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A Briefer History of Time (Schulman book)

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A Briefer History of Time
Cover of A Briefer History of Time
AuthorEric Schulman
LanguageEnglish
SubjectHistory of the universe
Genre
PublishedMay 1999 (W. H. Freeman and Company)
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (trade paperback)
Pages171
ISBN0-7167-3389-7
LC ClassQB982 .S38 1999

A Briefer History of Time is a science humor book by the American astronomer Eric Schulman. In this book, Schulman presents humorous summaries of what he claims are the fifty-three most important events since the beginning of time.[1][2][3] The title and cover are a parody of Stephen Hawking's book A Brief History of Time. Coincidentally, Hawking would later write a "sequel" entitled A Briefer History of Time. Hawking's publisher Bantam Books was aware the title had already been used in a popular science book, but went ahead since "The other book was published six years ago, and Professor Hawking is an international figure." [4][5]

In 2004 the author released the book under a creative commons license, CC BY-NC-ND 1.0,[6] as free download on his website.

Description

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Laughing while learning is the intent of Schulman's book. The book shows why, even though the Universe is expanding, it doesn't get any easier to find a parking space. Furthermore, there is the pulp version of the origin of life ("It was a dark and stormy night. In the shallow tide pool, a nucleic acid base collided with a sugar molecule. An amino acid sank beneath the murky depths . . . .").

References

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  1. ^ Publishers Weekly, Volume 244, Issue 32 (August 10, 1998).
  2. ^ Science News, Volume 155, Number 22 (May 29, 1999).
  3. ^ Mercury Magazine, Volume 29, Number 2 (March/April 2000).
  4. ^ Hill, Paul. Times Higher Education Supplement (May 27, 2005).
  5. ^ Walden, Celia. The Daily Telegraph (May 31, 2005).
  6. ^ A Briefer History of Time "CC BY-ND-NC 1.0" (archived 2004)