First published 2023
Stephen Hawking spent decades wrestling with a cosmic puzzle that threatened his life's work. His mathematics predicted not one universe but countless big bangs creating a multiverse filled with bizarre worlds hostile to life. Working alongside Thomas Hertog in Cambridge's theoretical physics department for twenty years, Hawking sought to explain how our universe became so hospitable to life. Their investigation led them deep into quantum physics and cosmic holograms, back to the universe's earliest moments. They discovered that physical laws themselves evolve and transform as the cosmos takes shape. Particles, forces, and time itself fade away at the deepest level. This insight sparked a new theory that views the universe through a Darwinian lens. Rather than fixed laws governing a predetermined cosmos, Hawking and Hertog proposed that the laws of physics are born and develop alongside the universe they govern. Hertog presents their final collaboration as Hawking's days drew near, offering readers a striking new vision of cosmic birth that transforms our understanding of humanity's place in the universe.
Genres: biography, science, science-fiction, astronomy, physics, academic
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, intimate
Setting: Cambridge
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
352 pages · Hardcover · Bantam