I learned a lot of interesting things in this book and appreciated the book's inquiry into profound cosmological questions, but hats off to any non-specialist who understands the last three pages (you know, the one where the authors sum up the answer to life, the universe, and everything in an oddly cursory fashion).

In general I prefer my popular nonfiction to give me a snapshot of the state of an academic discipline rather than promoting specific theories, but physicists, what can you do.

I also thought Hawking and Mlodinow could have done a better job steering readers away from Wrong Ideas and general confusion that could arise from multiverse theory (like, do all those histories of a photon EXIST in the same way that multiple universes are proposed to exist? If observing the photon selects its history, what about humans observing the universe? I don't know whether these are sensible questions to ask but I'm sure I'm not the only reader who wondered about them.) ( )

This book is like having your favorite subject being thought by a teacher you can't stand. It feels dumbed down a lot (especially my edition that has a huge font and a lot of pictures so you'll feel smart by reading "fast", it also feels a lot heavier than other paperbacks to make it seem like better quality).
It's more like a history of physics than new answers, didn't read anything I didn't already know before well after the halfway mark.. It also feels like Leonard has had the task of introducing these theories for the public in a way they will understand them, by being, what he thinks, is funny and using pop culture references. This made me focus more on his writing than the theories I was interested in. Had to force myself trough it. I can't help but think how this could have been presented differently if for example Malcolm Gladwell was narrating, making sure he explained it to you without belittling you or giving you all of his own opinions. Disappointed. It's not a bad book per se but it feels like it belongs more in a school setting. ( )

Too light-weight; I was able to read this in a few hours total. I was hoping for something more... detailed, I guess. I realize the math is beyond any mere dilettante, but this book was *very* high level. ( )

If you're reading a book about "The most fundamental questions about the origins of the universe and of life itself " you'd think the writers would take the subject seriously. But unfortunately, that's not the case with this book. For some bizarre reason, the authors repeatedly interject silly humor into their arguments against the universe being created by God as we know him. These are two men of proven brilliance, writing for a general audience. But if this is their idea of the best way to reach a mass audience well, all I have to say is ; I'm insulted. ( )

Stručná historie času se sice stala zaslouženým fenoménem a udělala z Hawkinga světovou celebritu, nemůžu se však zbavit dojmu, že se ve své snaze popularizovat vědu Hawking od jejího vydání spíše trápí. Soubor esejů Černé díry a budoucnost vesmíru rozhodně stojí za přečtení, protože pootevírá dveře do soukromého života autora a dovysvětluje některé pojmy, které zůstaly i po Stručné historii nejasné. Další knihy jsou však většinou jen variacemi na Hawkingovu populární prvotinu a Velkolepý plán není jiný. Nejenže na Stručnou historii nijak nenavazuje, což bylo autorem slibováno, on pořádně ani neplní svůj hlavní úkol, totiž objasnit, jak mohl vesmír vzniknout bez zásahu stvořitele. Je tak především sbírkou různých anekdot popisujících, jak vesmír vnímaly předchozí generace a jejich náboženství, proloženou nepříliš stravitelným fyzikálních jevů, z nichž většina již byla lépe popsána ve Stručné historii, a část je navíc pro vysvětlení vzniku vesmíru možná i zbytečná. Prokládání textu alkoholickými vtipy či podobně nevtipnými kresbičkami pak nečiní knihu ani srozumitelnější, ani zábavnější. Velkolepému plánu se vyhněte. Místo něj otevřete radši starou dobrou Stručnou historii času, a až ji opravdu pochopíte, postupte třeba ke Kraussově knize Vesmír z ničeho, jelikož ta otázku vzniku vesmíru dokáže popsat čitelněji, jednodušeji a přitom odborněji. ( )