Stephen Hawking has dazzled readers worldwide with a string of bestsellers explo ring the mysteries of the universe. Now, for the first time, the most brilliant cosmologist of our age turns his gaze inwards for a revealing look at his own li fe and intellectual evolution. My Brief History recounts Stephen Hawking’s im probable journey, from his post-war London boyhood to his years of international acclaim and celebrity. Lavishly illustrated with rarely seen photographs, this concise, witty and candid account introduces readers to a Hawking rarely glimpse d in previous books: the inquisitive schoolboy whose classmates nicknamed him ‘E instein’; the jokester who once placed a bet with a colleague over the existence of a black hole; and the young husband and father struggling to gain a foothold in the world of academia. Writing with characteristic humility and humour, H awking opens up about the challenges that confronted him following his diagnosis of motor neurone disease aged twenty-one. Tracing his development as a thinker, he explains how the prospect of an early death urged him onwards through numero us intellectual breakthroughs, and talks about the genesis of his masterpiece A Brief History of Time – one of the iconic books of the twentieth century. Cle ar-eyed, intimate and wise, My Brief History opens a window for the rest of us i nto Hawking’s personal cosmos.