This is probably the first non-textbook physics book I’ve read since I read The Dancing Wu Li Masters : An Overview of the New Physics and The Tao of Physics in high school in the 80s. At the time, I was so much amazed and awed by quantum physics as illustrated by Gary Zukav and Fritjof Capra that I was pretty adamant about pursuing physics in college. (But then, I found computers! :p)

Anyway, the previous two books (published in mid- to late-70s) mostly dealt with quantum physics, briefly mentioning string theory. And from reading The Elegant Universe on the development history, I can see that the string theory had a long way to go at the time.

This was a fun read although a lot of the technical details toward the end were just over my head. Even without fully understanding the details, Greene‘s writing was very enjoyable and informative to me, although not quite inspiring as Capra or Zukav (or the Korean translators).

I was finally able to understand how the extra-dimensional spaces are “curled up” tightly according to the string theory, and what the implications and the challenges are for the modern theoretical physics.

I probably won’t get to apply or remember much from the book, but I was excited to follow the historical journey of probably the best candidate for the theory of everything.