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

makes a very complicated subject readable for the layman.
it seemsthat the more science advances the more mysterious the
world becomes.
for me it reveals Gods creation as even more amazing as time
goes by
h.g.

I read the first half of _The Elegant Universe_, but I didn't finish it. I think it was because I felt that Greene was giving too much string theory without enough justification for giving me so much string theory. This may sound like an odd complaint, but it makes sense if you compare the earlier book with The Fabric of the Cosmos. Greene spends more time walking through..well..the fabric of the cosmos, and when he does get to string theory, it makes more sense why.

I actually found the string theory portion of the book (section 4 out of 5) less interesting than the first sections, which give a lot of experimentally based information about really, really crazy things in general relativity and quantum mechanics (inflation, entanglement, the time "loaf," quantum uncertainty, multiple pasts, entropy, symmetry, etc.). Greene is very good at explaining what these experiments & theories mean on an intuitive level. Sometimes too good. (Some of the examples using Bart Simpson, etc. tend to drag.) There are plenty of moments in the text that hurt your brain, however, so if the material is new to you, the occasional over-popularization will not detract.

One of the best features of the book is the leitmotiv of time's arrow. Greene keeps returning to the problem of time: why does it only flow in one direction, when physical law seems to suggest that it could just as well flow in both directions? The answer (as far as we know) is entropy, and he uses time and entropy to tie his narrative together.

The last section of the book (section 5) is a pastiche, and some of it seemed disjointed. But the book ends on a fascinating reflection on the composite, non-fundamental nature of spacetime, and he does encourage his reader to check out Lee Smolin's theory of quantum loop gravity, which is a counter to string theory.

Having recently read Dawkin's _God Delusion_, I took note of the fact that Greene also declares himself (toward the end of the book) as a determinist-materialist-monist. I was struck by how infinitely less aggressive Greene's representation of this position is.

A great read!

After I finished this audio book I started over and listened to it again! Brian Greene does a fantastic job of taking the complexities of Newtonian physics, Relativity, Quantum Mechanics and String Theory/M-Theory and describes the concepts with superb visuals and witty humor. The book nicely builds on classical theories and ties concepts to one another when appropriate, faciliting the "mental linking" that is crucial to really understand these concepts.

I've always had an interest in this material but found many sources of information dry and lacking in explanations that the average Joe can understand. Greene has an obvious knack for delivering the core concepts of the theories w/out bogging the listener down in unnecessary details.

The book was read by an actor (can't remember his name at the moment) but I believe he did a fantastic job at delivering the material as Brian Greene would have (based on watching Brian Greene's science documentaries on Discovery). The actor reading even sounded a bit like Greene!

Overall, if you have a serious interest in understanding the concepts of classical Newtonian physics, relativity, quantum mechanics and String/M-Theory, this audio book will not disappoint you.

I wish this book and Brian Greene's 'Elegant Universe' had been available when I was getting my degree in Physics several years ago. I am sure his
'Big Picture' treatment of these topics would have improved my understanding and grades considerably. JW

This book is a compliment to The Elegant Universe. Although there is overlap in basic concepts, it adds many new ideas that are not in the previous book. This book is a sure-fire must-read book. Brian Greene is both knowledgeable and an outstanding writer. The insights into the big bang and the means by which concepts were developed are quite amazing.