The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory

String theory, as it is often called, is the key to the Unified Field Theory that eluded Einstein for more than 30 years. String theory proclaims that all of the wondrous happenings in the universe, from the frantic dancing of of subatomic quarks to the swirling of galaxies, are reflections of one grand physical principle and manifestations of one single entity: microscopically tiny vibrating loops of energy, a billionth of a billionth the size of an atom. Finally, the century-old antagonism between the large and the small - General Relativity and Quantum Theory - is resolved. Physicists and mathematicians throughout the world are working on one of the most ambitious theories ever proposed: superstring theory. Through the use of metaphor and analogy, this work makes some of the most sophisticated concepts accessible, aiming to bring the reader closer to an understanding of how the universe works.. In this work, Brian Greene relates the scientific story and the human struggle behind 20th-century physics'

Yet the theories collide horribly under extreme conditions such as black holes or times close to the big bang. Superstring theory has been called "a part of 21st-century physics that fell by chance into the 20th century." In other words, it isn't all worked out yet. And that is traditionally the first step on the road to knowledge. Greene's focus throughout is the science, and he gives the nonspecialist at least an illusion of understanding--or the sense of knowing what it is that you don't know. Despite the uncertainties--"string theorists work to find approximate solutions to approximate equations"--Greene gives a tour of string theory solid enough to satisfy the scientifically literate. Though Ed Witten of the Institute for Advanced Study is in many ways the human hero of The Elegant Universe, it is not a human-side-of-physics story. There i

Very well written, and mostly worthwhile read. A casual discussion on a very complex topic. I'm about 2/3 way done. I'll say this this books is as well written as can be for such an abstract topic. I'm writing this review before finishing the book since I'm afraid at my pace, by the time I'm done, the theories, and these are theories only, discussed may have changed. To a complete non-scientific person like myself, this book seems written in a foreign language, for a different species. One much smarter than me. But at a pace of 5 pages or so per reading session, I'm slowly digesting it. And so far it's. Great book, very difficult subjects in very simple language. Koan Brian Greene is one of the leading physicists in cosmology and String theory. He explained the most difficult theories of Einstein relativity, string theory and multiverses in a very simple words. He drew many day to day examples to explain difficult concepts, like space curvature and many others, till we not only understand it but feel it.The String Theory is very difficult to understand since it tries to bridge the gap between macrocosm and the microcosm of the quantum physics. Greene made it very accessible to us. Still String theory is not complete and. An amazingly readable book Joseph Mattioni It takes some good visualization abilities on the part of the reader, but the author does manage to give good insight into some very complex topics without math. Background math and other technical details are in end notes for many topics if you want to delve that deep.I was also pleased to see that it's not just a book on string theory. The author also gives a very good historical background on relativity and quantum mechanics as well as the competing theories for unifying the two.