Rating: 
Summary: So Elegent!
Review: when i read this book i was in 8th grade at age 14. my uncle whos like a nuclear problem solver suggested it to me. at first i thought it might be beyond my skill level, but once i started reading it, it was fantastic. im not a genius or anything of the sort but mr. greene did such a great job, i was amazed. previously my fav. author for science was carl sagan and his book cosmos. but greene may have him edged now. although i had gone through no physical science classes or anything of the sort, it made sense due to all of the analagies mr. greene used. this is the perfect book for anyone(anyone!) whos even mildly interested in space or science. id never even heard of string theory but now im a believer. so good. so easy. so elegent.
Rating: 
Summary: Solid Science
Review: This book is based on solid science and good theories. It delves into a large array of fields, from superstrings to universes. It is a little more technical than Hawking's books, but also a bit more in depth. I would say that this book is a combination of A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME and STILL PITYING THE FOOL.
Rating:
Summary: Wrong title: the extremely complicated universe
Review: The search for 'The Theory of Everything' based on superstrings is everything, except elegant. Physics is becoming a branch of mathematics. The author needed three months to explain to a mathematician what he was doing, and the mathematician needed three months to explain his work: six months before two specialists could understand each other.
An example: "For the mathematicalle inclined (!) reader, we note that the equation states that spacetime must admit a Ricci-flat metric. If we split spacetime into a Cartesian product of four-dimensional Minkovski spacetime and a six-dimensional compact Kähler space, Ricci-flatnes is equivalent to the latter being a Calabi-Yau manifold. " (p.407)
A book that is surely not for the faint-hearted.
The problem is that on the superstring level, absolutely nothing can be experimentally verified. Why and how are the necessary extra dimensions (10?, 26? ...) curled up?
As Richard Feynman said "I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics." What then about superstrings?
On the other hand, the book explains marvellously clear experimental physics : quantum mechanics, general relativity, the work of, among others, Einstein, Bohr and Feynman.
But how simple were the Einstein and Schrödinger equations!
Rating:
Summary: Dazzling !
Review: The feat realised by M. Greene in this book is unimaginable:
he gives a popular account - without introducing any undue
simplification or cheap analogy - of all of current physics
(from classical mechanics over general relativity, from
quantum mechanics to quantum field theory and particle
physics) and uses this "introductory" material to prepare
the stage for his final goal: to explain you in detail what
superstring theory is all about. As he is one of the main
contributors to this field, he really knows what he's talking
about of course, but that's not the point.
Until this book was written, superstring theory was a quite
inaccessible domain, even for people who feel rather comfortable
in particle physics and general relativity, because of the
mountain-high jump that has to be made on the mathematical
side: most of what you've learned (calculus, linear algebra,
some more advanced analysis etc...) and what made you a
respectable physicist, suddenly becomes such a tiny-weeny bit
of the maths you need to master to even start to understand
superstrings that you give up. Well, M. Greene not only masters
and contributes to these subjects, he masters them so well, that
his popular description allmost seems to make it trivial, and
he uses those clear pictures to give you an idea of what
superstring theory is all about... or at least gives you the
illusion, after having read this book, that you understood
it all ! And it is worth having this illusion, because the
picture of the universe that goes with it is so strange and
beautiful that most science fiction plots become incredibly
dull and lacking imagination compared with it.
So beware: reading this book can change your view of the
world !
Rating:
Summary: Theoretical physics for everyone!
