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Summary: It Resonates with Tension and Dimension (11 of them)
Review: Review of "The Elegant Universe", by Brian GreeneProfessor Greene, whose contributions to String Theory include the discovery of the Calabi-Yau duality, is authoritative and lucid in his presentation of these mind-stretching concepts. If the book must be faulted, I suggest his non-mathematical explanations of gauge invariance, the meaning of a coupling constant larger than 1, and glossing over the interpretations of the vibrational modes and eigenvalues of even 1-brane simple strings are oversimplifications that made me do the work of assembling the puzzle. Even so, this is not a book for people who flunked physics 101. I'm a physicist turned businessman, trying to catch up on the last twenty years. I tried Edward Witten's volumes on string theory and found the math incomprehensible. With Professor Greene's help I will try Witten again. Ken Brody
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent overview of the concepts of Superstring Theory
Review: If you are interested in understanding the basic concepts that underlie current advances in String Theory and you don't wish to be bogged down by the mathematical details, then this is the book for you. I have a PhD in Physics and I am working on wall street. I found this book to be great reading on my commute... I love the fact that with a solid background in Quantum Field Theory one can make a quantum leap into the physics of superstrings (conceptually).. And that is all I wanted from this book... Excellent job...
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Summary: Is Science As Significant As Plumbing?
Review: What are the great discoveries? What improves our lives? Can we go to a parallel galaxy 44M lightyears away? If we can, should we install a moral government there...with force if necessary. Maybe we could start all of our TV shows at 5 minutes after their's start so that after they see that everything else they've seen is boring at least they can watch something new that might not be boring, from the begining.
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Summary: A window into our world beyond time ...
Review: Contrary to the few sour notes and in support of the overwhelming majority in this chorus of reviewers, I recommend this book enthusiastically. I am no expert on physics, but I know that science works within a chicken and egg framework alternating between the empirical and the theoretical, the experimental and the hypothetical. Brian Greene reaches out from his considerable theoretical mind to bring his deepest scientific experience to the general public, a remarkable experiment in itself. Unlike those who see no value, who see only an intellectual boondoggle in the pursuit of string theory, the author undercuts their criticism with the clarity of his explanations. He does not hide behind the arcane mathematics of which he is so evidently a master, but seems to enjoy exposing the Emperor of his subject to the plain view of all. With a vision that sees farther than most, he understands the fundamental need to motivate. This is the type of book that is destined to be a classic, the type of book that can fire the imagination of a child to answer nature's most difficult questions as an adult, and to pursue that search from the pure wonder that Einstein always championed, a quality so desparately lacking in our cynical time. Brian Greene does not pretend that a complete string theory, the so called "Theory of Everything," will answer the questions underlying perhaps more complex problems in such fields as psychology and biology. What physics does do is to explore the boundary conditions in which all these things transpire, and if string theory is correct, these boundaries are vast, indeed. Thus, it is not surprising that string theory, in its present incomplete form, lacks the neat experimental tests to satisfy the empiricist. Nor, as this book makes clear, have any better alternatives yet come to mind. One can argue that such a solution is not a solution. However, it is a bridge in the process of being built, and it is a bridge from the paradoxes that we know to that elegant truth that we do not know quite yet. Brian Greene, if your mind is fresh, succeeds in leading you to the incomplete edge of that bridge, to a window that allows you to scan the horizon for what lies ahead. May be you will be the one, or will raise a child who is the one to complete that bridge, and to discover the experimental tests that make it whole.
