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.
