Review: The Grand Design

• September 16, 2010
• James Skemp
• philosophy, review

Who's the audience?

While interesting, the lack of a defined audience makes this book an extremely difficult read.

Having read A Brief History of Time I was looking for something with a similar feel to it. Instead the book starts out geared towards anyone with the desire to really read and understand it, then seems to leave most of that audience towards the wayside - seemingly right around when the science gets a little iffy - and then finishes geared back towards the larger audience.

But perhaps the audience isn't as large as I've thought. But why then, in one of these 'higher level' sections do we see jokes added within the text?

Perhaps the authors realized that the theory they state within is too complex for most people, and this is their way of making it bearable for us, until things start getting more understandable.

Either way, while I generally enjoyed the book, and found many noteworthy passages, the ideas expressed within still need some work to be generally accessible. While I'll certainly re-read a Stephen Hawking book, it is unlikely that it will be this one, so I give it 3 of 5 stars.

• stephen hawking