A Briefer History of Time is a science humor book by American astronomer Eric Schulman. In it, Schulman presents humorous summaries of what he claims are the fifty-three most important events since the beginning of time.Publishers Weekly, Volume 244, Issue 32 (August 10, 1998).Science News, Volume 155, Number 22 (May 29, 1999).Mercury Magazine, Volume 29, Number 2 (March/April 2000). The title and cover are a parody of Stephen Hawking's book A Brief History of Time. Coincidentally, Hawking later wrote a "sequel" entitled A Briefer History of Time. Hawking's publisher Bantam Books was aware that the title had already been used in a popular science book, but proceeded anyway, stating, "The other book was published six years ago, and Professor Hawking is an international figure." Hill, Paul. Times Higher Education Supplement (May 27, 2005).Walden, Celia. The Daily Telegraph (May 31, 2005).
In 2004, the author released the book under a creative commons license, CC BY-NC-ND 1.0,A Briefer History of Time "CC BY-ND-NC 1.0" (archived 2004) as a free download on his website.
Description Schulman's book is intended to be both humorous and educational. It explores why, even though the Universe is expanding, finding a parking space does not get any easier. Furthermore, the book contains a pulp version of the origin of life ("It was a dark and stormy night. In the shallow tide pool, a nucleic acid base collided with a sugar molecule. An amino acid sank beneath the murky depths . . . .").
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