Physicists Like P-branes

Just read "The Grand Design" by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow and I'm enjoying the aftermath of discovering that the universe doesn't just have one history, but every possible history. My head is still spinning from coming soooo close to understanding the concept that observing an event alters an event. M-theory, we find out, isn't examining how the University of Michigan football team can actually develop some defensive strategy that actually works, but the network that has eleven space-time dimensions. "M-theory can contain not just vibrating strings but also point particles, two-dimensional membranes, three-dimensional blobs, and other objects that are more difficult to picture and occupy even more dimensions of space, up to nine. These objects are called p-branes (where p runs from zero to nine)." For those of us who loved string theory, here's the next joy. Imagine the inside of a straw. M-theory allows for 10 to the 500th power different universes in the curled interior, each with its own apparent laws. We occupy only one of those possible universes. It's a nice one; I think I'll stick around. Only in this universe could I have a tshirt that reads "Physicists like p-branes" and read a great book like this one. I'm content.