The Elegent Universe, by Brian Greene, is a brief introduction to the physics of string theory, quantum mechanics, and relativity. It is an easy/entertaining read, and has little to no mathematics involved.

The Bad: Not too much. It wasn't mathematically rigorous for truly learning the material, but it couldn't be and still achieve the wide audience intended. It occasionally switched between history of science, explaining the physics, and short stories of research as though from an autobiography. This didn't really hurt the book though.

The Good: It was entertaining and well written. It had some good analogies, and explanations of abstract mathematics and physics. It was good for motivating me to start learning physics again.

Overall, the book was a nice read to a non-expert. It is a good introduction to an interesting subject. It is nowhere near a textbook quality, but it doesn't aim to be. You will learn a little bit from the book, but it will mostly just get you excited to learn more from other books. The writing style is easy to read, and I'd have to give it a rating of 5/5. You would probably enjoy this book.

• Number of pages: ~400
• Date finished reading: 3/17/07
• Time spent reading: about 1 month, though I was trying to make up for the lack of math by doing my own derivations at the beginning
• Rating: 5/5 - a great book