Hawking's #1 Bestseller: God No Longer Necessary

Stephen Hawking's new book The Grand Design has immediately shot up to #1 on the N.Y. Times Bestseller List. One of the reasons for all the hype is Hawking's claim that God no longer needs to be the answer to questions concerning the origin of the universe, which is a departure from his conclusions re: divinity in the book that made him famous twenty-two years ago, A Brief History of Time (sold over 9 million copies -- for a scientist appealing to the masses, that's pretty remarkable).

Anywho, seems as if a lot of people think his work on The Simpsons (which was masterful! -- see right) is more skillful than his newest book. If you're interested in science, rub elbows with people who are, or you just care to reach an atheist neighbor who may be looking for reasons not to believe, Professor Edgar Andrews has a great, two-part review of Hawking's new bestselling book, which can help us make some sense of all this. And even I can semi-understand this review (and I barely passed any science class I took):

Review - Part I

Review - Part II