The Grand Design »

Stephen Hawking made black holes palatable for the masses with his 1988 book A Brief History of Time, which had The New York Times pointing out that he is bravely taking some of the first, though tentative, steps toward quantizing the early universe.

In this major new work, Stephen Hawking looks to the laws of nature and physics for the answers to the ultimate questions. Here in one brilliantly succinct volume is the accumulative wisdom of a lifetime of thinking about the questions that were once addressed by philosophy, but are now the province of science.

How could the universe be created out of nothing? Why are we here? Do we have free will? What is the "Grand Design" that made it possible for us to have found a home in the one universe, out of zillions, where human life is possible? According to Hawking, we are very close to an understanding not just of the workings of our universe but of its very existence.

Lavishly illustrated throughout, with 49 pieces of four-color art.

The Washington Post - James Trefil

I've waited a long time for this book. It gets into the deepest questions of modern cosmology without a single equation. The reader will be able to get through it without bogging down in a lot of technical detail and will, I hope, have his or her appetite whetted for books with a deeper technical content.

List of Chapter Titles:
1. The Mystery of Being
2. The Rule of Law
3. What is Reality?
4. Alternative Histories
5. The Theory of Everything
6. Choosing Our Universe
7. The Apparent Miracle
8. The Grand Design