The Elegant Universe: Super strings, hidden dimensions and the quest for the ultimate theory by Brian Greene

In this amazing book, Brian Greene presents the intricacies of superstring theory in the same way that Stephen Hawking opened our eyes to black holes with A Brief History of Time. Greene first runs the reader through Newton's theory of gravity, Einstein's theories of relativity and special relativity as well as the beginnings of quantum mechanics and the lead-up to string theory.

String theory proposes that beyond the smallest particles found thus far, that is quarks, there exists tiny vibrating strings which form oscillating loop patterns. Greene talks the reader through the main principles of string theory including tension, symmetry and the energy of strings and their oscillating principles. We are introduced to the first theorists of string theory as well as the original hesitancy of the physics community to accept it firstly as a theory and secondly as a possible candidate for the elusive grand unified theory.

Greene also presents the idea of super-symmetry (which adds the 'super' to string theory). Theorists postulate that every elementary particle can be partnered by a 'super-particle' that differs by half a spin. This proposes a whole raft of new particles that's size and mass can be calculated theoretically but that have not been scientifically proven.

The third major proposal this book puts forward is that of hidden, "curled-up" dimensions, possibly that are so small we cannot see them. That is, we accept the three spatial dimensions and time as a dimension, but the current view of the physics world is now that of ten or maybe even eleven dimensions. Greene himself did some of the foremost research on this comparing the tiny dimensions to Calabi-Yau manifolds. These are virtually impossible to represent on a 2-dimensional page but Greene does a good job of creating these tiny dimensions in the mind of the reader, despite some initial brain fizzle.

I hold high hopes for the ability of the Large Hadron Collider to produce a Higgs boson

I can't really put everything in this book in the review because there is simply so much material. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in physics or in the nature of the universe. A brilliant read.

The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav

My father recommended I read this as he shares my interest in quantum physics. In fact, when I was about 16 I wanted to be a quantum physicist, some of me still does and this book made me remember why. It very effectively describes the main principles (at the time) of the very small things in life which of course contributes to how the slightly bigger things work. This book in fact encouraged me to drop one of my majors in order to be able to take up interest papers for a minor in Physics.
My one complaint is the confusing layout. It was separated into parts, and each part was labeled part one and each chapter within each part was chapter one. Very confusing.
Otherwise I really enjoyed this book, it provided a description to the layman of how much we know, and the amazing amount we still do not know about quantum, sub-atomic particles. It covered all the early theories of Newton as well as the more recent ones and explorations into sub-atomic phenomena like Planck, Einstein and many more.
It had easy to follow diagrams of the particles and a helpful list at the back of their Greek names, lifetimes and reactions. It also explained in laymen's terms the "Uncertainty Principle" and how it applies. It didn't mention Ernest Rutherford's experiment at all which I was sad about because he is a kiwi like myself.
Since this book has been published, the theory detailed in this book has been more proved by Aspect's experiment which was discussed in the book but had not yet been undertaken. It found that there were superluminal connections between sub-atomic particles. I am always surprised that you don't hear more about this sort of thing in the news. These experiments and theories of the last century have shown us how the world operates and I think it's important for anyone to understand "how stuff works" as it were. It describes it in a similar way to Hawking's A Brief History of Time the questions of modern physics in a way that normal people can understand. There were also footnotes provided for people interested in the subject which aided in understanding. Zukav's orginal training was not in Physics and he unpieced the principles himself with help from people who have good understanding of the subject.
It also relates many of these principles and theories to ideologies behind eastern religions, specifically Buddhism. Apparently in another book he goes more into these connections.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone, even if you are not interested in Physics, it is truly an eye opener.


I'm a bit behind, other books I have read recently that are coming up:
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Experiment
The 10pm Question
and I'm currently reading Franny and Zooey