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

Great book about quantum physics for the non-science reader with entertaining analogies to understand complex theories. Some chapters were more accessible than others but after all this reading, string theory still baffles the mind.

Very interesting and informative, this book will help you to visualize complicated concepts and better understand both new and old concepts in physics. Having little post-secondary education in physics, I still found it easy to read and understand, and found the author explained physics with ease.

As an Arts grad, the very thought of physics always made me cringe. Greene has the ability to communicate this incredible subject matter without condescending to his target audience (presumably, non-scientists) or giving the impression that he is reducing his topics to their lowest common denominators. Now that PBS has captured 'The Elegant Universe' as a NOVA special with Greene himself narrating and hosting, geek-chic has never looked so good!

If you rarely read a book about science:Start with another one. If you already enjoy science book: Be aware that the author promises you that superstring theory is the most powerfull explanation in science, but you are better believe than understand it.

For those who liked "A Brief History of Time"(Hawking)" and "The Emporer's New Mind"(Penrose), this is a non-specialist tour de force of physics with a purpose: to explain how General Relativy and Quantum Mechanics seem to collide in the worlds of the very small and very massive, and then provide a means knitting the two theories together so that they require one another. Greene writes with the clarity of Feynman. Though he argues for superstring theory, he laudably does not overstate his case.

This is an exceptional book about the frontier of theoretical physical for layman. The presentation is clear without mathematics. The first few chapters review the subjects of special relativity, quantum mechanics, general relativity, and quantum field theory. These subjects form the groundback that leads up to the successful formation of the Standard Model and then onto the super-strings theory. The narrative follows essentially the chronological development of the subject. It mentions the problems of earlier investigation which arrived at a number of probable models. The researchers gradually realized that the problem can be traced to the method used, namely, the perturbation theory. A more reliable method seems to point to the convergence of these different models. The difficulties in the further development of the theory are related to the formidable mathematical manipulation and the high energy requirement for experimental verification.

This book is an interesting account of the development of what many physicists consider to be the theory to end all theories: Superstring theory. This theory joins Einstein's theories of relativity with those of Quantum physics and Greene takes you through some of the history involving these theoretical achievements. It does get somewhat complicated and a second reading may be necessary, but Greene's writing style is excellent and there is no difficult equations or formulas to drive one crazy. All in all, a pretty good read for those with a slight interest in physics and the universe.

This book has perhaps the best summary of modern scientific history, specifically relativity and quantum theory I have come across. Building on this solid foundation, the author deomonstrates the motivations for string theory, the problems it solves, and the new research directions it enables. The end of the book gets pretty far removed from a typical non-professional physicists experience, but I found it enjoyable nontheless. A great read.