The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory: Part of the review on Amazon says "Superstring theory has been called "a part of 21st-century physics that fell by chance into the 20th century." In other words, it isn't all worked out yet. Despite the uncertainties--"string theorists work to find approximate solutions to approximate equations"--Greene gives a tour of string theory solid enough to satisfy the scientifically literate."
Author: Brian Greene
Subject: String theory
Genre: Non-fiction
This is a book on theoretical physics. But the target audience is the general public. The author tries very hard, and beautifully succeeds as well, to give a layman's explanation of relativity, quantum physics and the evolution of string/m theory. I'd studied quantum and relativity in college, so I had a leg up on the early chapters. That actually prepared me to the author's way of explaining things w/o complex equations. No, you don't end up understanding all the theories and concepts completely. The understanding you get is that how the smart people in our civilization try to fit the jig-saw puzzle together to comprehend it all.
This book and Stephan Hawking's The Grand Design try to explain what's it all made of. Perhaps, evolving intelligent life that can ask how and why questions is the universe's way of trying to understand itself.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to take that first step towards theoretical physics.
