Well, I've read "The Grand Design" now. I'm not sure it breaks much new ground, and although it's an enjoyable book, I'd say I've read better, clearer explanations of the material that it does cover elsewhere. I followed straight on from reading
"Why Does e=mc˛?" by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw, and while I'd whole-heartedly recommend the latter, I don't think I'd urge people to go out and get the Hawking book.
Without spoiling it for those who do want to read it, though, it does cover pretty much the ground we've been discussing in this thread. A key passage other than the one getting quoted in the press would be the following:
Quote:
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[The] multiverse idea is not a notion invented to account for the miracle of fine-tuning. It is a consequence of the no-boundary condition as well as many other theories of modern cosmology. But if it is true, then the strong anthropic principle can be considered effectively equivalent to the weak one.
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The ebook is not long, but suffered a little on my greyscale reader. There are some very nice colour diagrams and illustrations, which would look great on a tablet, and also which you'd probably want to bookmark and refer back to.
Graham