Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe paints a riveting picture of our current conception of the universe that also works as a sweeping summary of the most important progress in recent scientific history.
Greene is a good writer with lucid and playful prose. He has a particular knack for crafting analogies that, though they initially seem somewhat cumbersome and absurd (“Lineland,” this means you), ultimately allow him to relate complex, theory-heavy concepts in an accessible and engaging manner. This is a welcomed break from the sometimes dry writing of physics professors who seem to equate an antiseptic overview of their field with “interesting” writing aimed at nonspecialists. And unlike the esteemed Stephen Hawking, Greene doesn't come across as an arrogant know-it-all.
Sometimes, though, Greene sounds too much like a string theory apologist. In his overly defensive posture, he can even sound eerily similar to a theologian who's been backed into a corner by a particularly adept and persistent skeptic (my apologies to everyone in the scientific community for comparing a respected scientist to a theologian). Though Greene readily admits that string theory has many significant shortcomings (such as, for instance, that there is no experimental evidence for it), he seems disconcertingly preoccupied with convincing the reader that the aesthetic accomplishments of string theory will somehow minimize its glaring deficiencies.
The greatest strength of Greene's book is not the way he answers so many questions about the esoteric field of theoretical physics (though he certainly does do a fantastic job of doing just that); the greatest strength is that Greene actually provokes more questions than he answers, questions that the reader may not have previously considered. His book opens new ways for the scientifically disinclined or uninitiated to grapple with the great advances physicists are making towards a fuller understanding of the universe we inhabit--one that seems increasingly beautiful and charged with significance even if string theory ultimately turns out to be an intricately and elegantly composed misfire.
