The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time and the Texture of Reality (Penguin Press Science) by Greene, Brian (February 24, 2005) Paperback

Greene manages to make incredible complexity just about accessible even to low-brow idiots like me, and without making it too patronising. It's a tough read and I confess I did find it very hard work, but well worth the effort. I benefited from re-reading each section several times before moving on in order for it to sink in, so not a quick page-turner. Needs time (no pun intended)!

I'm working my way through this at the moment and I fully agree with other reviewers that it is a life changing book on a par with Blind Watchmaker.I was a little daunted by the subject material to begin with, but soon lost my inhibitions - it's not half as bad as I expected and I'm actually finding myself second-guessing some of the directions and explanations that author is taking in explaining the wierdness of the relativistic and quantum worlds. Either I'm not as deeply stupid as I thought or Greene's treatment is perfect for the non-expert reader.It's still a challenging book, and I'll need a re-read at sometime in the near future to fix the concepts in my head, but I'm looking forward to the prospect.A few minor gripes:- The illustrations don't seem to have transferred well to the paperback version - they're on the small side and difficult to interpret and return to. Perhaps larger, colour illustrations, gathered in a central section would have been better.- Some of Greene's analogies grate a little. He makes a lot of use of analogies, which I guess is inevitable and necessary given the esoteric nature of the subject matter. However, one is occasionally left wondering whether these analogies tell the whole story or if there's something important that's been left out for the benefit of the reader's sanity. The early ones on relativity are played out by The Simpsons (obviously Greene is a fan!) which comes across as a little patronising and later ones relate to baseball, which doesn't translate well for the British reader.- Although the conclusions are mind-boggling (quantum entanglement, string theory) a degree of shell shock is setting in - can the universe get any wierder? I'm only 3/4 of the way through! and it is difficult to lift oneself to the heights of admiration and wonder that Green obviously reaches - Ho hum! More strangeness!Nevertheless, this is well worth a read and don't be put off by the subject material. You'll never look at the world in the same way again.

...And yet, despite the fact that maths largely eludes me, okay entirely eludes me. Although there are fluff covered wine gums that would likely achieve a better grade in physics than I, I actually almost understand this stuff! Sure I'm having to teach myself a bit of classical physics on the way, but the efforts worth it! I mean WOW!This book is simply marvellous. Please see 'down the rabbit hole' and that marvellous tome,'In Search of Schrodinger's Cat,' for background knowledge before embarking on this if your a bit like me and struggle to programme a VCR or outwit the dog. I am eternally indebted to the likes of Brian Greene for making the incomprehensable almost comprehensible. Thank you Mr Greene, may you find the Higgs Boson, something else even more marvellous, or nothing at all which will be almost as smashing as the particle accelerator itself.

A very difficult subject to understand has been given the clearest possible explanation by this author.While there are some 'Eureka!' moments awaiting the reader, the author admits that in quantum mechanics a degree of trust is required and common sense has to be put to one side. So there is a faith based aspect to this book, but as someone once said , "God ? I have no need for such a hypothesis in my equations."

I came to Greene through Stephen Hawking's books then Brian Cox and his recent series and book "Why does E=mc2?".Like the other two, Greene has the ability to take the complexities of the cosmos and describe them in language accessible to other than the astrophyicist; using a large variety of images and analogies, he describes ways to penetrate the depths of the cosmos and bring it closer.Newton, Einstein, quantum physics, string theory, black holes, white dwarves and many more are somewhere in this wide-ranging book. BY the end, readers may not be an Einstein, Newton, Cox or Greene but they will be much more aware of and able to understand the universe in which they live.Enjoyable, interesting and informative.

Having finished "In Search Of Time" (D. Falk) and on the back of an increasing interest in all things Quantum, i challenged myself to tackle this on the back of Greene's reputation. I'm not scared to say that in order to get as much out of it as i could on the first read it took me a good few months, but it was time very well spent. You know it has had an impact when you find your idling moments considering key elements from the book, waiting at traffic lights and considering symmetry and such. That's a major goal achieved for a book like this i would have thought, to encourage people to challenge their thinking is a fantastic thing to achieve; in fact, it matters.I have no physics background and found it consise, readable well structured and not at all as condesending as some books in this area may be. The fact that there is already 60 odd reviews for this book and i'm writing this should say to you that it's essential - actually, it would easily make my top ten favourite books of all time, without question. I took more away from this book than all my high school science classes combined.

Wonderful book.

This is a very difficult read, and you will need some prior basic science knowledge (physics & astronomy).

This is an excellent account of modern thinking about cosmology. Always diffcicult when you can't actually begin to visulaise the mathematical models, but Brian Greene himself...

Amazing book. Every person on the planet should have a copy of this. Reads like a hot knife through butter.

As expected, therefore completely satisfied

great

Interesting stuff

Great book. Don't understand most of it but keep trying. Well worth it if you brain can take it

Read, absorb; learn. Enjoy reading this well crafted book which really reaches out to the interested reader even if they do not have an academic grounding in the science.

read and wonder !