Abstract
String theory dates back some 30 years, but it was the "first string revolution" of 1984 that intensified interest in this, the most promising candidate for a "theory of everything". In this book Brian Greene declares that his central concern is "to explain the workings of the universe according to string theory with a primary emphasis on the implications these results have for our understanding of space and time". As readers of Physics World may already be aware, Greene's response to the challenge has put his book on the best-seller lists on both sides of the Atlantic (see "String theory tops the best-seller list" Physics World April 1999 p9).