text: In this fully illustrated and remarkably brief book, Hawking provides an overview of the state of theoretical physics at the dawn of the 21st century. The often dense text is supplemented by biographical details, witty asides, and (especially) luxuriously reproduced introductions.
  
  Hawking covers a lot of territory in 200 pages; he hopes to provide brief, non-intimidating summaries of recent concepts and new frontiers in science. There is astonishingly little text, and at times the pithiness, compactness, and occasional "cuteness" may work against readers' understanding; there's perhaps too much shell and not enough nut here. Some sections are so cursory that I suspect they will fail to make any sense at all to the untutored reader. (This is especially true of several of the passages on imaginary time, event horizons, and brane world models.) 
  
  The text is aided greatly, however, by the beautifully rendered four-color illustrations. Even if the concepts presented by these drawings seem fuzzy at first, the creativity and humor fused into Moonrunner Design's artwork will attract, engage, and occasionally tease readers who might otherwise be frightened by the sight of a quadratic equation. 
  
  Overall, then, the book might have far more value as a refresher course for the beginner rather than as an introduction for the uninitiated. Yet it's certainly conceivable that somebody new to this material might be intrigued enough to explore these subjects further. If you're looking for a book that will flesh out the concepts presented here, I strongly recommend (as does Hawking) Alan Guth's "The Inflationary Universe" or Brian Greene's "The Elegant Universe.
  