THE UNIVERSE IN A NUTSHELL (2001)

Once again, Hawking (A Brief History of Time) tackles the cosmos and brings it down to size. Effortlessly tossing about terms like black holes and p-branes, as well as the appropriately (if unimaginatively) named Theory of Everything, Hawking, Lucas-ian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, takes theoretical physicist's lingo and turns it into (mostly) accessible English. His explanations, helpfully underscored with colorful illustrations and dry-as-a-bone humor, bring a welcome whimsy to mind-bogglers such as supersymmetry and the idea that time is pear-shaped. Using images both familiar and tangible -- string theory on the page looks comfortingly like a childhood Spirograph pattern -- Hawking's Universe is a coffee-table fixture for laymen earthlings and nutty professors alike.