- Paperback: 464 pages
- Publisher: Vintage; 1 edition (Feb 29 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0375708111
- ISBN-13: 978-0375708114
- Product Dimensions: 13 x 2.3 x 20.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 431 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (377 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#63,058 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #36 in Books > Science > Mathematics > Mathematical Physics
- #36 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Mathematics > Mathematical Physics
- #54 in Books > Science > Physics > Cosmology
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
There is an ill-concealed skeleton in the closet of physics: "As they are currently formulated, general relativity and quantum mechanics cannot both be right." Each is exceedingly accurate in its field: general relativity explains the behavior of the universe at large scales, while quantum mechanics describes the behavior of subatomic particles. Yet the theories collide horribly under extreme conditions such as black holes or times close to the big bang. Brian Greene, a specialist in quantum field theory, believes that the two pillars of physics can be reconciled in superstring theory, a theory of everything.
Superstring theory has been called "a part of 21st-century physics that fell by chance into the 20th century." In other words, it isn't all worked out yet. Despite the uncertainties--"string theorists work to find approximate solutions to approximate equations"--Greene gives a tour of string theory solid enough to satisfy the scientifically literate.
Though Ed Witten of the Institute for Advanced Study is in many ways the human hero of The Elegant Universe, it is not a human-side-of-physics story. Greene's focus throughout is the science, and he gives the nonspecialist at least an illusion of understanding--or the sense of knowing what it is that you don't know. And that is traditionally the first step on the road to knowledge. --Mary Ellen Curtin --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
One of the more compelling scientific (cum-theological) questions in the Middle Ages was: "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" Today's version in cutting-edge science is, "How many strings... ?" As posited by s tring theory physics, strings are furiously vibrating loops of stuff. The concept of strings was devised to help scientists describe simultaneously both energy and matter. The frequency and resonance of strings' vibration, just like those of strings on an instrument, determine charge, spin and other familiar properties of energy?and eventually the structure of the universe: a true music of the spheres. There's a chance that strings are themselves made up of something still smaller. But scientists can prove their existence only on the blackboard and computer, because they are much too tiny?a hundred billion billion times smaller than the nucleus of an atom?to be observed experimentally. Brian Greene, professor of physics and mathematics at Cornell and Columbia universities, makes the terribly complex theory of strings accessible to all. He possesses a remarkable gift for using the everyday to illustrate what may be going on in dimensions beyond our feeble human perception. Just when we might be tempted to dismiss strings as grist for the publish-or-perish mill, Greene explains how they have demonstrated connections between mathematics and physics that have helped solve age-old conundrums in each field. This book will appeal to astronomy as well as math and physics fans because it probes the important insights string theory gives into hotly debated issues in cosmology. Later chapters require careful attention to Greene's explications, but the effort will prepare readers to follow the scientific advances likely to be made in the next millennium through application of string theory. Author tour.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
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Most helpful customer reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
The pictures of 6 Dimensional Calabi-Yau shapes were lacking,
By BryanE (Northeastern PA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory (Paperback)
Prior to reading this book, my knowledge of superstrings was limited to passing references in magazine articles and that time the Enterprise hit one in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Wondering if I needed to get superstring coverage added to my auto-insurnance, I picked up this book. Needless to say, this was the book for me. Through insider knowledge and well conceived analogies, the basic premise of superstrings comes through clearly. I finished the book knowing enough about superstrings to sound smart at the comic book store while in reality my head painfully throbs at the thought of a 11-D space-time continuim. Not a pretty picture. The highlight of the book was the primer on old school quantum mechanics and general relativity. I wish Mr. Greene had written the textbooks for some of my physics classes. He very deftly tells the story of 20th century physics, setting up the reader for the stringy things to come. After reading the book, I was left wondering if string theory is really the end all/be all of physics or cold fusion's distant cousin, but at least I don't have to change my car insurance.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
we have two different audiences!,
