史蒂芬·霍金任劍橋大學盧卡斯數學教授達30年之久，接受過許多奬項和榮譽，包括最近的總統自由奬章。他為大眾撰寫瞭經典的《時間簡史》、《霍金講演錄》、《果殼中的宇宙》以及《時間簡史（普及版）》等。他住在英國劍橋。　　列納德·濛洛迪諾是加州理工學院的物理學傢和暢銷書《醉漢的腳步》、《歐幾裏得的窗口》和《費恩曼的彩虹》的作者。他還為《星際迷航：下一代》撰寫劇本。他住在加州帕薩迪納。

《大設計》：宇宙何時並如何起始？我們為何在此？為何是有非無？何為實在本性？為何自然定律被這麼精細地調諧至讓我們這樣的生命存在？以及最後，我們宇宙的錶觀“大設計”能否證實使事物運行的仁慈的造物主？科學能否提供另一種解釋？有關宇宙起源以及生命本身的最基本的問題，曾經為哲學的範圍，現在占據著科學傢、哲學傢和神學傢相遇但卻自說自話的領地。在霍金和濛洛迪諾的新書中，他們以精彩簡樸的非專業語言錶述有關宇宙奧秘的最新的科學思考。他們在《大設計》中解釋，根據量子論，宇宙不僅具有單獨的存在或曆史，而且同時存在每種可能的曆史。把這種思想應用於宇宙整體，就對因果概念本身提齣疑問。然而，霍金和濛洛迪諾描述的“從頂到底”的宇宙學方法會說，過去沒有采取確定的形式這一事實意味著，我們因觀察曆史而創造曆史，而非曆史創造我們。作者進一步解釋，我們自身是宇宙極早期的量子漲落的産物，並且展現量子論如何預言“多宇宙”——該思想是說，我們的宇宙隻不過是自發地從無中齣現的許多宇宙中的一個，每個宇宙具有不同的自然定律。霍金和濛洛迪諾在這過程中詰問實在的傳統概念，提齣“依賴模型”的實在論，這是我們能夠希望找到的最佳答案。他們以對M理論的精彩評價來結束全書，M理論解釋瞭製約我們和我們宇宙的定律，它還是完備的“萬物理論”的目前可行的僅有候選者。他們寫道，如果被證實的話，它將是愛因斯坦尋求的統一理論，也是人類理性的終極勝利。

這是一部簡潔的驚人的附有大量插圖的指南，導嚮正在改變我們的宇宙觀並危及我們最神聖的信仰係統的一些發現。沒有任何一本書像《大設計》這樣信息豐富，這樣刺激。

THE FIRST MAJOR WORK IN NEARLY A DECADE BY ONE OF THE WORLD’S GREAT THINKERS—A MARVELOUSLY CONCISE BOOK WITH NEW ANSWERS TO THE ULTIMATE QUESTIONS OF LIFE When and how did the universe begin? Why are we here? Why is there something rather than nothing? What is the nature of reality? Why are the laws of nature so finely tuned as to allow for the existence of beings like ourselves? And, finally, is the apparent “grand design” of our universe evidence of a benevolent creator who set things in motion—or does science offer another explanation?

The most fundamental questions about the origins of the universe and of life itself, once the province of philosophy, now occupy the territory where scientists, philosophers, and theologians meet—if only to disagree. In their new book, Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow present the most recent scientific thinking about the mysteries of the universe, in nontechnical language marked by both brilliance and simplicity.

In The Grand Design they explain that according to quantum theory, the cosmos does not have just a single existence or history, but rather that every possible history of the universe exists simultaneously. When applied to the universe as a whole, this idea calls into question the very notion of cause and effect. But the “top-down” approach to cosmology that Hawking and Mlodinow describe would say that the fact that the past takes no definite form means that we create history by observing it, rather than that history creates us. The authors further explain that we ourselves are the product of quantum fluctuations in the very early universe, and show how quantum theory predicts the “multiverse”—the idea that ours is just one of many universes that appeared spontaneously out of nothing, each with different laws of nature.

Along the way Hawking and Mlodinow question the conventional concept of reality, posing a “model-dependent” theory of reality as the best we can hope to find. And they conclude with a riveting assessment of M-theory, an explanation of the laws governing us and our universe that is currently the only viable candidate for a complete “theory of everything.” If confirmed, they write, it will be the unified theory that Einstein was looking for, and the ultimate triumph of human reason.

A succinct, startling, and lavishly illustrated guide to discoveries that are altering our understanding and threatening some of our most cherished belief systems, The Grand Design is a book that will inform—and provoke—like no other.

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大設計