Preface: I'm a great big science nerd. I study biology at school, but I'm fascinated by physics so I was really excited to read this book. Modern physics is just so flipping weird, it intrigues me to no end. Anyway, on with the review.

"From Brian Greene, one of the world’s leading physicists, comes a grand tour of the universe that makes us look at reality in a completely different way.

Space and time form the very fabric of the cosmos. Yet they remain among the most mysterious of concepts. Is space an entity? Why does time have a direction? Could the universe exist without space and time? Can we travel to the past?" (Amazon.com)

I loved this book, like, kind of a lot. It's a wonderful overview of some complicated theories and ideas, but Greene makes them easy and fun to understand. I have never properly understood the concepts of General and Special Relativity before, and now I do! Isn't that great? Greene is the master of easy explanations, and each concept flows into the next. There's also wonderful footnotes for people who are interested in specific details in a more in-depth way. I looked at them all, but not all of them made sense.

For me, the part of physics that was the most frustrating was the math. This book takes all the complicated math involved in modern physics and puts it in the endnotes. It's a great way to do it for beginners. At the same time though, I don't know how much luck a total beginner would have with this book. I had just come off two semesters of Physics I & II (mechanics, electricity, thermodynamics, optics) when I read this book, and I thought that was a wonderful introduction to the concepts of modern physics that Greene is presenting in this book. He does explain things very well though, so going in cold might work out pretty well too.

Another thing that I really loved about this book was that it was clear and easy to understand, but it wasn't pandering or over-simplified either. It was a bit of a challenging read and not something I could read successfully in a crowded place or in front of the tv. I really loved it though. Some of the concepts presented seem so absurd they must be wrong. But that's not the case at all. I think contemplating such brain-stretching ideas is a wonderful exercise in having an open mind and creative thinking. It's like mental Olympics - challenge yourself to think carefully about the ideas and concepts, and really try to understand. Sometimes it's a bit more difficult than you'd think. The margins of my book ended up littered with incredulous questions and sudden revelations. But I think the rewards of loosening the binds of common sense and taking a journey to the unknown are well worth it!

My one reservation was that since this book was published in 2004 I really wondered whether some of the ideas he discussed were outdated or what progress had otherwise been made in the field. That's a not a big reservation, though, and he did just release a new book that is on my great big list of Things to Read.

One of the reasons I picked up this book in the first place was that I recognized Greene from the Colbert Report. He's appeared several times, and they're all amusing.

Watch (US only, I think ): http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/372476/january-27-2011/brian-greene

Yay science!