Black Holes and Baby Universes

Published in 1993, Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays is the most personal of Hawking's books. Rather than a single sustained argument, it gathers essays, lectures and an interview, and in doing so reveals more of the man behind the physics than any of his other titles except his later memoir.

A more personal Hawking

The collection mixes accessible science with autobiography and dry humour. Hawking writes about his childhood in St Albans, his Oxford and Cambridge years, and, unusually directly, about living with motor neurone disease and what it has meant for his work and his life. Alongside these are pieces on the physics closest to his heart, black holes, the origin of the universe, and the playful, speculative idea of "baby universes" branching off from our own.

Because the pieces were written for different occasions and audiences, the book moves between registers, some chapters gentle and reflective, others tackling real science. The variety is part of its charm.

Who it's for

Readers who have enjoyed Hawking's cosmology and want to know more about the person, his voice, his wit, his attitude to his illness, will find this the warmest and most revealing place to look. It pairs naturally with his later memoir, My Brief History, which tells his life story more directly.

The essays include his speculations about wormholes and the baby universes of the title.