[An edited version of an email I just sent to Toland]
The book so far, is quite good. I'm only into the first chapter, but Brian Greene does a fine job simplifying tough concepts.
What it amounts to is this: General relativity (Einstein's theory) is a theoretically sound approach to how BIG stuff works in the universe: Stars, black holes, space, time... nice.
Quantum mechanics is a theoretically sound approach to how tiny stuff works: atoms, quarks, etc.
The problem is that those two theories don't get along. They don't mesh. The laws that apply to tiny stuff don't apply very well to huge stuff, and vice versa. This has had scientists scratching their heads for a long time. Two sets of rules... not acceptable.
Well, superstring theory, which he really hasn't gotten into yet, supposedly does a really exciting and logical job of putting those two together. It's the one big theory of how EVERYTHING works that Einstein sought but failed to find. There you go.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
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