He is famous for overcoming the greatest of odds, a crippling disability that leaves him in a wheelchair with but the flick of a cheek muscle to communicate, and yet he has communicated the profoundest thoughts about the universe, about black holes, about life itself.
He is the British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, best known for his best-selling book “A Brief History of Time,” and soon he will be coming out with another book, “George’s Secret Key to the Universe,” due to arrive in U.S. bookstores later this month after already debuting in the UK.
But "George's Secret" is quite unlike "Brief History." It is a novel, it's aimed at kids 8-12, and it has a co-author: his daughter, Lucy. It's actually the first of a trilogy for kids, and the series ought to do quite well, if not quite up to the "Harry Potter" level.
"George's Secret" is already No. 11 on the children’s hardback fiction bestseller list from the Bookseller, a British trade magazine.
As one might suspect, "George's Secret" is about a fellow named George, a boy, and his neighbors, who include a scientist called Eric, his daughter Annie and a super computer called Cosmos. This mighty computer whisks George deep into space to the very edge of a black hole.
But what makes the book most unusual is that unlike most science fiction, it actually contains proper science, and this was daughter Lucy's idea.
In fact the book was her idea. As she puts it, “I thought it was very important to weave the science into the storyline because I wanted to make it entertaining and creative so that 'George’s Secret Key' might appeal to children who wouldn’t otherwise pick up a book on physics."
She could pull all this off, of course, because of her connections at the University of Cambridge, and her father, regarded as one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists since Einstein. Hawking is the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, a title once held by Sir Isaac Newton.
Hawking sprang to fame outside of the academic circles back in 1988 when his book “A Brief History of Time” became a best-seller worldwide, with more than 9 million copies sold.
His many achievements have been made in the most difficult of circumstances. Hawking, 65, suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a degenerative motor neuron disease that has kept him wheelchair bound for decades and through the years has made communicating ever more difficult. After a tracheotomy 22 years ago, he turned to using a voice synthesizer, but with the increasing paralysis he can no longer operate it with his hands but now must do so by twitching a muscle in his cheek.
It would be nice to relate that Lucy is herself a child, and in co-authoring "George’s Secret Key" she is relating to her peers, but it is not so. Lucy is a grown woman, 36, and is already the author of two other books, both adult novels.
She is in fact one of three Hawking children, and she first got the idea as a means of bringing her father’s ideas to her 9-year-old son.
In order to accurately wrap the science into the story, Lucy would write passages, and then consult her father and Christophe Galfard, a former PhD student of her father’s, about the science aspects. It proved daunting, reducing these great, complicated ideas of how the universe works into simple words a child could understand.
Unlike the typical novel, "George’s Secret Key" tells the story of George but also includes boxed out sections that explain some of the scientific concepts.
“It is quite an ambitious project,” Caroline Horn tells Media Life. Horn is the Bookseller’s children’s news editor. She says the story is compelling, and so's the science, particularly for older children. “I think the book will do well and that over time, sales will build.”
Meanwhile, elsewhere in popcult, The Rock’s new movie “The Game Plan” was No. 1 at the box offices over the weekend, bringing in $22.7 million.
In DVD rentals for the week ended Sept. 23, according to IMDb.com, new releases “We Are Marshall” and “The Condemned” topped the chart, with last week’s No. 1, “Blades of Glory,” falling to No. 3.
On iTunes this morning, Soulja Boy’s “Crank That” was No. 1 for the fourth straight week, with Feist’s “1234” at No. 2.
And in books, Alan Greenspan’s “The Age of Turbulence” debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times’ hardcover nonfiction best-sellers list for the week ended Sept. 22, and also No. 1 on USA Today’s book chart for the week ended Sept. 23.
|
TOP MOVIES
Weekend Box Office Estimates
Weekend of September 28-30, 2007
|
|
Rank
|
MOVIE
|
Engagements
|
Box office (millions)
|
|
1
|
The Game Plan (
Buena Vista)
|
3,103
|
$22.68
|
|
2
|
The Kingdom (Universal)
|
2,793
|
$17.69
|
|
3
|
Resident Evil: Extinction (Screen Gems)
|
2,828
|
$8.00
|
|
4
|
Good Luck Chuck (Lionsgate)
|
2,612
|
$6.30
|
|
5
|
3:10 to
Yuma (Lionsgate)
|
3,006
|
$4.16
|
|
6
|
The Brave One (Warner Bros.)
