Stephen Hawking is widely believed to be one of the worldโs greatest minds: a brilliant theoretical physicist whose work helped to reconfigure models of the universe and to redefine whatโs in it. Imagine sitting in a room listening to Hawking discuss these achievements and place them in historical context. It would be like hearing Christopher Columbus on the New World. Hawking presents a series of seven lec-turesโcovering everything from big bang to black holes to string theoryโthat capture not only the brilliance of Hawkingโs mind but his characteristic wit as well. Of his research on black holes, which absorbed him for more than a decade, he says, โIt might seem a bit like looking for a black cat in a coal cellar.โ Hawking begins with a history of ideas about the universe, from Aristotleโs determination that the Earth is round to Hubbleโs discovery, over 2000 years later, that the universe is expanding. Using that as a launching pad, he explores the reaches of modern physics, including theories on the origin of the universe (e.g., the big bang), the nature of black holes, and space-time.