What made Stephen Hawking’s ‘A Brief History of Time’ so immensely popular?
In 1982, Stephen Hawking decided to put his years of groundbreaking research in theoretical physics into book form. His goal, he said, was to “explain how far we had come in our understanding of the universe,” and how humankind might be close to finding a unified theory of the cosmos.
It would not be a dry, technical work designed for experts. Mr. Hawking wanted readers. He contacted a literary agent and said he hoped to write “the sort of book that would sell in airport bookstores,” as he said in the Wall Street Journal in 2013.
“He told me there was no chance of that,” Mr. Hawking said. “It might sell well to academics and students, but a book like that couldn’t break into best-seller territory.”
Several years and many rewrites later, Mr. Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time” defied all those expectations. The first run sold out in the United States in a matter of days, and soon the 200-some-page account of the origin and fate of the universe was flying off the shelves worldwide. It spent 147 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and a record-breaking 237 weeks on the Times of London best-seller list. To date, more than 10 million copies have been sold and the book has been translated into dozens of languages.
How many people actually read the book from cover to cover remains a running joke, which even Mr. Hawking found humorous. The number of people who read the book and actually understood it is also a matter of debate.
But “A Brief History of Time” launched Mr. Hawking, who died Wednesday at 76, into popular culture. Already renowned in academia for his contributions to cosmology, Mr,. Hawking grew into a cultural icon and one of the world’s most celebrated sciencecommunicators.
What exactly gave “A Brief History Time” such sweeping popular appeal? It’s hard to pinpoint any one thing. Black holes, superstrings and deep dives into the finite yet boundless nature of the universe don’t necessarily make for great airplane reading. Mr. Hawking himself wrestled with the question long after the book’s 1988 publication. “It’s difficult for me to be objective,” he wrote in the Wall Street Journal.
The manner in which Mr. Hawking broke down complex concepts in theoretical physics, along with his deft use of humor and analogy, won over many readers.
Upon publication, The New York Times called Mr. Hawking’s work “a jaunty and absolutely clear little book” that shared his ideas about the universe “with everyone who can read.”
“His book is a rare sharing of confidence by a scientist with uncommon courage, a dazzling vision and an impish sense of humor,” the review read.
On Goodreads, the social book review database, many users give it high marks for its plain language, wit and overall simplicity. Some say Mr. Hawking’s writing style makes them feel like they can still learn, even if they don’t grasp everything.
“Isn’t it amazing that a person can read a book like ‘A Brief History of Time’ by Stephen Hawking and come away feeling both smarter and dumber than before he started,” one user wrote. It was“written with accessibility in mind, knowing full well idiots like me wouldn’t buy it, read it or recommend it if it were impossibly dense.”
Of course, the book has its skeptics, too. Among them are The Washington Post’s Charles Krauthammer, who, after reading it twice, found it “entirely incomprehensible.” (Mr. Krauthammer, by the way, is a Harvard-trained physician.)
Editorial decisions by Mr. Hawking and his publisher also appear to have helped bring in a broad audience. Writing in the Journal, Mr. Hawking recalled how his editors put him through round after round of rewrites, sending him long lists of objections and questions. They also limited him to one mathematical equation, Albert Einstein’s famous E = mc², saying every additional formulawould slash sales.
One editor, Peter Guzzardi of Bantam Books, pressed Mr. Hawking for numerous rewrites to make the book more understandable to non-scientists, Mr. Hawking wrote in the Journal.
Mr. Guzzardi wrote in the Guardian Tuesday that Mr. Hawking’s original manuscript was 100 pages of “extremely dense” material. He remembered how he pushed Mr. Hawking to simplify things, with the aim of crafting a work that was “scientifically accurate without being impenetrable to the general reader,someone like me.”
“My primary contribution to the book,” Mr. Guzzardi said, “was to doggedly keep asking Stephen questions, not giving up until I understood what he intended to convey.”
“At times I thought the process would never end,” Mr. Hawking recalled in the Journal. “But he was right: It is a much better book as a result.”