meh . . . this books offers a summary of some of the basics of quantum theory, relativity theory, cosmology and M-theory, but there is nothing at all new here (at least if you're a reasonably well informed layperson who keeps up with the current state of affairs in physics and cosmology)

one incredibly ridiculous item that really jumped out at me was the proclamation, in the second paragraph of the book, that "philosophy is dead" . . . Hawking and his co-author, Mlodinow are two of the most brilliant scientists alive today, but for them to make such a statement about philosophy reveals a gross ignorance of the work that contemporary philosophers are doing