Stephen Hawking's a Brief History of Time: A Reader's Companion

There seems little justification for what Hawking himself wryly calls in the foreword ``The Book of The Film of The Book'' other than the marketing opportunity presented by this tie-in to the tie-in to the science bestseller of the century (approximately 5.5 million copies sold to date). The film is the forthcoming A Brief History of Time , a much-anticipated documentary by noted director Errol Morris about the life and scientific thought of the most original physicist since Albert Einstein. But this ``reader's companion'' offers nothing but excerpts from the filmmaker's interviews with Hawking's parents, friends and colleagues, served up with bits of biography and generic graphics insufficient to the science. A pop-up guide to the Big Bang would have served Hawking's audience as well as this souvenir program. ( June )