Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time is a long time bestseller of the non-fiction category and has topped plenty charts since its first publication in 1988. I do not have the audacity to rather review such a magnificent book by one of the giants in Physics however I do need to stress that the popularity of this book amongst the general public is not because of it very easy to understand, non-technical, and comprehensive piece on Cosmology and Astrophysics, but rather because it is cool to be photographed with a copy.
Hawking starts with an introduction of the geocentric and heliocentric models of solar system as predicted by Aristotle and Copernicus respectively, the conquest with the Catholic church and goes on to move through the development of Physics with the Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics to finally string theory and a subsequent search for a Unified Field Theory. The book mainly revolves around the evolution of the universe from the big bang (whether it really happened is also debated in the book with clear points taken from research that both contradicts and/or upholds the theory), singularities and its subsequent future (if a big crunch is really on the way) along the time vector.
Starting with Bertrand Russell’s encounter with the bold idea for tortoises all the way down holding the earth on its back, a subsequent search for the need for the existence of a creator is equally emphasized upon throughout the book but with no clear solution (as expected).
Many physicists stress on Steven Weinberg’s First Three Minutes to be a better introductory book in this domain for the layperson in spite of its coarse language, the book has lesser technical jargons and is easier to comprehend.
For anyone interested in the cosmos and with a basic idea of general physics, the basic laws and few terminologies here and there, this book is a must read however may not be recommended for an absolute layperson.
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