The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality

Some interesting and enlightening parts were eventually deadened by monotonous and uninpiring overly-scientific exposition in my audio-version. Yawn. Too heady and scientific for me. Give me Newtonian physics any day! Reality was much simpler then. Of course, alot of the time I am not sure this author, or anyone else for that matter, knows what they are talking about in attempting to describe, mathematically or otherwise, string or superstring theory. YUK!

This book is fascinating! Its contents are well suited for an interested non-specialist like me. Brian Greene takes us from the ultra-micro to the ultra-macro.

On the small side, my mind is boggled as I try to imagine multiple dimensions a trillionth the size of the nucleus of an atom, as proposed by superstring theory. Nine dimensions? Ten? It is astonishing how much structure there is in the universe at levels smaller than the atom. On the large side, there are questions such as: Is space itself actually explanding? Is our universe just one of many? Is it a "brain"?

Our minds are designed to contemplate three spatial dimensions and one time dimension, which are all our bodies need to survive. But that does not mean that these are all the dimensions that exist. And what are our bodies anyway? It is amazing to think that our physical structure may be made up of numerous subatomic particles that are minute blips of energy vibrating in any of many posible dimensions. Electrons vibrate in one group of dimensions, protons in another, and so forth, according to superstring theory. While such ideas are still rather hypothetical, it is intriguing to think that they may hold the key to the enigma of how to reconcile Einstein's general theory of relativity with quantum mechanics, both of which approaches have been experimentally proven, but which do not mesh in a rational manner, at least not yet.

Brian Greene does an excellent job of explaining at least the basics of these matters to members of the general public.

(These comments are based on the abridged audio version of the book.)

I hear everyone raving that The Elegant Universe is a better book. That is just plain WRONG. This book is much better. More info, better analogy, new theories.

The writing in this book is amazing. I never thought Astrophysics could be so interesting!

Sorry i took this expression from another reviewer, but it's just the right description. The book is waaay too long. What a brick. I saw his documentary on the Elegant Cosmos, or something like that, and it was fun, so I decided to read the book. What a failure.

It's just a jungle of words and similes that only make it more complicated to figure out what he's talking about instead of stating the real thing, which would have been more helpful. I read most of it, as much as I could. But I quit because I came to a point that I felt: So what about all this? What difference does it make? I can't see the implications. There's no synthezising, no summary. I don't know what to make of it. Why should I care about the fabric of the cosmos anyway? What about the implications?

The author just seems to be pouring out his mind, conversing to himself while writing. No plan, no organization.

Imagine space/time as a loaf of bread, says he. Come on!

I just finished reading the book, and WOW, that was such an exciting journey through the cosmos. Greene provides a great introduction to an incredibly fascinating area of science.

Greene is particularly good at explaining rather complicated topics for the non-physicist, such as myself. I found the book to be a 'relative'ly simple read for the most part. I much enjoyed his use of examples and pop culture references - come on, who doesn't like the Simpsons?

I found the book had a great flow to it, going from one subject to the next. There were many times that I would start to develop questions based on what he was talking about, and he would appropriately answer them in the following section.

Lastly, the subject matter is just mind-blowing. I had at least a few jaw-dropping moments. The material is so interesting and important, I think this should be required reading for everyone. But somehow I don't see that happeneing. I mean, it's 2008, and apparently 18% of Americans think the Sun revolves around Earth - we need to wake up people! And it's books like this that will help.