Based on his acclaimed new book with science writer Leonard Mlodinow, The Grand Design, Professor Hawking draws on more than 40 years of his own research and a recent series of observations and theoretical breakthroughs to reveal an original and controversial theory. He argues that scientific obsession with formulating a single new model may be misplaced; Hawking holds the position that by synthesizing existing theories, scientists may discover the key to understanding the universe's deepest mysteries.