Stephen Hawking's Grand Design

Stephen Hawking—the world's most famous physicist—begins this three-episode series with a look at science's long quest to determine the origin of the universe, asking whether God has a place in its creation (with apologies to religious believers, Hawking says no), before tackling the “meaning of life” and whether the laws of physics allow for “free will.” All of this serves as prelude to dense and esoteric quantum-physics material, as Hawking tries to describe a Grand Unified Theory of Everything in which quarks and string theory play an important role. Hawking illustrates the multiverse nature of string theory using a CGI-enhanced string quartet, an effect that while quite charming, seems somewhat stretched as a metaphor. However, other physics examples here (including one of Einstein's illustrations of relativity—using three people on a moving train, and one on a platform) are quite marvelously rendered. Besides his well-known computer-synthesized voice, Hawking's thoughts are also read by actor Benedict Cumberbatch. Offering a mind-boggling survey of current cosmological thinking, based on Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow's 2010 book The Grand Design, this is highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (C. Cassady)