Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking lectured me in mathematics on a number of occasions. He is an outstanding man with such an amazing array of knowledge just ready to be exploded onto anybody who asks him a question in a brilliant manner. He can make the hardest thing seem so simple which is the attribute all teachers wish they had.

Nobody doubts the brilliance of Hawking.
Neither does anybody doubt his abilities as a teacher.

However few doubt this either:

Because of the difficult personal circumstances in which Hawking had to write it “A Brief History of Time” is one of the most incomprehensible books on physics ever written for the layman.

Weinberg’s (recently updated)“The First Three Minutes” reads like a gripping “who-dunnit” thriller by comparison.

It is a model of clear exposition.

What’s more Weinberg ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Weinberg ) includes a mathematical supplement at the back of the book for those who are not faint-hearted mathematically.

One of the best books on cosmology, I ever read was 'The Elegant Universe' by Brian Greene. I have never heard stuff like quantum string theory and relativity explained in such a brilliant manner. Almost every other page has a wow moment where the penny drops on something that you've always wondered about.

It took me three reads of ABHOT before I think I got it. Having read the elegant universe, it made me realise just how little I knew about the whole area.

Highly recommend this book to anyone.