Book excerpt: Superstrings and Other Things: A Guide to Physics takes readers on a fascinating journey through physics. Written in an accessible style, this comprehensive guide explains the basic concepts of motion, energy, and gravity, through to the latest theories about the structure of matter, the origin of the universe, and the beginning of time. Fully illustrated throughout, the book explores major discoveries and the scientists behind them, from Galileo and Newton, Einstein and Bohr to Feynman and Hawking. Numerous examples of physics in everyday situations are provided and explained in an easy-to-understand way. Intended for the general reader with an inquiring mind, this guide will also be indispensable to students and scientists in other disciplines, and professionals in non-scientific fields who would like to understand the basic concepts of physics.