My wife and I watched The Theory of Everything film a few weeks ago, and it inspired me to read something – anything – by Stephen Hawking.  It did so because the film helped me realize that we have a living legend among us, one of history’s greatest thinkers still living in our day and age, and I hadn’t studied his work whatsoever.

Of course, I have virtually no background in physics of any sort, and so I read a few reviews and admittedly chose A Briefer History of Time because it claimed to be simpler and (obviously) briefer than most of Hawking’s other writings.

I won’t claim to understand everything in the book, but it really did educate me on matters formerly unknown.  Hawking is excellent at taking very complex ideas and simplifying them down to their barest essentials.

Based upon this book, Hawking is an excellent teacher and superb writer.  As a lifelong science fiction fan, I had heard many of the theories and principals discussed, but previously utilized no actual scientific comprehension concerning them.  I now at least have a very basic understanding thanks to his writing.

Because Hawking writes so clearly and simply, I am excited to read more by the genius.  If you’ve ever wanted to read his work but didn’t due to intimidation, I urge you to give this one a shot.  It is short, well-written, and educational.