"A Brief History of Time" By Stephen W. Hawking

Tam recommended this book as a very readable, layman's, explanation of some of this century's theoretical physics. Maureen's Joe was askance; he is a Hawking fan and assured me that "A Brief History of Time" is not the layman's version, but that "The Universe in a Nutshell" is the one. Joe's comments came at a good time, as I walked in to the kitchen to ask Maureen to explain one of the diagrams.

Actually, I brought this book along on the kayak trip to Vermont. That was the trip in which I could not keep up with Tam paddling, although she would announce that she was going to "take it easy" and so forth. And I veritably trotted up Mount Ascutney behind her! Alak! The kids reminded me that she was a physics major before going over to the Dark Side (english!). Good thing she's so lovable!

Even so, Hawking is a delight.

I had actually made a foray into Brian Greene's "The Elegant Universe" a couple summers ago, and read a biography on Einstein last summer. But I do actually think the Hawking rendition of relativity and quantum mechanics is the . . . er . . . most cohesive, or shall I say, friendly.

There are moments when I feel as if it's all hocus pocus, and that these people are proving their hocus pocus with more hocus pocus. Then again, people such as Einstein, and Hawking, come along who are not only very credible, but reassuring. I mean, these things in science - all of it - blow my mind. But if you have someone sensible who seems to understand it, I guess our world really is marvelous.

Anyway, after such a reading, the night sky, resplendent in stars, is even more awesome.