Just Do It

Brian Greene at the Free Library

by Shaun Brady

About 10 years ago, Columbia University math and physics prof Brian Greene was poised to follow Stephen Hawking's lead, taking impossibly complicated physics concepts and making them at least approach accessibility for a wider audience, thereby reaching superstardom. That didn't quite pan out; let's face it, Greene's an amiable, charismatic guy who navigates the "cool in a nerdy sorta way" tightrope, but nobody can touch Hawking for backstory. The guy could've written about tax law and he would have achieved celebrity. Besides, Greene's specialty is string theory, and everyone who's even paid glancing attention knows that string theory is a mindfuck of a supreme order. C'mon, 26 dimensional-space? You try and illustrate that with a friendly cartoon dog.

Still, Greene continues to fight the good fight, bringing brain-freezing concepts to the masses as gently as possible. His latest, Icarus at the Edge of Time (Alfred A. Knopf, $19.95), eases off the controversial superstring stuff and sticks with basic space-time physics, weaving a sci-fi fable out of concepts familiar to any Hawking reader — or Star Trek viewer, for that matter. Icarus could be considered a children's book for the gifted set or a coffee table tome perfect for your next Clone Wars viewing party. Chip Kidd's understated design has a central black circle gradually consuming gorgeous images from the Hubble, while Greene's Aesop-by-way-of-Asimov text illustrates some basic ramifications of Einstein's theories, with more than a little science club fantasizing tossed in for good measure.