OUGD503 - Studio Brief 1 - Penguin Book Award Adult Non Fiction Cover (4 Days) - A Brief History of Time - Research

Research and Reading 

Key Themes taken from the book 

Use of questions

The author uses lots of questions within the book suggesting not everything is known and that there are multiple possibilities and explanations to things.

Examples include:

In the first chapter
but why do we think we know better?
what do we know about the universe and how do we know it?
where did the universe come from and where is it going?
Did the universe have a beginning, and if so, what happened before then?
What is the nature of time?
Will it ever come to an end?

In the conclusion what is the nature of the universe?
what is our place in it and where did it and we come from?
why is it the way it is?

Use of Exclamation marks 

His use of exclamation marks shows the enthusiasm and suggests a sense of humor around some of the ideas / concepts.

Development of Understanding

The book shows how understanding of the universe has been developed over time by scientists / thinkers and their theories. It also shows how understanding of the universe has be built by expanding and adapting on previous knowledge and theories.

The index of the book lists all the theories and people mentioned in the book for reference.

Inclusion of old and humorous theories

Including original theories about the universe allows the reader to see a funny side to original science and engage the audience. 

'the world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise'

'What is the tortoise standing on?'

'But it's turtles all the way down!'

'most people would find the picture of our universe as an infinite tower of tortoises ridiculous'

Uses Similes  

In the book similes are used to explain different and difficult concepts making the book more understandable.

Galaxies are moving directly away from one another. As a balloon expands the distance between any two spots increases, but there is no spot that can be said to be at the center of the expansion.

'String theory is like plumbing in a way' 

If an astronaut was to fall into a black hole its mass would increase but the extra energy would be put back into the universe as radiation. 'the astronaut will be 'recycled''

Pulses of light spread out from their original point in space - time. 'It will be like the ripples that spread out on the surface of a pond when a stone is thrown in. The ripples spread out as a circle that gets bigger as time goes on.' If visualised in a three dimensional way the expanding ripples will create 'a cone whose tip is at the place and time at which the stone hit the water'

A book with one equation

He was told not to put any equations in the book because it would halve sales, however he put one in Einsteins E = mc2

The start to finish of the universe

The books title 'from big bang to black holes' reflects the journey through the content as well as reflecting how the universe began and will end.

The Big Bang would have been infinitely small and infinely dense.

Time had a beginning at the big bang, but before it would not have been defined.

The universe must have a beginning and possible an end.

The role of God 

Tries to explain God in relation to the science and does not argue that there isn't one.

One theory suggests there will be a set of laws to show the evolution of the universe, however it does not state how these would be chosen. It is questioned whether Gd would choose the choose the pieces and configure them then not intervene afterwards .

Einstein 'How much choice did God have in constructing the Universe?'

However there theory of space - time questions this idea. If the universe is self contained with no singularities or boundaries and described with a unified theory, there would be no initial options for God to choose, however he would be able to choose the laws that the universe obeyed. Although these would be limited because of the unified theory. 

Does a unified theory bring about its own existence? Or does it need a creator?

God could still have created the universe but it would not have been created before the big bang. 

A Unified Theory 

Explores the concept of trying to find / questioning whether it is possible to have a unified theory about the universe.

It is difficult to come up with a theory to describe the universe in one so instead it is broken up into bits to invent a number of partial theories.

Partial theories allow for accurate predictions in most situations, it is suggested that the need for a unified theory is perhaps not needed.

At the moment working on combining quantum mechanics and the general theory of relativity to create the quantum theory of gravity.

The general theory of relativity describes the force of gravity and the large scale structure of the universe from a mile up millions and millions of miles.

Quantum mechanics look at things on very small scales.

The two theories are currently inconsistent.

String theories can be used to explain both of these.

String theories need extra space - time dimensions between 10 - 26 for consistent rather than four in.

In string theories objects have a length but no other dimension and do not occupy one point in space, like an infinately thin string.

Strings may be joined in a loop to form closed strings or they can have ends to make open strings.

Open strings are represented as a line called a world sheet. The world sheet of an open string is visualised as a strip.

Closed strings are represented a a looped line to form a world sheet. The world sheet of a closed string is a cylinder.    

