Book Review: George's Secret Key to the Universe

There are some books that I pick up just because of the author. Sometimes this leads to reading books that I wouldn't typically read. In this case the name was Stephen Hawking and his daughter and the book was "George's Secret Key to the Universe".

I don't know how the collaboration went on this book. This isn't what you typically expect from Professor Hawking. Did he advise on the science while his daughter wrote the story or was the partnership more equal? It's a lot more readable than "Universe in a Nutshell". Of course, it's also intended for pre-teens. I've got no real reason to suspect that Steve (I call him Steve) couldn't write for kids.

The book is about some kid named George. His parents are about as close as you can be to a Luddite these days. They're a couple of uber hippie eco freaks who grow their own food, keep a pig in the back yard, and do with as little as possible. They don't even have a computer and that's what really bothers George.

Next door is a big, old, empty, spooky house that George has been told never to go near. And he doesn't until the pig busts through the fence and George has to recover it. That's when we meet the other major characters. An astronomer, his wife, and his imaginative girl have recently moved in. They have an intelligent computer that can open wormholes to other parts of the universe.

This is where I think Steve (I call him Steve) comes in. The astronomer talks about space and various astronomical phenomena in a simple and easy to understand manner and gets it right. The book also contains photos taken by the Hubble Telescope and sections elaborating on stars, black holes, and the like in ways that would have been awkward to try to fit in the main narrative.

Soon the school announces a science fair with a computer being the first prize. George consults with the astronomer to work on his entry in the fair. But soon an evil teacher finds out that his old friend and current nemesis, Eric the Astronomer, is in town. He vows to steal Cosmos, the name of Eric's computer.

And, of course, there are bullies. There are always bullies in books for this age group.

I recommend this book for anyone old enough to read Beverly Cleary level stuff. If you're the sort that reads to your kids, I can recommend it for that, too. There's lots of illustrations and, of course, the Hubble photos I mentioned before.