your final verdict!

[Charbel]

I'm finished! Really enjoyed it. Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...