Rating: 
Summary: Not sure what to make of this
Review: I just finished reading this book and skimming the other reviews here. I noticed that nobody really said much about their background (although one of Steve Weinberg's ex-grad students may have revealed his or her identity). I am not a physicist; my education in this subject is limited to a reasonable math background (complex variables, linear algebra, vector calc, differential equations) and some basic introduction, years ago, to special relativity. This book has pluses and minuses; in my view, the pluses outweight the minuses and, if this isn't your field but you like to be well-informed as a general matter, the book is a worthwhile read. The pluses for the non-initiate are a pretty good overview, in a very big-picture way, of the main macro issues in relativity and the big landmarks in string theory. Quantum mechanics is handled less successfully, but, as Greene acknowledges, more is scarcely possible without quickly descending into considerable mathematical complexity. However, some very rough qm concepts are weaved nicely with relativity in the course of explaining how string theory might resolve the conflicts between the two and the conflicts between relativity and the "big bang" theory and black hole theory. The end result is that one gets a pretty nice bird's eye view of the field (as confirmed by a couple of my friends who ARE cosmologists). The book is a quick read, but you won't get the concepts in a single read. Partly this is because there is a lot of stuff and it becomes increasingly complex as the book proceeds. Partly this is because Greene's style is somewhat truncated; over and over again he provides a grand build up to a large-scale chunk of string- or M-theory, only to have the denoument be frustratingly short on any sort of detail. I sense the hand of the editor here, and I have the feeling that Greene may have been forced to cut out some of his slightly more technical explanations. These would have been welcome. The end notes help a little. The other "problems" with the book may be "problems" of the field itself. After a while, you are so many levels down that you aren't sure if Greene is talking about a theory of how the universe works, or a theory of how a theory works, or a theory of how a set of theories works, or a theory of how a set of metatheories work...you get the point. Much of this stuff is taking place in a realm that is purely hypothetical. As Greene acknowledges, there is little prospect of experimental verification of any of this stuff at presently achievable energies. Many of the "breakthroughs" he describes have taken place purely on paper; they are breakthroughs not because they have been proven experimentally, but because they are theoretically plausible or consistent. The overarching impression one leaves this book with is a combination of (1) my this is clever and (2) has this whole thing become a house of cards? Greene recounts a series of discoveries that have "saved" physics by resolving inconsistencies between various observations, but are these really possible features of a universe or clever tricks that exist only in our heads? On the other hands, this book lets the reader understand where the big quesions remain, some of which Greene articulates and some of which he doesn't. For instance, he talks much about the fabric of spacetime and of the compact dimensions predicted by string theory and supergravity, but what about the time dimension? Are all the compact dimensions spatial? Are some more time-like? Is there some intermediate state? And if there was a big bang, what caused it? Is it enough to say that the notion of causality has no meaning in this context? Organizationally, it might have been better to come back to basics at the end, after the very open ended discussion of cosmology and multiverses, etc. It will be a huge intellectual feat if string theory can explain how the universe works today. That should be emphasized; its failure to explain why the universe works the way it does should not be the ending of this book. Just my 2 cents. OK, maybe 20 cents.
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Summary: Revolution in progress
Review: This is the sort of book I've been looking for for years. We are in the midst of a breakthrough in our understanding of the universe, yet how much lay coverage has there been? Technical papers and "This Week's Finds" are beyond me, but this book makes sense. The author has great credibility. My only complaint: the second half is rushed.
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Summary: Dancing on the edges of the Universe
Review: The process of science is often muddled with complexity, or at least the appearance thereof. Simple ideas often require years of research, innovation and mathematics. Rather than bogging us down in the details of a mathematical equasions that even Mr. Green cannot fully understand, or drag us through the day to day operational glitches of a particle accelerator operations, we are given a glimpse into a world that is shaping our world anew without the requirement of Calc 4. Those who have lambasted this book for being incomplete or lacking the correct mathematical underpinnings should go back to university and take some liberal arts classes so that they might understand that the idea is more important than anything else. Bringing this subject matter into the eyes and minds of non-science based people is a wonderful feat. All to long the scientific community has hidden behind their math and studious calculations to insure that a normal liberal educated American cannot engage in the conversation. Just because we don't understand the mathematics (along with 99.9% of all people) does not immediately dismiss our thoughts from the subject. Mr. Green is working on a path that more scientists should work along. Mr. Sagan brought us all the cosmos, now Mr. Green can bring us superstrings. If in the end superstrings fail the scrutiny of the observation and math so be it, but thanks to Mr. Green we all can take part in the conversation.
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Summary: A superb introduction to string theory
Review: The author conveys the elegance of an extraordinary scientific development in an extremely comprehensible fashion. The level of depth is perfect for the interested lay-person yet there is enough content, particularly in the end-notes for each chapter, to appease the experts. A great introduction to the past, present, and future of particle physics.
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Summary: If you're a patient person or a beginner, buy it!
Review: I agree with the reader from London(who wrote the first review) that the style is sometimes pedantic and that the book could be contracted, but,even if this proves to be a little boring in the first part of the book, it turns out to be of great help in the following chapters, where more difficult concepts are introduced. Basically, if you already know the basics of relativity and quantum mechanics, you'll have to be patient and keep on reading in the first part, while if you're a complete beginner, this book is perfect for you. Anyway, I'd advise anyone who is interested in particle physics and at least a little bit willing to put some effort into reading and understanding a book to buy this very interesting piece of work.
Rating:
Summary: best introduction to superstring theory
Review: A must read for anyone intrested in string theory, Greene also gives a review of relativity and quantum mechanics. The best general introduction to the state of modern physics
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