– The Elegant Universe: The beauty and mystery of the cosmos explained with clarity and awe in this international bestseller

There seems to be some confusion as 2 versions of this book appear on the website - one published in '2000' and one in '2010'. I ordered and reviewed the '2000' version which is actually the upated 25th anniversary edition (2024) as mentioned in the description, though the book cover is different to that pictured. Although this page also refers to a 'later' edition, that links to the '2010' publication which has no description so I've no idea which version that actually is! When I tried to edit this review I got the message 'You already reviewed another variant of this product. You've been redirected to that review.' even though I haven't reviewed the other book so I've no idea what's going on there either. I'd suggest you stick to the item with over 3,000 reviews and a description and avoid the one with less than 10 and no description. Don't let that put you off this book; it's exceptional. For the 25th anniversary release, Brian Greene has opted to leave the bulk of the book as originally published but has added a preface and a most interesting epilogue to bring it up to date. The original was extremely well written and he did a marvellous job of explaining some, what would have been, very difficult concepts. Armed with the knowledge gained by that, the epilogue presents some truly astonishing developments since that time. I must admit to having even more questions now but, because he does such a good job of presenting the ideas, I'm able to frame them quite coherently. He hints that he is tempted to write another book encompassing many more of the new developments and I hope he does so. I'd be first in line for such a tome. I passed on my paperback copy to a friend but would like to re-examine this tome whenever the desire takes me. Consequently, I have now purchased the Kindle version. It's well worth the price and has the added advantage of being able to search the text - the index of the printed book is good but a decent search tool adds flexibility.

An excellent introduction to String Theory for the lay reader. As others have said it may help to have some prior knowledge of modern science, by which I mean if you have no scientific background and you have never read any popular science works on particle physics and relativity before, this may not be the best place to start (others have mentioned for example Stephen Hawking's A Brief History Of Time as perhaps a better place to begin). However, that said, for those readers willing to put in a little effort this is a great read. Greene begins by looking at the bedrocks of modern physics, relativity and quantum theory before progressing on to the eleven dimensions of string theory. It is thanks to writers like Greene, who are able to explain, without resorting to complex mathematics, such difficult concepts that the layman can begin to get a feel for the wonders of the universe. A fascinating read. "[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 "In the great tradition of physicists writing for the masses, [Greene] sets a standard that will be hard to beat." -New York Times Book Review "[A] tour-de-force of science writing...peels away layers of detail and reveals the stunning essence of cutting-edge physics." -Shing-Tung Yau, Harvard University; Fields Medallist, winner of the National Medal of Science I also recommend two other works by Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time and the Texture of Reality and The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos .

The author talks about important facts of the general relativity. Next he has an approach to the mirror symmetry. It is interesting the words of Yau, who admits that by mathematical view, the mrror symmetry is only conjectural and probably also in error. It needs to aspect the job of Batyrev for an exact proof. Nevertheless it born several models about the physics of the strings. Greene explicates those arguments with a strong passion and a nice style.

Great lecture

Greene writes an extremely accessible book on the universe at the micro and macro levels, with no math required and common everyday examples and analogies.

Une excellente introduction à la théorie des cordes, par l'un des chercheurs les plus renommés sur le sujet. Cet ouvrage est un ouvrage de vulgarisation, dont la lecture ne requiert pas de connaissances scientifiques très poussées. Un bon niveau de terminale scientifique est suffisant pour apprécier et comprendre les principes exposés.

Brian Greene es un astrofísico muy conocido por sus grandes documentales en NOVA, documentales basados en sus libros. Son muy buenos ambos, documentales y libros. Es una explicación de la astrofísica de una manera bastante "sencilla", que engancha y que seduce. En cuanto a su versión en inglés, sólo recomiendo comprarlo si tienes un buen nvel de inglés, advance o proficiency. Sería muy buena idea quizá, ver el documental primero y luego leer el libro, porque visualmente entran mejor las cosas.