The sub-title of this book is an apt summary of the contents of this soulful and intellectual memoir – “A Memoir of Friendship and Physics”.
The author of this biography, Leonard Mlodinow, is the man who has co-authored “The Grand Design” and “A Briefer History of Time”, both of which were follow-up’s to Hawking’s perenially famous “A Brief History of Time”. This biography covers the story of the drafting of “The Grand Design” and branches out into various aspects of Stephen’s life: his days as an undergraduate student at both Oxford and Cambridge, his diagnosis with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), his life and work in theoretical physics after that, the interwoven stories of his family and his carers (who, more often than not, ended up being his family) and his eventual death.
The biography starts and ends at Hawking’s funeral in 2018, which seems like a metaphor for how death, and the uncertainty of it, tended to linger around Stephen during his exceptionally long time with us (55 years post diagnosis, for a disease that lends you an average life expectancy of just 2-5 years). However, Stephen being Stephen, the time between his diagnosis and his death is packed to the hilt with new theories, meticulous brain-work and a constant devotion for theoretical physics. And a bottle of good wine.
The author also strives to introduce us to the human behind the physics: the scarily smart and incredibly impish man who loved his pithy humour as much he loved physics. It also allows us, the common reader, an opportunity to meet Hawking at his workplace and at his dining table and at the many intimate moments which unfortunately end up becoming public ones due to disability. This book is also a primer and a jumping board to get on to reading more of Hawking’s work, if you, like me, don’t belong to this field of Physics but still retain your curiosity about the workings of this universe we exist in. Stephen’s work on the Hawking radiation, his theories about the nature of existence of black holes, the use of Richard Feynman’s work and other such physicists are described in this biography with great detail.
One of the aspects of the book that is a permanent backdrop is Stephen’s adaptation to communication over the years, thanks to the progression of his disease and the consequent degeneration. Initially, he used to end up speaking in a garbled fashion, and family and close associates who could decipher his words accompanied him to lectures and seminars where he spoke in order to translate to the audience. However, post the bout of pneumonia that lead to a tracheostomy (creating a hole in the neck in order to insert a tube to let air directly enter the lungs), he lost his ability to speak. Which then lead to the famous communication through his eyebrows and grimaces (yes and no respectively). The use of his twitching cheek to communicate at a speed of six words per minute, which changed in a net positive and then later to a net negative way due to the development in technologies and the progression of his disease is memorialised in the movie “The Theory of Everything” starring Eddie Redmayne.
Given Stephen’s limitations and the effort required for him to communicate, you’d think that, in our work (writing The Grand Design), he’d have confined himself to just the most important points and large-scale concerns, But that wasn’t the case. He seemed to find no point too small or minor to debate, and no discussion too long to be worthwhile. Sometimes we’d discuss every sentence on a page.
The end of his life may have often seemed near, but he didn’t let that rush him.
“Stephen Hawking”, Leonard Mlodinow
Apart from the physics aspect of the book (which I’ve only partly understood, and I don’t feel authoritative enough to cover in this review), another important aspect of Stephen’s life that is written about in this book is his family. More specifically, his lovers. To be diagnosed with ALS at the age of 21, the prime of your youth, is harsh. Stephen did indeed end up going through the five stages of grief. However, the silver lining to this reality was his girlfriend and to-be wife, Jane Wilde. He eventually married her and they stayed together for almost 20 years. Post the divorce, Stephen married one of his nurses, Elaine Mason. This relationship survived for 10 years amid allegations of Stephen being physically abused by Elaine, which were adamantly refuted by Stephen himself. This book also covers the story of his third love, Diana, which is a heartbreaking one too. The book doesn’t exhaustively cover the feelings and emotions of these three women, but it does help the reader ponder over the challenges of dating and loving a physically challenged person, and the emotional toll it takes to hug someone who cannot hug you back.
And lastly, another major aspect of the book is Mlodinow’s own experience of co-authoring a book with a man who is a genius beyond compare but whose discourse is limited to the extent of technology and the help he receives. Be it learning 20 questions to filter out what Stephen wanted to say, or finishing his sentences for him, I found that this narration by Mlodinow was the most intimate one: a theoretical physicist in discussion with someone who can make his ideas more accessible to the world and thus in turn ensure that these ideas remain immortal. And also lead to creation of books that will help to pay the medical bills and numerous carers and medical facilities required.
Among other things mentioned in the book, there are instances showcasing of Stephen’s displeasure to a lack of accessibility for disabled people in public infrastructure and his gratitude for the carers and nurses who attended to his every need and stuck to a much needed and calm-inducing schedule. It has been acknowledged by doctors that one of the reasons for Stephen’s longevity is his fame, which ultimately ended up gaining him lots of book advances and royalties to be able to afford the care that he needed. In my opinion, however, this relationship he shared with his team of carers was a symbiotic one. This one quote in the book really speaks volumes about the medical profession:
What you do for a newborn baby you did for Stephen. All of us.
When I came off a shift and he was still alive, I felt I’d done a good shift. Because he was alive. Because I’d kept him alive.
Viv, one of Stephen’s carers
I’ll end this review with one final line: This book will challenge you intellectually and emotionally. Intellectually, in an obvious sense. Emotionally, in a way that will ask you to be empathetic, and not just sympathetic, about the life of this brilliant, brilliant man.
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