Stephen Hawking's Universe

Next time you have a little fit of neatness, finding yourself, say, edging your rows of books or drawing clear lines of demarcation between your regular T-shirts and your V-necked T-shirts, consider this fact: a symmetrical universe would preclude the possibility of humanity. That's right, if it were not for a major burp in the system (a.k.a, the Big Bang) we wouldn’t exist and a perfectly symmetrical universe would not have allowed the necessary conditions in the first place. If you followed that bit of circular logic, congratulations; if not, you might want to hear it straight from the genius's mouth in Stephen Hawking's Universe. In six hours, Hawking, with the aid of fellow scientists, wonderful graphics, re-emnactments and demonstrations, treats ordinary mortals such as you and I to a basic understanding of the history of our universe, from a single point to its present expanding state of far flung galaxies, supernovas, and mysterious black holes. A solid introduction to cosmology from the bestselling author of A Brief History of Time. Recommended. (R. Pitman)