Stephen Hawking was widely recognized as the world's best physicist and even the most brilliant man alive-but what if his true talent was self-promotion?

When Stephen Hawking died, he was widely recognized as the world's best physicist, and even its smartest person.

He was neither.

In Hawking Hawking, science journalist Charles Seife explores how Stephen Hawking came to be thought of as humanity's greatest genius. Hawking spent his career grappling with deep questions in physics, but his renown didn't rest on his science. He was a master of self-promotion, hosting parties for time travelers, declaring victory over problems he had not solved, and wooing billionaires. In a wheelchair and physically dependent on a cadre of devotees, Hawking still managed to captivate the people around him--and use them for his own purposes.

A brilliant exposé and powerful biography, Hawking Hawking uncovers the authentic Hawking buried underneath the fake. It is the story of a man whose brilliance in physics was matched by his genius for building his own myth.

Author: Charles Seife
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 04/06/2021
Pages: 400
Weight: 1.35lbs
Size: 9.40h x 5.90w x 1.50d
ISBN: 9781541618374


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 01/11/2021
Kirkus Reviews 02/15/2021
Booklist 03/01/2021 pg. 6
Library Journal 04/01/2021 pg. 80
Shelf Awareness 04/06/2021
Choice 01/01/2022

About the Author
Charles Seife is a professor of journalism at NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and has been writing about science and mathematics for nearly three decades. The author of numerous books, including the bestselling Zero, he lives in New York City.