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

I am a biologist and don't ordinarily read a lot of physics. But this one somehow got my attention and I bought it, learning later that this author wrote a highly acclaimed previous book "The Elegant Universe". Perhaps I'll read that at some point. However, this one was very good, engrossing in fact. I don't know much about relativity or quantum theory, but this book went a long way to making things clearer for me. Even the explanation of string theory made some sense. Only when we get to the discussion of branes did things start to break down, but I don't know whether that was due to my lack of attention or to the author's failure to communicate branes as well as strings. Anyway, this book is 493 pages of text, not counting the extensive notes, glossary, and index, and will take some effort to get thru.

I'm really enjoying this book. I must be stupid, to want to hear what things mean, without caring about the math behind it.

What I really want is a blog, but...

I know I'm ignorant, but I'm ignorant of the total depth of my ignorance. That said, I think time is pretty much a measure of the relative position of things. If nothing ever moved, then time would be meaningless. If everything moved, but always by the same distance and direction, then time would be meaningless. Maybe that's part of what is meant by 'space-time'.

So, for time to move in reverse, that would mean that everything in the universe would have to return to a former position - every electron, boson, lepton - EVERYTHING.

So 'time' can move in only one 'direction', which makes the discussion of the direction of time pretty meaningless - and time travel is impossible. Things happen, end of story. There's no way that everything in the universe is going to return to a former position, never mind an infinite string of them. No way-back machine is every going to make the entire universe, or the infinite series of universes, go back to a former position. Time isn't a separate thing, or force. It's a way of describing space.


Ok, another thing. God doesn't play dice with the universe. I can't help but agree with Einstein, that there's some important stuff we don't yet know. Well, every physicist would agree with that, but I mean in regard to quantum mechanics. The idea of chance and probability. So, there goes cause and effect. This electron is here, and not there, FOR NO REASON AT ALL. For some reason (well, again, for NO reason) it's more likely to be here instead of there. That electron is an independent agent. It doesn't move of it's own volition because, as far as we now know, it doesn't have any volition. It's not there because of some other force, so far as we now know, because that wouldn't be about probability. I have to think there are other forces at play that effect that electron. The idea that all the fundamental particles and forces in the universe are beyond cause and effect - I can't wrap my head around that.

So, that's why I like this book. It presents ideas about reality. I don't need the math, the rigorous exactitude, to find this stuff fascinating.

Having thoroughly enjoyed the Elegant Universe, I really anticipated another great read from Brian Greene. The Fabric of the Cosmos is NOT that book. I am no physics whiz, but I do have a degree in chemistry and worked in nuclear power for several years, so I do have a higher expectation than Prof. Greene achieved with this book. As several others have noted, the concepts were dumbed down quite a bit and this took a lot out of the experience. The material is fascinating, but with the treatment that Greene gives it in this book, it seems like another of these Discovery Channel treatments that really requires the reader to put forth little effort. Moreover, all of the references to pop culture made me really wonder who Greene's intended audience for the book was. Why could he not just let the material stand on its own?

I really thought this book was going to be great; with a title like "Fabric of the Cosmos" I really had hoped for something more profound and perhaps making a linkage to spirituality - like the seminal book in this area The Tao of Physics by Frjtof Capra. At times he did come very close to that connection, but in the usual approach taken by scientists, there's a clear divide between science and spirituality, so he stepped back. That's unfortunate because some of the theories and models developed within physics and cosmology seem so intertwined with the questions of WHY we are here and WHY the universe even came into existence. I guess Capra is our best hope for making that connection.

At many points in this book, I really wondered if he was writing the Fabric... in order to keep superstring/M-theory at the forefront of thought. Have theoretical physicists clued in to the power of marketing?

I'll think long and hard before I pick up Prof. Greene's next book, if he decides to write another. Please write for the informed and knowledgeable reader, not your mother (no offense intended, I just don't think she's who you were intending to be the core reader of Fabric of the Cosmos).

For anyone briefly versed in physics or quantum mechanics, this is a fantastic book. The theories that are presented to the reader, and the well worded format they are offered in, make for a fascinating look at our universe, our world, and the very core of our existence.

Dr. Greene really tied up some loose ends (strings?) for me with respect to this broadest stroke picture of modern physics and how experimental data continues to support working theory. The challenge will be to simplify it even further for a critical mass renaissance to escort our renewed world order into a solid reality field. Thanks Dr. Greene, I will refer to this work again and again. - Dr. Herby Bell