edom. He found his homework so easy that he never broke a sweat, even in advanced courses. While fellow students toiled for a week on one take-home test with 13 questions, solving perhaps a problem and a half, Hawking procrastinated. Then, on the day the test was due, he began to work. Finishing the test in a few hours.Then, early in his 20s, came the first signs of Lou Gehrig's disease. Hawking began spilling drinks. Falling down. One day while skating with his family, he collapsed and could not get up. Tests confirmed the worst. Apparently, he had contracted the disease at an earlier age, but the symptoms had not appeared until that point. Hawking knew the ailment might quickly prove fatal; half of all those diagnosed with ALS die within three years of its onset. Knowing the odds were against him Hawking fell deeper into drinking and depression and spent hours listening to the doom-filled operas of Richard Wagner, according to some accounts. Hawking came out of his depression after meeting future wife Jane Wilde and finished what he calls the best work of his life, finishing school at Cambridge University.As his medical expenses began to pile on, Hawking had to use the money of wealthy philanthropists to cover his children’s tuition expenses. He also published frequent articles in scholarly journals, though these were of little help financially, as they offered more prestige than payment. Simon Mitton, Hawking's editor at Cambridge University Press, had long encouraged him to write a book to help ordinary people. This book would become a best seller. A Brief History of Time. I will be explaining this book further in this documentation. Unfortunately, Cambridge University Press could offer only pocket change for the book when Hawking finally conceded to write it. Fortunately, there was soon a serious American offer on the table: $250,000. Both a book agent and an editor at Bantam had read of Hawking in a Sunday newspaper. A...
