A Brief History of Time

Hawking achieved something almost impossible: making the general public understand relativity, quantum mechanics and cosmology without a single formula. The tone is accessible but never condescending. There are passages where the real complexity shows through and one has to reread — a sign of intellectual honesty. Thirty years on, some sections feel slightly dated, but as a work of popular science it remains a reference worth reading, if only to understand what everyone is talking about.