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starrwad's review against another edition
5.0
I felt halfway intelligent because I somewhat grasped the material ... until he got to quantum mechanics.
lbb00ks's review against another edition
Although I read this book around many other books and over quite a bit of time, the re-re-rereading of chapters greatly improved my understanding of the historical precedent and evolution of string theory. I confess I did not (yet-ahem) read all the way to the end. I stopped at the chapter that the author identified as (the) one that might take several readings to comprehend. Clear and engaging and ultimately understandable, even though some of the analogies took some work to make work for me.
ashrafulla's review against another edition
5.0
This is a very well-written and deep book explaining string theory to people. I had to read it at a slower pace because the only filler is the historical anecdotes around the science. As a result, the book took longer than expected.
By reading slower, you are forced to reread a few pages before every time you pick the book back up. This is very important; if you don't, then you will get lost in the first 15 minutes of every reading segment. It takes that long to remember the science behind the story. I had to learn that the hard way at the beginning, mainly because the concept of a "string" didn't make sense to me. I did find myself sometimes eschewing the analogies and thinking of everything as functions (a string is a function on C1, etc.). I assume that's how the actual papers are being written, too.
One of the surprising feelings I got with every chapter was this dual sense of "this is really smart!" and "this is really simple!" That's mainly because we are a) taking certain steps on faith and b) reading a very well written argument. Part of me will always want to delve deeper and be skeptical about the math behind the arguments. However, you have to silence that skeptic, especially during the thought experiments, because otherwise you will get lost in the weeds. This book is meant to be at a overview level.
There is nothing to assail here regarding the arguments. Even if I thought there was I'd go nowhere because I'm not an expert. Taking the experience forward, I really just enjoyed the art of learning about the sky-level view of string theory. I won't sound smarter to physics grads and I won't do anything more than stumble when talking about string theory to non-physics grads. I just took the journey for what it was. That's what makes this book appealing, as much a novel as it is a work of education.
By reading slower, you are forced to reread a few pages before every time you pick the book back up. This is very important; if you don't, then you will get lost in the first 15 minutes of every reading segment. It takes that long to remember the science behind the story. I had to learn that the hard way at the beginning, mainly because the concept of a "string" didn't make sense to me. I did find myself sometimes eschewing the analogies and thinking of everything as functions (a string is a function on C1, etc.). I assume that's how the actual papers are being written, too.
One of the surprising feelings I got with every chapter was this dual sense of "this is really smart!" and "this is really simple!" That's mainly because we are a) taking certain steps on faith and b) reading a very well written argument. Part of me will always want to delve deeper and be skeptical about the math behind the arguments. However, you have to silence that skeptic, especially during the thought experiments, because otherwise you will get lost in the weeds. This book is meant to be at a overview level.
There is nothing to assail here regarding the arguments. Even if I thought there was I'd go nowhere because I'm not an expert. Taking the experience forward, I really just enjoyed the art of learning about the sky-level view of string theory. I won't sound smarter to physics grads and I won't do anything more than stumble when talking about string theory to non-physics grads. I just took the journey for what it was. That's what makes this book appealing, as much a novel as it is a work of education.
bertrandbanana's review against another edition
4.0
Good book but I preferred The Fabric of the Cosmos by him
wwatts1734's review against another edition
4.0
In the 1970s Carl Sagan wrote the book "Cosmos" that rekindled popular interest in science. Now, over 20 years later, Brian Greene wrote another book that serves as an inspiration for many who are interested in the latest advances in theoretical physics. "The Elegant Universe" is such a huge contribution to popular science that Brian Greene made a cameo appearance on the sitcom "Big Bang Theory." And even though Dr. Sheldon Cooper from the "Big Bang Theory" did not approve of Dr. Greene's efforts to popularize science for the masses, I found "The Elegant Universe" to be an excellent read.
"The Elegant Universe" is a well written synopsis of the advances that have taken place in theoretical physics essentially since the 1930s. Greene begins with a discussion of Quantum Mechanics and then moves into the more recent development of String Theory. Along the way he touches on the multi-dimensional theory of the universe and discusses proliferation of sub-atomic particles that have been discovered in the course of developing String Theory. Finally, he looks at some the bizarre geometry that has been developed to explain multi-dimensional spaces. In doing so, he makes science interesting to the reader.
I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in recent developments in physics.
"The Elegant Universe" is a well written synopsis of the advances that have taken place in theoretical physics essentially since the 1930s. Greene begins with a discussion of Quantum Mechanics and then moves into the more recent development of String Theory. Along the way he touches on the multi-dimensional theory of the universe and discusses proliferation of sub-atomic particles that have been discovered in the course of developing String Theory. Finally, he looks at some the bizarre geometry that has been developed to explain multi-dimensional spaces. In doing so, he makes science interesting to the reader.
I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in recent developments in physics.