BOOK REVIEW: The Elegant Universe

by James MacLaren

The Elegant Universe. Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the

Quest for the Ultimate Theory

Brian Greene, 1999, W. W. Norton & Company</b>

Well, I guess the title pretty much says it all, eh?

I just love this kind of stuff and this has got to be the best book on this

psychotic subject that I’ve ever read.

Takes a near impossible subject and succeeds in serving it up to you in

delicious bite-sized nuggets. Nothing hard to swallow. No sharp edges. No stale

smell.

Boys and girls, there’s a WHALE of a lot more going on all around you than you

could imagine in your worst strawberry ice cream and pickle pizza nightmare.

Nothing’s what it appears to be.

Things sitting around like a bump on a log are just HAMMERING along with unseen

activity, down deep in their fundamental innards.

There’s a whole RAFT of impossibly tiny places that things can go, the like of

which you and I can’t even CONCEIVE.

Really cool shit.

Sparingly illustrated in black and white with stuff that really helps clarify

the text, but only when it’s needed. No clutter.

And, as a special bonus, it’s got the very best description of the loony effects

of relativity (especially the WHY parts) that I’ve ever read. Hell, that part alone

is worth the cost of the whole book.

Go gettum, you’ll be glad you did.