The Elegant Universe

The Elegant Universe is the breakout work of theoretical physicist Brian R. Greene and remains one of the most widely read popular introductions to string theory. The original English edition won the 2000 Aventis Prize for Science Books and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. The book opens with the profound conflict between the two pillars of modern physics—general relativity and quantum mechanics—and introduces superstring theory as an attempt to unify them, then explores an eleven-dimensional universe, curled-up extra dimensions, the relationship between string vibration modes and fundamental particles, a microscopic account of black holes, and cosmological reflections. Greene avoids jargon and equations, using analogies and everyday examples (from a stroll in the garden and a garden hose to the world of an ant) to ground abstract ideas in intuition, so readers without a physics background can follow along. The book has five parts: The Edge of Knowledge; The Dilemma of Space, Time, and the Quanta; The Cosmic Symphony; String Theory and the Fabric of Spacetime; and Unification in the Twenty-First Century. The Chinese edition, translated by Li Yong and published by Hunan Science and Technology Press in the First Push Book Series · Physics, runs to 493 pages in its 2018 edition and is a classic entry point for Chinese-language readers seeking an overview of string theory.