Stephen Hawking Biography: The Life and Work of the World’s Famous Scientist in a Brief History of Time

Amateurish

One of the first google results for “Stephen Hawking Biography” overpromises and, unfortunately, grossly under-delivers.

The preview looked solid, and I was sold. Unfortunately, my expectations were not upheld by the rest of the book. Alarms went off, after I bought the book, when the page count (on my iPhone screen) was just 60 pages. Further reading revealed many spelling, punctuation and sometimes grammatical errors, that suggested complete lack of editing or supervision - presumably from the author himself, as I am convinced a second read-through would have eliminated most of these simply careless trifles. This carelessness was perhaps the most off-putting element, especially with a subject as meticulous and serious as a biography. The sentence structuring was often unclear and perplexing; the tense jumped from past to present sometimes within the confines of a single sentence without premonition or warning, severely stifling the reading experience. One would hope - the account of one of the defining minds of our time’s life and work would warrant a little more care.

Though the content I feel cannot fault - mostly. The author restrained from personal commentary and remarks throughout the main body, and kept the information relevant and to-the-point, albeit also lamentably brief. The last chapter, in my eyes, felt condescending, as the author finally let his personal views pour onto the page, to emphasise Hawking‘s emotional and moral over his scientific achievements, devaluing the latter in the process by subjecting them to what felt like inappropriately snarky questioning. I was willing to accept the book as a harmless, unconsidered purchase, but the last chapter left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth.

To summarise: this could have, probably, been an apt Biography, eliminating the spelling and punctuation errors and,
perhaps,
reconsidering the suitability or, at least, the impression of the last chapter in the context of the rest of the manuscript. For now, the book feels like a rough draft.