The Fabric of the Cosmos

Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality

By: Brian Greene

Narrated by: Michael Prichard

Length: 22 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

From Brian Greene, one of the world’s leading physicists, comes a grand tour of the universe that makes us look at reality in a completely different way.

Space and time form the very fabric of the cosmos. Yet they remain among the most mysterious of concepts. Is space an entity? Why does time have a direction? Could the universe exist without space and time? Can we travel to the past? Greene uses these questions to guide us toward modern science’s new and deeper understanding of the universe.

From Newton’s unchanging realm in which space and time are absolute, to Einstein’s fluid conception of spacetime, to quantum mechanics’ entangled arena where vastly distant objects can bridge their spatial separation to instantaneously coordinate their behavior or even undergo teleportation, Greene reveals our world to be very different from what common experience leads us to believe.

Focusing on the enigma of time, Greene establishes that nothing in the laws of physics insists that it run in any particular direction and that “time’s arrow” is a relic of the universe’s condition at the moment of the big bang. And in explaining the big bang itself, Greene shows how recent cutting-edge developments in superstring and M-theory may reconcile the behavior of everything from the smallest particle to the largest black hole. This startling vision culminates in a vibrant eleven-dimensional “multiverse,” pulsating with ever-changing textures, where space and time themselves may dissolve into subtler, more fundamental entities.

Sparked by the trademark wit, humor, and brilliant use of analogy that have made The Elegant Universe a modern classic, Brian Greene takes us all, regardless of our scientific backgrounds, on an irresistible and revelatory journey to the new layers of reality that modern physics has discovered lying just beneath the surface of our everyday world.

©2004 Brian Greene (P)2004 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Nobody ever said that cosmology was simple, not even Stephen Hawking, in whose tradition Dr. Greene impressively follows....He is both a skilled and kindly explicator....The Fabric of the Cosmos is as dazzling as it is tough." (The New York Times)

"It will be enjoyable and stimulating for the lay reader, who will even learn about time travel and teleportation. This is one popular-science book that won't be left on the coffee table half read." (The New York Times Book Review)

“Forbidding formulas no longer stand between general readers and the latest breakthroughs in astrophysics: the imaginative gifts of one of the pioneers making these breakthroughs has now translated mathematical science into accessible analogies drawn from everyday life and popular culture....Nonspecialists will relish this exhilarating foray into the alien terrain that is our own universe.” (Booklist, starred review)

“This is popular science writing of the highest order...Greene [has an] unparalleled ability to translate higher mathematics into everyday language and images, through the adept use of metaphor and analogy, and crisp, witty prose....He not only makes concepts clear, but explains why they matter.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

Good overview of cosmology in the past century

I would highly recommend this book as the starting place for reading the recent history of cosmology. Brian is an excellent writer, and illustrates the principles of relativity and quantum phenomena with witty analogies using characters from favorite TV shows such as the Simpsons and the X-files. He also has reviewed the last 100 years of progress in these fields, showing how each new theory has fit into the understanding of physical reality and the history of the cosmos. A must read for further exploration of these fields.

Best of Breed

This book remains an absolute must-read for those hoping to better appreciate the progress and direction of physicists in their quest to explain our universe at a fundamental level. I revisit this book every few years and enjoy it more and more each time. No one delivers physics to the layman more effectively than Brian Greene.

eh

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

good subject - reader could have been better. i nominate barrett whitener next time

Were the concepts of this book easy to follow, or were they too technical?

easy to follow

What three words best describe Michael Prichard’s voice?

fascinating, interesting, thought-provoking

Was The Fabric of the Cosmos worth the listening time?

undecided

Beautiful book on fundamentals of space/time

Brian Greene has done it again with a masterful narrative on the physics of the fundamental nature of space-time, the unification of all 4 of Physic's main forces and beyond. The question by Leibniz on why there is a Universe at all is one of the beginnings into the pondering on the nature of space and the Universe. A lot of progress has been made in the twentieth century and now the twenty first but a lot remain beyond our current technology to measure and to substantiate. Greene being a String Theorist believes String Theory will provide the answers (or Loop Quantum Gravity), and awaits with great excitement the findings by the Large Hadron Collider. Since this book was written in or around 2004, a lot has been discovered at CERN Large Hadron Collider like the existence of the Higgs Boson particle.

I would recommend reading this book by anyone curious about the happenings in Physics since Einstein..

Great insights

very enjoyable book. breaks everything down in an easy to understand way. Hreat way to learn the basics of String Theory

Wonderful Science but...

I wish Dr Greene had narrated his book. Unfortunately Mr Prichard narration significantly detracts from my enjoyment of this book.

An Easy Listen

I found the narration to be excellent and quite easy to follow, even though I was not well informed in physics. I was able to understand and learn a lot. I will certainly read this book more than once. Even if it's an easy read , it covers a mountain of material, and deserves more than one reading.

needs more science

couldn't stand all the stupid analogies involving simpsons and the X Files. i wanted to learn about the fabric of the cosmos not listen to corny, cringey stories. analogies are fine but leave the pop culture out of it.

Hurts my head in a fun way

This book was a fascinating dive into quantum physics, the cosmos and the meaning of time. While I can’t say that I understood all of it, it was certainly a very enjoyable read.

Lucid, Revealing, Thorough

If you're new to the worlds of quantum physics and relativity, this book makes an excellent primer; non-scientists who just want to brush up on their physics will find plenty to like here as well--Greene's explanation of the Aspect experiment is the first I've ever read that actually makes me feel as though I understood what was actually going on. His frequent use of Simpsons and Star Wars characters as the subjects of his examples is charming in its unabashed geekery. The only sour note is the narrator, who sounds as though he's reading a 1940's newsreel. Once you get used to the ponderousness of the narration, though, the content gets you through.