Book Review: The Final Theory

This book is an entertaining read for physics enthusiasts;still, the book is in such simple a language that even those who are not too deep into physics can appreciate it. It revolves around astrophysics but the terms used are elaborated for the sake of non physicists so that at no point the reader is at a loss . The story in a nutshell: Einstein ,during his last days was bent on finding a unified theory which would explain all electromagnetic and gravitational phenomena. But his followers believed that he passed away without getting hold of the theroy. the story begins when the protagonist gets a call from a detective asking him to go to a city hospital where his teacher at princeton (with whom he had published a paper on two dimensional representation of the universe) is admitted with fatal injuries. The teacher tells him that Einstein did get hold of the unified theory but was apprehensive of the consequences that would pursue if his theory was used for non- peaceful purposes. Therefore he did not publish his theory.But he did not destroy the theory as it was too beautiful. Instead he gave it to three of his students to safeguard. two of them were already murdered and the third one is in the hospital bed about to die. he trusts the hero with a password which is a set of numbers and asks him to save it from an unscrupulous gang that is after the theory. there begins the story. the hero sets out to find the theory but the police are after him because he is the only link they have in the murder and the gang is after him because they know his teacher had transferred the secret to him. but he himself has no idea what to do with the set of numbers he had. what follows is an enthralling story of adventure , horror and suspense with the scientific terms so dexterously interspersed with the story element that it never gives the impression of a physics journal. Infact astrophysics sets the stage for a suspense thriller, but the reader can appreciate both the science as well as the stroy with equal vigour.The story ends along the usual lines with the good winning over the bad forces still a lot of surprises are in store towards the end of the story.