In the original dustsheet. Black board binding with silver title on the spine.

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Brief Answers to the Big Questions is a popular science book written by physicist Stephen Hawking, and published by Hodder & Stoughton (hardcover) and Bantam Books (paperback) on 16 October 2018. The book examines some of the universe’s greatest mysteries, and promotes the view that science is very important in helping to solve problems on planet Earth. The publisher describes the book as “a selection of [Hawking’s] most profound, accessible, and timely reflections from his personal archive”, and features, according to a book reviewer, “half a million or so words” from his essays, lectures and keynote speeches.

The book was incomplete at the time of the author’s passing in March 2018, but was completed with “his academic colleagues, his family and the Stephen Hawking Estate”. The book includes a foreword written by Eddie Redmayne, who won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Hawking in the 2014 film The Theory of Everything; an introduction by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Kip Thorne; and an afterword by Lucy Hawking, the author’s daughter.  A portion of the royalties from the book are to go to the Motor Neurone Disease Association and the Stephen Hawking Foundation.

Is there a God? How did it all begin? Can we predict the future? What is inside a black hole? Is there other intelligent life in the universe? Will artificial intelligence outsmart us? How do we shape the future? Will we survive on Earth? Should we colonise space? Is time travel possible? Throughout his extraordinary career, Stephen Hawking expanded our understanding of the universe and unravelled some of its greatest mysteries. But even as his theoretical work on black holes, imaginary time and multiple histories took his mind to the furthest reaches of space, Hawking always believed that science could also be used to fix the problems on our planet. And now, as we face potentially catastrophic changes here on Earth – from climate change to dwindling natural resources to the threat of artificial super-intelligence – Stephen Hawking turns his attention to the most urgent issues for humankind. Wide-ranging, intellectually stimulating, passionately argued, and infused with his characteristic humour, BRIEF ANSWERS TO THE BIG QUESTIONS.