I abandoned this book about a bit more than being halfway into it.

The reason I am giving it four stars is that it usually succeeds in its attempt to provide an easy to understand version of modern particle physics and String Theory. The writing is simple with a lot of interesting illustrations, images and insight into the historical origins of ideas behind them.

The reason for abandoning this book is because reading this book will not make you an expert in Physics, just like reading books on War strategy is not going to make you a good Army General. People spend decades in mastering the maths behind this to truly comprehend the reality of our universe (in our limited sense and imagination, albeit.). To pretend that we can successfully grasp this reality sipping cappuccino while waiting for a delayed flight in an empty airport is truly to deceive ourselves (as in my case). If you could explain the workings of the Universe to a person who hasn't had a decade of training in mathematics and physics, why does anyone even purse degrees in Physics. That is not to say that things cant be explained in simple terms, but rather there are a lot of assumptions and results that the reader is asked to accept without proof , for it is beyond the scope of the book. We can do very well to heed the advice that partial knowledge is indeed a dangerous thing.

OK, this was by far the most technical cosmology book that I've read, I'm not going to even pretend I fully understood it, but thanks to previous books I've read on this topic I wasn't as lost as I was afraid I may be.

It is an older book being published in 1999, and it is really interesting to see how things have changed and how much speculation has since been confirmed (the Hadron Collider was still in the future at this point in time).

Not for beginners but I'm glad I finally got to it, and I will be slowly working my way through the rest of Greene's books, just slowly, I need a brain break

Not sure how much I absorbed but the author's descriptions of the inner workings of the universe were incredibly calming

الحقيقة ليست سوى وهم، لكنه وهم ثابت.
هذا الكتاب رائع إلى حد يعجز معه الوصف ..
- الفيزياء بالنسبة لى لا تمثل مجرد قراءة فقط أو هواية بل تمثل لى أستكشاف عوالم مجهرية وعوالم مجهولة، إذا أستطاع العقل البشرى أحتوائها كاملةً سينفجر كسوبر نوفا يملأ الجو بمعلومات مهولة خارج إطار المألوف .
..
براين غرين عبقرى فى تبسيط وتوضيح المعلومات، بالرغم من أنه تحدث عن النسبية وبداية الكون ونشأته كلها فى أول كم فصل، وتناول الكتاب الفصول الباقية كلها ميكانيكا الكم، ونظرية الأوتار الفائقة، إلا أننى تكونت عندى خلفية لا بأس بها بنظرية كل شيئ ونظرية الأوتار، .. أتمنى ف المستقبل أن استطيع أن أكتب كتب فيزيائية عن الكون وتبسيطه للغاية للمبتدئين وأن أستطع أن أجعلهم يرون الجمال الذى أراه فى كل صفحة من صفحات كتب الفيزياء وخصوصا الفلكية

الكتاب صعب القهم في بعض القصول لكنه ممناز للتعريف بنظرية الاوتار

كتاب رائع يحكي قصة الفيزياء الحديثة والحلم الكبير لانشتاين و كدا نظرية كل شيء او ما اسبح يعرف بنظرية ام و هي نظرية الاوتار لا يجب ان تكون قيزيائيا لتقرأ هدا الكتاب و تتدوق حلاوة النظر الى اقصى حدود الادراك البشري .... متعة كبيرة لا تفوتوها ... على فكرة هناك سلسلة من 3 حلقات بنعس العنوان " الكون الانيق" يمكن التفرج عليها لمن اراد حوصلة من لاغير كثير تدقيق

The first time I read this, a lot of it went way over my head, I was in high school and I was looking for something along the lines of Stephen Hawking, but a book written about a different topic.

This is not as accessible as Stephen hawking, but a very well written book none the less. I would say this is for people who've already been introduced to the string theory, I tried reading it the first time without knowing anything about it and found myself staring like a deer in headlights. Once I got more familiar with the concepts (I used youtube videos) I went back to this book and enjoyed myself a lot. I won't pretend I understood everything, but I understood much much more than I did the first time picking it up.

The first few chapters are fascinating as Greene recounts the history of modern physics, its departure from classical, Newtonian understanding. Then, he moves into string theory, and I found the arguments and explanations harder to follow. As Greene wrote the book just a few years after the Second Superstring Revolution, it makes sense that the arguments aren't as well-developed as those describing theories and experiments perfected and refined over the past 100 years or so. I really enjoyed the last few chapters: one on black holes, one about cosmology, and the final chapter, entitled "Prospects," in which Greene discusses the implications of string/M-theory on future thought and the possible questions string/M-theory may be able to answer.
Overall, I really liked this book. It took me a while to get through because of the subtlety of the arguments and the density of the subject matter (no pun intended), but it was extremely informative. I also enjoyed Greene's writing style, especially the examples/metaphors/analogs he presented the reader with for help in understanding the extremely subtle topics he discusses.
The only thing missing for me from Greene (and from Hawking and K.C. Cole) is: why did the Big Bang happen when it did, and where did the materials constituting the singularity (or the "Planck-size nugget") come from? My only problem with non-Christian, scientific accounts. The physicists never do offer a possible explanation of the origins of the origins.
I recommend this book to anybody interested in astrophysics, to fans of Greene, and to anybody looking for a book geared towards general readers that is more updated than Hawking's A Brief History of Time but that still offers insight into points that Hawking discusses in his famous book.

liked it as my global research on string theory, although i thought there were sometimes a bit too many "image this..." to concretely explain stuff

4.0 to 4.5 stars. There is a great quote to the effect that "if you can't explain a subject in non-technical terms so that a lay person can understand it than you haven't really mastered the subject yourself." On that basis, it is clear that Brian Greene has DEFINITELY mastered the subject of general relatively, quantum dynanmics and string theory (at least to the extent present technology allows). For such a complicated and often "non intuitive" subject, Greene does an excellent job of laying out in understandable terms: (1) the evolution of special relativity into general relativity; (2) the basics of quantum dynamics; (3) the fundamental conflict between general relativity and quantum dynamics; and (4) the amazing development of string theory and (5) the prospects for string theory to be able to resolve the conflcit between general relativity and quantum mechanics and come up with a Unified Theory of Everything (the fabled TOE).

Now even with Greene's fantastic explanations, once we got beyond the basics of string theory and onto such concepts as 10 "spatial" dimensions, mirror symmetry and Calabi-Yau manifolds, there were times when the subject matter was just difficult to grasp on an intuitive level. However, Greene was quick to point out that the reader (i.e., me) was not alone in that confusion and it did not prevent me from walking away with a much better understanding of these difficult topics. It also made me interested in learning more. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

This book is a science book for everyone. It explains a lot and I mean a LOT of things about many theories I've heard of plenty of times and I hadn't had the clue on what they are or how they came to be, chief among them is string theory.
I've always been fascinated by physicists and I liked the author's passion for what he does. I found myself drawn into what he's saying even if it was a little challenging to follow sometimes.

"The Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene provides a commendable attempt to elucidate the intricacies of string theory in a highly accessible manner. However, for readers possessing a layman's understanding of general and special relativity, alongside a vague grasp of the main principles of quantum physics, the book illuminates a sobering truth – the labyrinthine nature of string theory may require more grey matter than many of us (including myself) can muster to fully comprehend its intricacies. While Greene's narrative is engaging and thoughtfully presented, it serves as a humbling reminder of the profound complexity that exists within the realm of theoretical physics.