Author:Stephen Hawking
“It is said that fact is sometimes stranger than fiction, and nowhere is that more true than in the case of black holes. Black holes are stranger than anything dreamed up by science fiction writers.”
In 2016 Professor Stephen Hawking delivered the BBC Reith Lectures on a subject that fascinated him for decades – black holes.
In these flagship lectures the legendary physicist argued that if we could only understand black holes and how they challenge the very nature of space and time, we could unlock the secrets of the universe.
Master of the Universe... One scientist's courageous voyage to the frontiers of the Cosmos
—— NewsweekHe can explain the complexities of cosmological physics with an engaging combination of clarity and wit... His is a brain of extraordinary power
—— ObserverOne of the most brilliant scientific minds since Einstein
—— Daily ExpressTo follow such a fine mind as it exposes such great problems is an exciting experience
—— Sunday TimesThe most brilliant British scientist of his generation
—— New StatesmanRichly lyrical and deeply confessional… a triumph of rhapsodic writing that can lift the heart.
—— Radio TimesA magical portrait
—— Lemn Sissay , BBC R4 MidweekExtraordinarily vivid and utterly unique…surely destined to be some of the most talked-about nature writing of the year
—— BBC Countryfile MagazineAstonishing… brilliantly written
—— Craig McLean , Radio TimesFierce, disturbing and surprising
—— Sunday TimesThis is a raw, strange, mesmerising book; an impressionistic take on Packham’s life and the natural world that transformed it.
—— ExpressSets out with enviable (and alarming) lucidity the massive challenges now facing our species as genetic technologies, AI and robotics alter forever our relationships with one another and with other species. It’s even more readable, even more important, than his excellent Sapiens.
—— Kazuo Ishiguro , Guardian Books of the YearI think the mark of a great book is that it not only alters the way you see the world after you've read it, it also casts the past in a different light. In Homo Deus, Yuval Noah Harari shows us where mankind is headed in an absolutely clear-sighted & accessible manner. I don't normally ask for autographs but I got a bit starstruck & asked him to sign my copy of his book after we'd had a conversation for my show on BBC 6Music. His inscription reads: 'The future is in your hands' - a good thing to remember when such great changes are afoot.
—— Jarvis Cocker , Mail on SundaySpellbinding… This is a very intelligent book, full of sharp insights and mordant wit... It is a quirky and cool book, with a sliver of ice at its heart... It is hard to imagine anyone could read this book without getting an occasional, vertiginous thrill.
—— David Runciman , GuardianLike all great epics, Sapiens demanded a sequel. Homo Deus, in which that likely apocalyptic future is imagined in spooling detail, is that book. It is a highly seductive scenario planner for the numerous ways in which we might overreach ourselves.
—— Tim Adams , ObserverHomo Deus is a sweeping, apocalyptic history of the human race, which reads more like a TED-talk on acid.
—— Norman Lewis , SpikedHarari is an intellectual magpie who has plucked theories and data from many disciplines - including philosophy, theology, computer science and biology - to produce a brilliantly original, thought-provoking and important study of where mankind is heading.
—— Saul David , Evening StandardLike its predecessor, which sold in its millions, Homo Deus will have a world audience. Taking over where Sapiens left off, it looks forward to where history, ethics and gargantuan biotech investment might lead us - to the end, Harari thinks, of death, suffering and the very idea of being human.
—— James McConnachie , Sunday Times CultureA remarkable book, full of insights and thoughtful reinterpretations of what we thought we knew about ourselves and our history... One measure of Harari’s achievement is that one has to look a long way back – to 1934, in fact, the year when Lewis Mumford’s Technics and Civilization was published – for a book with comparable ambition and scope.
—— John Naughton , GuardianHarari is an exceptional writer, who seems to have been specially chosen by the muses as a conduit for the zeitgeist… Fascinating reading.
—— Stephen Cave , Times Literary SupplementThis provocative book analyses our present state – and makes startling predictions about the future.
—— Mail on SundaySapiens was a paean to humanity’s powers of collective imagination…with darker notes on how these mega-stories might direct our new, transformative, information and biological technologies. “Is there anything more dangerous than dissatisfied and irresponsible gods who don’t know what they want?” was Harari’s closing line. Homo Deus tries to answer that question, with all the pedagogic and encyclopaedic brilliance of its predecessor.
—— New ScientistAn often thought-provoking and always elegantly written book.
—— Steven Poole , SpectatorBrilliant, mind-expanding…explores where Homo Sapiens might go from here, via his signature blend of science, history, philosophy and every discipline in between.
—— BooksellerHis reasoning is laid out with a lucidity that makes it a joy to read.
—— UK Press SyndicationYuval Noah Harari is the most entertaining and thought-provoking writer of non-fiction at the moment. In Homo Deus he covers broad terrain, touching on everything from Zen Buddhism to the Second World War to how bats read the frequency of echoes, to explore the largest most difficult and sometimes frightening subject of all: our own future. As with Sapiens you finish the book feeling much wiser, but not having noticed any hard work along the way. I loved this book.
—— Matt HaigSapiens showed us where we came from. Homo Deus shows us where we’re going
—— Eastern Daily PressChallenging, readable and thought-provoking… He has provided a smart look at what may be ahead for humanity.
—— TimeExhilarating.
—— Nick Curtis , Evening StandardOriginal, compelling, and provocative.
—— Gary Ogden , Shortlist