- published: 18 Jan 2011
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A Brief History of Time (subtitled "From the Big Bang to Black Holes") is a popular-science book written by British physicist Stephen Hawking and first published by the Bantam Dell Publishing Group in 1988. It became a best-seller and has sold more than 10 million copies. It was also on the London Sunday Times best-seller list for more than four years.
A Brief History of Time attempts to explain a range of subjects in cosmology, including the Big Bang, black holes and light cones, to the nonspecialist reader. Its main goal is to give an overview of the subject but, unusual for a popular science book, it also attempts to explain some complex mathematics.
The author notes that an editor warned him that for every equation in the book the readership would be halved, hence it includes only a single equation: E = mc2. Early in 1983, Hawking approached Simon Mitton, the editor in charge of astronomy books at Cambridge University Press, with his ideas for a popular book on cosmology. Mitton was doubtful about all the equations in the draft manuscript, which he felt would put off the buyers in airport bookshops that Hawking wished to reach. It was with some difficulty that he persuaded Hawking to drop all but one equation. In addition to Hawking's notable abstention from presenting equations, the book also simplifies matters by means of illustrations throughout the text, depicting complex models and diagrams.
We were both 18 the year that we met
I was slighty older but not by much
One look at you and I knew that was it
And your voice sounded like an angel above
One look at me you thought I was odd
Wearing those clothes in the Kimberley heat
Blundstone boots, cowboy hat, flannelette
And denim overcoat all the way down to my feet
When your sister asked me to join up with you
You nearly fainted with shock but you hid it well
what the hell are you doing?
you shouted when I left
I was singing all the way back to my hotel
Headed off from Broom
Travelled through the Kimberley
Derby, Fitzroy, a night in Halls Creek
Wyndham, Kunnunrra, Darwin we stayed for a while
Then we hit the coast near Townsville on the other side
Christmas in Cairns didn't have nowhere to go
Busking on the streets just to get a feed
Being kept up all night by the lovers on the top bunk
At a seedy backpackers called Rapture of the Deep
Now plenty has happened since those early days
Met a lot of people, been a lot of places
Many a night in friends and relatives beds
And God bless the lot of you that put us up and fed us
Played to crowds of thousands, played to one or two
Played in festivals and pubs, loved and hated what we do
but looking back now I wouldn't trade but
one of the memories we've made in the last eight years
and though there were times we didn't get along
I can honesty say I love the both of you
Now you're living in Sydney in some dingy room
In a house full of strangers on Ramsgate avenue
Paying twice as much as what the damn things worth
Working in the daytime just to make it though
You got your arms to your elbows in the sink at some
Place cleaning pots and pans, cups and saucers,
Knives and forks and plates
It's a far cry, from the life that we knew
Travelling around the country in a campervan
Playing songs, singing with your sister and you
It's too late to go back there again