Review: Anyone who knows anything about theoretical physics will tell you that this is The Best way to get up-to-date on everything that's happened since Albert Einstein demolished classical physics at the beginning of the last century. These people know what they're talking about, they've read this book, and they're right. This book is fantastic by any standard, absolutely phenomenal. Everyone loves this book. Everyone.Here's why. Brian Greene is a genius. He's working in the area of string theory, which attempts to bring all of the advances of 20th century theoretical physics together into one general, unified framework. He's also an incredibly lucid writer: he can explain what a muon or a charm quark is to any bozo and his grandmother. And he's funny, too! Using hilarious and familiar anecdotes, Greene manages to translate some of the most complicated mathematical computations in existence into simple, understandable images that anyone can relate to. No other book can, in the same breath, dazzle the reader with the brilliance of quantum mechanics and send the reader into fits of laughter. I'm telling you, this book is fantastic. You can't go wrong! So what the heck is all of this physics mumbo jumbo anyway? Here's a brief sketch of what Greene is out to accomplish: Einstein taught us that time is relative, space is curved, time is warped, and distance is malleable: his brilliant theory of relativity revolutionized our thinking about very large objects (such as stars) and speeds approaching the speed of light. Simultaneously, quantum mechanics was teaching us that all particles are waves, that the location of an electron is indeterminate, that energy travels in lumps, and that solids aren't really so solid, after all. Both of these theories - relativity and quantum mechanics - are perfect in the sense that physicists can use their respective analytical frameworks to predict almost anything with unimaginable accuracy. But it turns out that relativity and quantum mechanics CAN'T BOTH BE RIGHT!! This central problem has puzzled physicists from Einstein to Hawking for the better part of a century: how can modern physics have it all figured out if it contradicts itself? What Greene is doing in this book is sketching out a unified theory - an ultimate Theory of Everything - that resolves the conflict between relativity and quantum mechanics by positing that everything - matter, energy - is but a multiplicity of vibrating loops of what can best be described as 'string.' Thus, 'string theory.' Already dizzy! Wait, stop! What's so great about this book is that Greene walks you through everything! Don't know any Einstein? This book will teach you! Never heard of quantum mechanics? No big deal! Greene's writing is patient and easy enough that, in just a few short hours, you'll be literally dizzy with delight as suddenly you feel like you have it all figured out. Look, physics class is painful, but this stuff is cool! And nobody can make physics cooler than Brian Greene. What a fabulous, fabulous book this is. Every page is an absolute delight. I kid you not, buy this book, and then buy another copy for your little sister. This book will forever change your sense of what the universe is all about, and it'll make you wish that you were right alongside Brian Greene, embarking on the great, adventurous journey of unlocking the secrets of modern physics, and learning the truth about space, time, energy, and matter.
Rating:
Summary: Very helpful in Physics
Review: I was a freshmen in highschool taking a high physics course. I attempted to chose a hard topic. Of course it had to be one of the hardest. I chose superstrings, but this book explained it very well. I was able to write a 4 page paper using this book and Hyperspace by Michio Kaku. Read both and broden your understanding. Greene explains things very well.
Rating:
Summary: Superstring Cosmology - enthusiastic approach.
Review: It was not easy reading by all means, but I do not regret any hour spent on it.
Especially central part of the book that explains superstrings and development of M-theory - it made my brain red-hot. I did not understand everything but managed to grasp an idea. This main section of the book deserves...[5] stars for the enormous effort and presentation.
Initial chapters about Einstein's relativity and mechanism of quantum "weirdness" are good but not exceptional.
Excellent description of these topics can be found in many other books like "River of Time", "The Five Ages of the Universe" and foremost in "The Inflationary Universe" by Alan Guth.
Honestly, this section deserves only...[3] stars in my opinion. Then in the end, book gets really interesting as author writes about Black Holes, reflects on cosmology and how strings, when incorporated, may change our understanding of a space-time.
Four ... stars for this. I totally understand Brian Greene, why he is so enthusiastic and devoted to his research and why he writes with such a passion about it. Superstrings cosmology is a new promising and exciting field that may lead to better understanding of dark matter, vacuum energy and most importantly what the Big Bang really was. I tend to believe that all serious readers interested in cosmology should get accustomed with strings, because this theory is the only framework we have for understanding quantum gravity.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the best
Review: The first part of this book covers relativity and quantum theory, building up to string theory. These careful and clear explanations were most helpful to me, and alone would make a terrific book. Then string theory is presented: A little less clear, as not everything is yet worked out. Further work is bound to allow better understanding. This begs for a follow-up book by Brian Greene, whose writing is of surpassing quality. Be sure to read the end-notes..... some of them answer troubling questions, and others add a nice flavor.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps a bit wishy-washy
Review: I recently bought and finished a biology book about "spiritual experiences" by Andrew Newberg called "Why God won't go away."
A lot of the criticism levelled at that book (and perhaps rightly so) was that it was "wishy washy" and lacked the rigor that science demands. That book tried to come up with explanations of how people perceive spiritual experiences and how science "proves" or perhaps "suggests" that God is real. I admit for a while I was sucked in - but the v. notion that there exists even a conflict b.w. science and religion is nonsense. There is no conflict and no harmony either; they are like music and basketball, totally unrelated. Anyway, the same criticism can be directed to this book, albeit to alesser degree. There is no mathematics in the book, but just a lot of boring stuff about the shapes, Calabi-Yau, etc., and the diff. string theories out there. But perhaps it's just me: i took a while to digest Hawking's book (which I liked); this book like the aforementioned one (God) is like a lawyerly argument rather than a scientific one. And that's fine,if you accept it for what it is. But there is NO mathematics, even for a layman's book. I must add thatit;s well written
Rating:
Summary: A superb account of the search for the theory of everything.
Review: This book and Penrose's (The Emperor's New Mind) are the two best books on science that I have ever read (and there have been a LOT of them). This book inspires awe, while giving the most readable and non-technical discussion of modern physics. The wonders of the universe are revealed to be even more wonderful than I could have imagined.
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