I'm going to echo what others have said about this book. In short, if you are not at least a fairly well-rounded physics student, this book is not for you--which makes for a great deal of frustration for someone like me. I've always been fascinated by Black Holes and Theoretical Physics in general, but as I don't have a "mathematical mind" I've always had to rely on others to explain the theories and concepts to me sans(at least for the most part) the equations. This book, sadly, doesn't provide much of a life raft in that regard. I find Hawking's Information Paradox and the concept of Holographic Space more than intriguing, and I had hoped Susskind and Lindesay's book would've made those subjects more accessible for someone like me, but I've found, as others have noted, page after page of equations and a definite assumption on the part of the authors that the reader has truly done his/her homework and already possesses an "academic" understanding of physics. I have read books by Hawking and others that have proved both informative and entertaining--I have no illusions about ever becoming a physicist myself--and so if anyone knows of another book that could more readily flesh-out the subject of the Information Paradox and Holographic Space please let me know. Thanks. I will read the rest of this book but I doubt I'll be able to glean much from it.