I avoid technical language and equations, because of the radically new concepts involved the reader may need to pause now and then, to mull over a section here or ponder an explanation there, in order to follow the progression of ideas fully. A few sections of Part IV (focusing on the most recent developments) are a bit more abstract than the rest; I have taken care to forewarn the reader about these sections and to structure the text so that they can be skimmed or skipped with minimal impact on the book's logical flow. I have included a glossary of scientific terms for an easy and accessible reminder of ideas introduced in the main text. Although the more casual reader may wish to skip the endnotes completely, the more diligent reader will find in the notes amplifications of points made in the text, clarifications of ideas that have been simplified in the text, as well as a few technical excursions for those with mathematical training.
I owe thanks to many people for their help during the writing of this book. David Steinhardt read the manuscript with great care and generously provided sharp editorial insights and invaluable encouragement. David Morrison, Ken Vineberg, Raphael Kasper, Nicholas Boles, Steven Carlip, Arthur Greenspoon, David Mermin, Michael Popowits, and Shani Offen read the manuscript closely and offered detailed reactions and suggestions that greatly enhanced the presentation. Others who read all or part of the manuscript and offered advice and encouragement are Paul Aspinwall, Persis Drell, Michael Duff, Kurt Gottfried, Joshua Greene, Teddy Jefferson, Marc Kam'ionkowskil Yakov Kanter, Andras Kovacs, David Lee, Megan McEwen, Nari Mistry, Hasan Padamsee, Ronen Plesser, Massimo Poratti, Fred Sherry, Lars Straeter, Steven Strogatz, Andrew Strominger, Henry Tye, Cumrun Vafa, and Gabriele Veneziano. I owe special thanks to Raphael Gunner for, among many other things, his insightful criticisms at an early stage of writing that helped to shape the overall form of the book, and to Robert Malley for his gentle but persistent encouragement to go beyond thinking about the book and to put "pen to paper." Steven Weinberg and Sidney Coleman offered valuable advice and assistance, and it is a pleasure to acknowledge many helpful interactions with Carol Archer, Vicky Carstens, David Cassel, Anne Coyle, Michael Duncan, Jane Forman, Erik Jendresen, Gary Kass, Shiva Kumar, Robert Mawhinney, Pam Morehouse, Pierre Ramond, Amanda Salles, and Eero Simoncelli. I am indebted to Costas Efthimiou for his help in fact-checking and reference-finding, and for turning my initial sketches into line drawings from which Tom Rockwell created - with the patience of a saint and a masterful artistic eye - the figures that illustrate the text. I also thank Andrew Hanson and Jim Sethna for their help in preparing a few of the specialized figures.
For agreeing to be interviewed and to lend their personal perspectives on various topics covered I thank Howard Georgi, Sheldon Glashow, Michael Green, John Schwarz, John Wheeler, Edward Witten, and, again, Andrew Strominger, Cumrun Vafa, and Gabriele Veneziano.
I am happy to acknowledge the penetrating insights and invaluable suggestions of Angela Von der Lippe and the sharp sensitivity to detail of Traci Nagle, my editors at W. W. Norton, both of whom significantly enhanced the clarity of the presentation. I also thank my literary agents, John Brockman and Katinka Matson, for their expert guidance in shepherding the book from inception to publication.
For generously supporting my research in theoretical physics for more than a decade and a half, I gratefully acknowledge the National Science Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Energy. It is perhaps not surprising that my own research has focused on the impact superstring theory has on our conception of space and time, and in a couple of the later chapters I describe some of the discoveries in which I had the fortune to take part. Although I hope the reader will enjoy reading these "inside" accounts, I realize that they may leave an exaggerated impression of the role I have played in the development of superstring theory. So let me take this opportunity to acknowledge the more than one thousand physicists around the world who are crucial and dedicated participants in the effort to fashion the ultimate theory of the universe. I apologize to all whose work is not included in this account; this merely reflects the thematic perspective I have chosen and the length limitations of a general presentation.
Finally, I owe heartfelt thanks to Ellen Archer for her unwavering love and support, without which this