"The Grand Design" by Stephen Hawking

I started reading several books at the same time (like 4) again, and the first one I finished was from the great Dr. Hawking.  I wanted to read it ever since it came out, but only got around now to getting it on audio.  I was expecting something revolutionary like the "Short history of time" but the book is actually more of a science popularizing kind than anything else.  It is exposition of cosmological theories from the ancient Greeks to modern times.  The last 1/4 of the book deals with Creationist arguments about the necessity of having intelligent designer because some of the physical constants are so finelly tuned, very small alterations would cause life never to appear, as if our universe was created with human beings in mind.  Dr. Hawking, however proves that this universe HAD to exist, i.e. there was never an option of it not existing, regardless of any external influences, if we can even discuss 'external' in the cosmological sense.

It is fascinating how the good professor explains the most complicated facets in Physics like M-theory or string-theory and the "no-boundary condition" by building from the simplest blocks that everyone understands and makes these complicated physical concepts available for the lay reader.  His dry humor comes through quite often and gives that special flavor to the presentation.  Large tracts of the book are dedicated to how scientific thought developed through the ages, the fallacies that were popular but eventually rejected and the constant thread of scientific progress building on previous body of knowledge.  Throughout the entire book one can feel Dr. Hawking's enormous love for humanity and for life itself.  He and his fellow physicists are the modern priest, the shepherds of the ignorant flock of the human race, guiding it towards a better and glorious future of knowledge.