|
2,837
|
$3.76
|
|
7
|
Mr. Woodcock (New Line)
|
2,195
|
$3.00
|
|
8
|
Eastern Promises (Focus Features)
|
1,408
|
$2.89
|
|
9
|
Sydney White (universal)
|
2,106
|
$2.69
|
|
10
|
Across the Universe (Sony)
|
339
|
$2.05
|
|
Source: Yahoo Movies
|
|
IMDb TOP DVD RENTALS
Week ending September 23, 2007
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
Last week
|
|
1
|
We Are
Marshall
|
-
|
|
2
|
The Condemned
|
-
|
|
3
|
Blades of Glory
|
1
|
|
4
|
Death Proof
|
-
|
|
3
|
Georgia Rule
|
2
|
|
6
|
Delta Farce
|
3
|
|
7
|
Fracture
|
4
|
|
8
|
Perfect Stranger
|
5
|
|
9
|
Wild Hogs
|
6
|
|
10
|
Vacancy
|
8
|
|
Source: IMDB
|
|
ITUNES TOP 8 SONG DOWNLOADS
for week ended Monday, October 1, 2007
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
|
1
|
Crank That, Soulja Boy
|
|
2
|
1234, Feist
|
|
3
|
How Far We’ve Come, Matchbox Twenty
|
|
4
|
Bubbly, Colbie Caillat
|
|
5
|
Rockstar, Nickelback
|
|
6
|
Take Me There, Rascal Flatts
|
|
7
|
Me Love, Sean Kingston
|
|
8
|
Wake Up Call, Maroon 5
|
|
Source: iTunes
|
|
NEW YORK
TIMES BESTSELLING BOOKS
Week ending September 22, 2007
|
|
Fiction (hardback)
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
Last week
|
Weeks on chart
|
|
1
|
You’ve Been Warned
by James Patterson and Howard Roughan
|
1
|
2
|
|
2
|
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
|
2
|
18
|
|
3
|
Dead Heat
by Dick Francis and Felix Francis
|
-
|
1
|
|
4
|
Making Money
by Terry Pratchett
|
-
|
1
|
|
5
|
Pontoon
by Garrison Keillor
|
3
|
2
|
|
Nonfiction (hardback)
|
|
1
|
The Age of Turbulence by Alan Greenspan
|
-
|
1
|
|
2
|
If I Did It
by the Goldman family
|
3
|
2
|
|
3
|
Giving by Bill Clinton
|
2
|
3
|
|
4
|
Louder Than Words
by Jenny McCarthy
|
-
|
1
|
|
5
|
The Nine
by Jeffrey Toobin
|
-
|
1
|
|
Fiction (paperback)
|
|
1
|
The Collectors
by David Baldacci
|
1
|
3
|
|
2
|
Killer Dreams
by Iris Johansen
|
3
|
3
|
|
3
|
74 Seaside Avenue
by Debbie Macomber
|
2
|
3
|
|
4
|
Act of Treason by Vince Flynn
|
5
|
3
|
|
5
|
Innocent in Death by J.D. Robb
|
-
|
3
|
|
Nonfiction (paperback)
|
|
1
|
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
|
1
|
35
|
|
2
|
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
|
-
|
122
|
|
3
|
90 Minutes in Heaven
by Don Piper with Cecil Murphey
|
2
|
48
|
|
4
|
The
Glass
Castle by Jeannette Walls
|
3
|
89
|
|
5
|
Three Cups of Tea
by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
|
4
|
34
|
|
Source: New York Times
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
USA
TODAY BESTSELLING BOOKS
Week ending September 23, 2007
|
|
Rank
|
TITLE
|
Last week
|
|
1
|
The Age of Turbulence by Alan Greenspan
|
-
|
|
2
|
You’ve Been Warned
by James Patterson and Howard Roughan
|
1
|
|
3
|
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
|
8
|
|
4
|
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
|
42
|
|
5
|
If I Did It
by the Goldman family
|
30
|
|
6
|
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
|
7
|
|
7
|
The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
|
3
|
|
8
|
The Collectors
by David Baldacci
|
4
|
|
9
|
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
|
6
|
|
10
|
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
|
10
|
|
Source:
USA Today
|
