Here are some customer reviews of
Nova - The Elegant Universe
: I was excited to see these programs put out by NOVA, and I have always thought highly of the television program. However, I did not actually learn a whole lot from these specific episodes. While being a show on String Theory, the program beat around the bush about explaining how String Theory works. While covering Newton, Einstein, and Bohr, the NOVA never made a real attempt to explain their theories, but rather gave extremely vague understandings of everything.No I do not believe that "The Elegant Universe" should delve on hairy mathematics, but it should answer "whys" and "hows" rather than just simply tell us that there are strings in subatomic atoms. Instead, it wasted so much time repeating things over and over like "people who believed in more dimensions a long time ago would have been labeled 'crackpots' but now String Theory demands it" or "if you can't test something then it's runs the risk of being philosophy." While those are interesting points, they are repeated in these documentarys over and over by the same people with computer graphics running all over the screen, never really doing a great job explaining any these claims. I think this would actually be pretty good for anyone who has little knowledge on physics, but definitely not for anyone who is at least familiar with what String Theory is.
 I teach physics and found this DVD to be of great support for my classroom. The DVD has great computer animations and a very dynamic and entertaining presentation. It's a great as an introduction to the physics course giving the students a big picture of the topics we will be discussing in class.
Enjoy!
 I recently read The Elegant Universe and while it was extremely dense it is well written and definitely worth reading if you are interested in string theory. I HIGHLY suggest that anyone really interested in sting theory skip the Nova show and read the book.
+++++
This program is based on the best-selling book "The Elegant Universe" (2000) by Dr. Brian Greene (of Columbia University) and is hosted by Greene as well.
This program, originally shown on PBS's "NOVA" television series, is in three one-hour parts. Below I shall state the title and what I see as highlights of each part:
(1) Einstein's Dream
Isaac Newton; his theory of gravity; James Clerk Maxwell; his theory of electomagnetism; Albert Einstein; his theory of General Relativity; the telegraph; unification; Niels Bohr; Quantum Mechanics; parallel universes; strong and weak nuclear force; nuclear bomb; black holes; string theory (technically called superstring theory).
(2) String's the Thing
Big Bang, unification; the world of quantum mechanics; how relativity and quantum mechanics differ; the brief history of string theory; what string theory is and how it works; particle physics; the "standard model," graviton; mathematical anomalies; extra spatial dimensions; the five types of string theory.
(3) Welcome to the Eleventh Dimension
string theory explained; wormholes; the tearing of the fabric of space; extra spatial dimensions; parallel universes; "M" theory; "the greatest living physicist," "branes;" eleven dimensions; closed-end vs open-end strings; Big Bang; the creation of the universe by branes; the "riddle of the Big Bang;" how to test string theory?; graviton; supersymmetry; sparticles; "Could string theory in the end be wrong?"
Now that you know the contents of each part, why should you bother viewing this program? In other words, why is string theory so important? The answer is provided by Greene. He explains that the goal of string theory is "to unify our understanding of everything, from the birth of the universe to the majestic swirl of galaxies in just one set of principles -- one master equation."
I read the above book first before I viewed this program. The book is much more detailed. However, the program has two major features that the book does not:
(1) Brief commentary from many theoretical physicists (those mainly from the US but I noted one from the UK and one from Canada).
(2) Fantastic moving graphics that illuminate the theories discussed thus making them more comprehensible.
Some people see this program as too simplistic and meant for children. They also see it as being too repetitive. I disagree on both counts. Considering the amount of material Greene has to present without any mathematics, I think he does an excellent job. If there was no repetition, the viewer would easily get lost.
As I said above, I read the book first on which this program is based. This is not necessary. You can simply view the program only. But remember that if you do this, you will get only important highlights of the book. I think the best thing to do is view this program first and then read the book.
The DVD extras or "features" are worth exploring. I found them interesting.
Finally, the only minor problem I had was that each one-hour part is preceded by the same NOVA commercials and the same summary of the entire program. Once I saw this for the first time before the first part began, I simply fast-forwarded when I came to these for the second and third part.
In conclusion, this is a fascinating program that explores a promising new theory called String Theory!!
(2003; about 3 hours; 3 parts; 8 scenes per part; 2 discs; widescreen; closed-captioned; color with black and white sequences)
+++++
 Depending where you are coming from and where you are going to, there is something for everyone. There are people that keep up with the latest information on the universe; for those people this is a great program to show where the public is. It also is nice to have what you already know restated so you can look at it from a different angle. For people that slept through school or attended in the Stone Age this is may be a shocker for the last time you looked. Then there are people that see this as a wakeup call for the first time.
The program is designed to give you basic information about the latest theories on how the universe works and goes beyond Einstein to attempt to tie all the theories up into a single elegant bundle (Superstrings.)
The visuals help and having a different media allows one to retain information better. However the format leaves something to be desired. The redundancy goes beyond reinforcing to boredom. The sound byte format of leaping from one person to another, when it is just as possible to stay with one person for a completed thought, is like watching a used car commercial. Any one concept could be a whole program in it's self (and probably is.) They show a formula and say "here it is"; then two seconds later it is gone and they are off on another subject.
In any event you will not look at the universe in the same old way.
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