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The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory Paperback – February 29, 2000

4.7 out of 5 stars 3,337 ratings

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Elegant Universe is compulsively readable.... Greene threatens to do for string theory what Stephen Hawking did for black holes."  -New York

"[An] important book....
The Elegant Universe presents the ideas and aspirations-and some of the characters-of string theory with clarity and charm."  -Scientific American

"As good as it gets.... [A] thrilling ride through a lovely landscape."  -
Los Angeles Times

"[Greene] writes with poetic eloquence and style.... [He] does an admirable job of translating a wholly mathematical endeavor into visual terms."  -
The Washington Post Book World

"[Greene's metaphors oftten provide beauty and power....
The Elegant Universe is a rewarding read."  -Discovery Magazine

"String theory is the hottest idea to emerge in physics since Stephen Hawking gazed into a black hole.... [Greene] explain[s] it in terms that anyone can understand."  -
San Francisco Chronicle

From the Inside Flap

"[Greene] develops one fresh new insight after another...In the great tradition of physicists writing for the masses, The Elegant Universe sets a standard that will be hard to beat." --George Johnson, The New York Times Book Review

In a rare blend of scientific insight and writing as elegant as the theories it explains, Brian Greene, one of the world's leading string theorists, peels away the layers of mystery surrounding string theory to reveal a universe that consists of 11 dimensions where the fabric of space tears and repairs itself, and all matter-from the smallest quarks to the most gargantuan supernovas-is generated by the vibrations of microscopically tiny loops of energy.

Green uses everything from an amusement park ride to ants on a garden hose to illustrate the beautiful yet bizarre realities that modern physics is unveiling.    Dazzling in its brilliance, unprecedented in its ability to both illuminate and entertain,
The Elegant Universe is a tour de force of science writing-a delightful, lucid voyage through modern physics that brings us closer than ever to understanding how the universe works.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage Books; Reissue edition (February 29, 2000)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0375708111
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0375708114
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 1 x 8.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 out of 5 stars 3,337 ratings

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Brian Greene received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and his doctorate from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes scholar. He is a professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University and lives in New York City.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
3,337 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 16, 2022
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5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable for understanding string theory
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 16, 2022
This is an impressive work that explains the highly complex non-intuituve string theory in amazingly lucid clear writing style to the general public. Similar to many physics books  which survey classical theories for the readers, Greene offers his own elucidation on relative motion in special relativity and in  warped space in general relatvity that is even more detailed and clear than some physics text books. His transition of how String theory offers a solution to bridge general relatvity and quantum mechanics because of String theory's geometry to cope with quantum undulation at the microscopic scale is very intuitive and helpful. His explanations on how the 3 families of particles in Standard Theory are best explained by just variations of vibrating strings frequency and strength are also relatable and convincing.

Greene's use of the garden hose universe to explain the curled up dimensions in string theory and how they are  hidden from and connected to extended dimensions is exceptionally lucid and helpful, making us easy to grasp how 3 extended space dimensions we experience are related to 6 curled up space dimensions, together with time making up 10 dimensions. The 9 dimensions don't just crumbled up in any shape but in a unique 6 dimensional Calabi-Yau shape derived from many researchers calculations. Hence, the universe is made up of the Calabi-Yau shape manifold in curled up 9 dimensional space configuration together with time. The final 11th dimension space is explained by the need of the two dimensional membranes in M theory which is used to resolve the dilemma of 5 version of string theory. Greene further explained that the five versions are just different depiction of string theory with three of which Type 1, Herotic O, and Herotic E being large/small radius duality equivalence of each other and with the rest of the two, Type IIA and Type IIB, having the same reciprocal dualiy. This whole 11 dimensional geometric scheme development is carefully and lucidly written with unmatched clarity over these connected concepts of Kaluza-Klein theory, Calabi-Yau, shapes and M theory.

Though Greene does not use the actual equations from perturbation approach and Kaluza-Klein geometry of String theory to flesh out his explanations, it is still not easy to conceptually grasp the concepts of String Theory for anyone who does not have university level education in physics or mathematics. Greene actually warns his readers about the difficulty of the subject despite his best effort. It takes work to get through this work.

Another feature I like in any physics books is the anecdote stories of the journey of the physicists doing research. Greene shared his stories of his journey in String theory. The separate research efforts on the mirror symmetry Calabi-Yau shapes for space tearing flop between Greene's group, to include Aspinfall and Morrison, while at Princeton, and Witten is an interesting story. Greene also included various stories of String theory second revolution in 1995.

Overall, this book is a brilliantly clear introduction to string theory that is going to be a classic.
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Top reviews from other countries

Roger
4.0 out of 5 stars A good introduction to the subject, but still difficult to understand
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 30, 2014
28 people found this helpful
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Matt Jenkins
5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Look at String Theory
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 17, 2011
3 people found this helpful
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Jane Almond
5.0 out of 5 stars Genius
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 28, 2015
10 people found this helpful
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Dave C
5.0 out of 5 stars The incredible product of the human mind
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 12, 2011
One person found this helpful
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Lobotomised and despised
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful subject and book.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 18, 2011