Brian Greene is a leading theoretical physicist and a famous popularizer of science. His books have helped many to get acquainted with string theory and other important ideas of modern physics.

"Until the End of Time" is an attempt to find a place for man in the picture of the world described by modern science. Greene shows how the cosmos with its galaxies, stars, planets and, finally, life unfolds in the confrontation of two great forces - entropy and evolution. Why is there something and not nothing? How do myriads of moving particles acquire the ability to feel and think? How can we comprehend the meaning of life in the chilling prospect of trillions of years in the future, where any thought is ultimately doomed to fade away?

Greene does not always have ready-made answers, but the scientific context makes their search incomparably more interesting.

"Random events, such as the impact of a cosmic particle or a molecular disruption during DNA replication, lead to mutations. Some of them have virtually no effect on the health and well-being of the organism, while others increase or decrease its fitness for competition for survival."

"The future, apparently, will be one of continuous destruction, an inexorable conversion of productive energy into useless heat, a constant leakage of energy - so to speak - from the batteries that power reality."

"In the most general terms, if some physical system is not already in a state of maximum accessible entropy, the probability that it will evolve in the direction of this state is extremely high."

"The Entropic Two-Step is the basis for how the Universe, on the path to ever greater disorder, can nevertheless give birth to and maintain ordered structures such as stars, planets, and people."

Features
One of the few books that explains the concept of entropy in accessible language.

For whom
For those who are interested in the structure of the Universe and its future.

Awards and rankings
Andrew Gemant Award (2003)
Richtmyer Memorial Award (2012)