The Theory of Everything
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The Theory of Everything: The Origin and Fate of the Universe is an unauthorized 2002 book by Stephen Hawking (ISBN 1893224791). It was assembled from seven lectures on audiotape by Hawking originally released in 1994 under the title, Stephen W. Hawking's Life Works: The Cambridge Lectures (ISBN 1558009868). The book's title is in reference to the theory of everything, a physicists' jargon term for a theory in physics which unifies the four fundamental forces of nature: gravity, the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, and the electromagnetic force.
Several years ago Stephen Hawking said that there was a fifty-fifty chance that an actual unification of the four fundamental forces - a Theory of Everything - would be achieved. Recently, however, he has become a bit more pessimistic about the chances of that happening.
Hawking's own website, on the page http://www.hawking.org.uk/info/iindex.html, makes the following comment:
- "IMPORTANT NOTE: It has come to our attention that the book 'The Theory of Everything: The Origin and Fate of the Universe' has been published. Professor Hawking would like to make it clear that he has not endorsed this book. The text was written by him many years ago, however the material has already been published in books such as 'A Brief History of Time'. A complaint was made to the Federal Trade Commission in the US in the hope that they would prevent the publication. We would urge you not to purchase this book in the belief that Professor Hawking was involved in its creation."
- A Theory of Everything: An Integral Vision for Business, Politics, Science and Spirituality, 2000 (ISBN 1570628556) is an unrelated book by philosopher Ken Wilber