Interesting points from the Book

Both the theory of tortoises and Superstring theory are theories of the universe however one is more matematical, but neither have been observed.

Over time more regularities and laws were discovered and it was thought that eventually there would be a set of laws to show the evolution of the universe precisely.

The general theory of relativity suggests that there was astate of infinite density at the big bang and there will be another in the big crunch, which would be the end of time.

The whole universe may not collapse but singularities in areas in the universe could collapse to form black holes, which would end time for things that fell into them.

Combining quantum mechanics and general relativity suggests that space - time may be a finite, four dimensional space without singularities or boundaries similar to the surface of the earth with more dimensions. This is the quantum theory of gravity.

An event is something that happens at a point in space and at a particular time so it is described by four numbers or coordinates.

The universe seems to be the same in every direction, as long as it is viewed on a large scale compared to the distances between galaxies and ignores the differences on small scales. 

Stephen Hawkings Theory Video

Whats at the centre of black holes?

Black holes are dense with strong gravity which means everything is pulled into them including light.
In the centre of a black hole there is a singularity, which contains lots of matter in a small space which makes the force of gravity infinite.
Things are crushed to infinite density which creates a hole in the universe.

What happens at the edge of a black hole?

A vacuum is full of particles and anti particles that move in and out of existence.
At a black hole one particle will fall in and will allow the other particle in the pair to escape creating Hawkings radiation.
The ones that fall into the black hole have a negative mass causing the black hole to get smaller until explodes and it is gone.

Why is Stephen Hawking our most famous living scientist?

Everything in the universe started from a singularity which exploded in the Big Bang to create the universe.

Understanding String theory 

If a material is cut up into small pieces eventually find molecules with atoms inside these. Atoms are made up of electrons, neutrons and protons with smaller quarks inside these.

String theory challenges the basic ingredients of things.
Suggests that inside these particles there are string like filaments of vibrating energy.
Different vibrations determine the different particles.







The General Theory of Relativity suggests that the movement of large things is stable.
Quantum mechanics looks at small things which have a more jumpy movement.
There needs to be a unifying theory of movement of both small and large things.
String theory explains the motion of both.

Existing Book Cover Designs 

The title typography within the cover creates a sense of science fiction reflecting the froward thinking theories within the book. The type is also bold and eye catching creating impact for the viewer.

The central alignment of the review on the cover is at odds with the rest of the design which is justified. This makes it stand out and not fit with the rest of the design. 

The use of the thin line drawings reflect scientific diagrams. Overlaying these on a three dimensional texture / object allows the idea of different dimensions to be explored in the same space.

The arrangement of the title onto three lines and the use of the a larger point size on the middle line creates a sense of expansion and contraction as the type gets larger and reduces. This reflects the theory that the universe is gradually expanding then at some point will contract again, whilst also describing how the universe will end as it began.  

The use of a sans serif typeface reflects a historical sense to the ideas within the book and shows how these theories have developed over time.

- The imagery for the cover is a three dimensional geomertric illustration that reflects / is reminiscent of some of the concepts within the book e.g space time diagrams and the infinite universe theory

- The sentences on the cover are broken down so that the line lengths become shorter at the end of the title and beginning of the authors name creating a stepped effect, this combined with the central alignment of  both the type and image, draws the eye inwards to the 'star' in the middle of the cover. This creates a sense that you are moving in towards the central star reflecting the concept of infinite universe theory which suggests that stars always collapse in on themselves. 

- The use of a full bleed black background reflects space as well as suggesting it is going off the page also, similar to how the universe is infinite.

This cover suggests the concept of the birth of the universe and that of the blackhole which is described in the title 'from the Big Bang to Black Holes'. The radiating circles from the top left corner create a sense of explosion suggesting the big bang, alternatively this could also explore the concept of an expanding universe. The black dot on the outskirts of the main image, within the title, reflects a black hole. Joining both the black hole and the big bang (explosion) reflects the link between the Big Bang and Black holes within the title quite literally through a connecting line, but subtly. 

The use of a light drawing for the cover image reflects a sense of alchemy, and fluidity that is seen in the creation of the universe and the interaction of elements within the universe. This also mimics the fluid visualisations of string theory (which involves vibrating strings) seen within some of the videos about the subject.