Astronomy has evolved much since the ancients first plotted celestial spheres around an earth that formed the center of the universe. Now, we have relativity, quantum physics, cosmology, and more to describe a universe more complex and wonderful than anything imagined by Ptolemy, Aristotle, and even Galileo and Newton. In A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking writes about the latest advances in cosmology and physics that have taught us so much about the evolution and future of space-time.
In addition to being a clear communicator, Dr. Hawking's writing is entertaining. He seems to denote what you're supposed to find amusing by putting exclamation points there. He occasionally goes off on brief tangents about his experiences with other scientists and various institutions, telling lightly amusing stories in the midst of long chapters on the origin of the universe and the uncertainty principle. These little digressions make reading A Brief History of Time feel like taking a class from an expert teacher who intersperses intensive instruction with personal chatting.
Dr. Hawking, after decades spent studying these mysteries, has still not lost his absolute wonder at the universe. His delight and amazement comes through clearly in his writing, energizing the most confusing, conflicting theories into something worth living for just on their own. Even if you think you can't deal with science and all its complexity, just try reading this book and see if the author's enthusiasm isn't perfectly infectious.
A Brief History of Time has taught me a great deal about cosmology that will allow me to continue learning. There are chapters that catch you up on recent theories of the origin of the universe, instruct you on the basics of special and general relativity and quantum physics, and outline black hole research. None of this seems much like it relates to time, but in fact, everything is related to time, and since cosmology, relativity, and quantum physics together basically make up the study of everything, they do indeed relate to time. It's wonderfully educational as well as entertaining.
The only drawback of this book is that the most recent edition is now twenty years old. It certainly shows its age. The most glaring sign of antiquity is the lack of any mention of dark energy, the discovery of which has completely turned universe-origin theory upside down. It proves that the universe is indeed expanding at an increasing rate, effectively tossing out the general idea previously that said that the expansion rate slows as time goes on. I'm not sure whether dark energy makes impossible Dr. Hawking's own theory that the universe is finite in space, infinite in time, and without boundary, since I don't know the details of Dr. Hawking's theory or of the implications of dark energy. A more recent--and maybe just as important to the contents of the book--discovery is that of the Higgs boson in 2012. I am sure that there is more that came after 1996. Even though it is missing these new discoveries and progress in science, A Brief History of Time certainly still has relevance, and will for a long time yet.
In short, I would recommend A Brief History of Time to anyone who is interested in cosmology, relativity, or quantum physics. It's accessible to most people and still an important work in its subject areas.