By Some Fool (GOETTINGEN Germany) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory (Paperback)
After reading the preceeding reviews, there seems to be a bisection of readers. They fall roughly into two categories; The layman\non-scientist and those who have a generous breadth of knowledge in mathematics and\or physical science. (sidenote: although individuals and universities debate it from time to time, mathematics is not validated by scientific experiment, and thus should be considered as a different class of study.)For the layman, this book will provide a very basic and intuitive framework for classic and modern physics, and take the previously unknowing individual through a more or less simple tour of some of the results and ideas of string theory. If you dont know anything about physics\mathematics, then this journey should be a pleasurable one, and might even grab enough interest that you pursue a more rigorous treatment of some mathematical or physical speculation or phenomena. Reader be warned, however, that Professor Greenes very charasmatic and enthusiastic approach might be enough to make you too a believer in the validity of this theory,and that it answers the discrepancy between relativity\quantum mechanics, which is popularly coveted as "the problem" of modern physics. The problem is large, but realistically only occupies a very small group of most scientists\mathematicians time. For those who have never encoutered the hilbert vector space, this book provides some information about one of the more exciting ideas in science today, but take it with a grain of salt. The "secrets of the universe" are more abundant in a rigorous treatment of analytic mechanics than in a superficial treatment of something so enticing, yet esoteric. For those that have been introduced in gross detail to the world of science today...I will not waste your time. Read the book,on the off chance that you havent looked into the theory already. There are analogies that will baffle you and some exposition that seems overy simple or almost apologetic for the "super hard math" that accompanies the theory, but nonetheless provides some worthwhile information and insight from an intellegent man.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Distorted history, irrational physics, Barnum claims ...,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory (Paperback)
As a professional in theoretical physics and its history I am sorry to say -- this is not a fair popularizing book.First, be warned that Dr. Greene provides rather distorted and misleading view of some important historical issues of modern physics. His narrative is strongly twisted to support his claims that strings are here as a "natural" answer and the only game in town. E.g., Planck's struggle with the black-body radiation, as depicted by Greene, is closer to a fairytail than historical and scientific truth. The places where Greene touches statistical physics and thermodynamics are full of principally wrong statements which indicate that he has just a very superficial knowledge of these matters. His exposition of Quantum Mechanics (QM) pushes favourable but false statements about quantum "weirdness", showing that he is evidently unaware about many classical and modern works showing QM from a rational and unparadoxical perspective (starting yet from von Neumann in 1927). Greene's statements about a "fundamental" gap between QM and General Relativity (GR) are just other common mantras of the string army, indicating their superficial insight into these underlying theories. BTW, he is not indicating properly how the string concept offers a synthetizing cure. His "review" of the 20-th century physics is not only biased but also tedious, repeating notoriously well-known (but too often one-sided and misleading) statements and fairytails about physics' celebrities. As for the strings grandeur: I do not believe that there is too much hope that a rational Theory-of-Everything might be elaborated by people who exhibit so irrational views of quantum, relativistic and statistical physics, confuse distinctions between mathematics and physics, evidently do not understand probability theory and thermodynamics, etc. And of course, it is just funny to read on the same page that the M-theory is just IT, whilst still being unable to generate even basic equations, state its own principles, or even to demonstrate how standard physical equations or parameter values follow from IT. Actually, there is still NO string theory at all: it is rather a big gulash of mathematical exotic adhockeries, of formalistic ambiguous escapes, everything scrambled with grand supporting statements of Muhammad Ali. But most fundamentally: Greene, Witten, and the whole string army are pushing their philosophy that all kind of "weirdness" is just an intrinsic feature of our physical image. However, many rational physicists think that they are rather building a babel tower on sands, on the underlying theories they do not interpret rationally. I do not believe that the aim of the Theory of Everything ever was/is something of this kind. I am just sorry about so many laymen that are evidently so easily fooled by this new type of mysticism, combined with some lack of scientific modesty and honesty. In summary, Greene's "Elegant Universe" is neither an elegant image of the universe, nor an adequate narrative of modern physics and its history.
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