What happens when you give me a book on physics?

Do I hide away and avoid reading? Do I read on numb and dumb not understanding a word I read? Does it take me months to get through the non-fiction publish?

Or do I make time to read it, to learn more? Do I carry the hardcover with me everywhere I go like it was the most valuable object in my life? Do I literally have to ration myself to make the experience last longer as has happened with only a handful of reads such as Harry Potter?

Take your guess.

Here's a hint: I'm honestly quite a nerd on the inside.

So, I study physics at school and am on the final course in high school (lukio here in Finland) and as the eight course curriculum is so wide, my physics teacher gave the recommendation to read the legendary A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. He emphasized that we would be able to understand almost everything based on the courses we had studied and that the piece could literally be used as our text book for the final course. Already earlier, as a reading enthusiast who also happens to be very  curious to learn new things, I had added the book to my to-read list. Now the time was more than perfect to pick it up. And I am ever grateful to my teacher for encouraging me to do so at this point -it really motivated and inspired me.

Beginning the read I was mesmerized and inexplicably proud of myself for genuinely understanding so much of the things described. Most was even revision from school -just as my teacher had promised. I literally got palpitations in reading as I was so excited about this. I also became very absorbed in the theories wanting to learn more and more almost not being able to sleep afterwards since my mind was racing hard.

And I'm sure everyone I know heard about this: I went around praising the book to everybody. I apologize to all who had no clue (read: interest in) what I was talking so passionately about.

Even if you don't consider yourself a geek or interested in science and physics I do want to inspire you to give this physical literary masterpiece a chance. The way Hawking writes is both easy to grasp - thanks to his mundane language and commonplace comparisons - and really entertaining and a great experience due to his natural humour and irony.

An easy 5/5 read no matter how much it sticks out of my normal repertoire.

-Anna