Hawking Hawking

Stephen Hawking was widely recognized as the worlds best physicist and even the most brilliant man alivebut what if his true talent was self-promotion?

When Stephen Hawking died, he was widely recognized as the worlds 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 humanitys greatest genius. Hawking spent his career grappling with deep questions in physics, but his renown didnt 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 himand use them for his own purposes.

A brilliant expose 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.