A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes
by Stephen Hawking (1988)

Cruising a White Elephant sale in January (2004), I happened on this gem. Heard a lot about this book, but never had the opportunity to read it (or even buy it) until now. All I can say is wow! All those high-level physics classes that I took nearly 20 years ago (a long time ago; or short in cosmic terms) never was so succinctly and clearly explained in layman's terms (i.e. no Calculus) like this book. It's amazing how these physicists have been pulling these equations and theories together in hopes of defining the universe, some targeting a grand unification theory (or set of theories). From gravity to space and time, to black holes and strings to 10-dimensional existence--it's all covered here and wrapped together fairly cohesively. The concepts get so "cosmic" that they delve into philosophical and religious ramifications of human existence. I used to think that science and religion were mutually exclusive, but at least in Stephen Hawking's brilliant mind, they may eventually be shown to be one and the same.