At First glance, the topics covered by Roger Penrose may seem unconnected, but incredibly, he manages to connect them seamlessly, and then reaches astounding conclusions about the implications for any theory of everything or any artificial intelligence. On the way, Penrose covers such diverse topics as Turing machines, Tensors and General Relativity, the wave equation and the inner workings of the brain. Thankfully, he explains all of these concepts with such clarity that prior knowledge of them and a degree in mathematics are unnecessary, to gain a full understanding of the book, and the occasional differential equations are not relevant to the theme of the book, and indeed should not discourage any potential reader. Of course, even if you do have good knowledge of the concepts introduced, the book is still a fantastic read, just to see how Penrose links the concepts introduced and reaches conclusions on them.
The book is also rather different to typical books about contemporary physics, which hail Superstring theories as the theory of everything. Penrose does not speak in depth about the newest forms of physics, but instead follows his conclusions from proven physics, and although he makes few specific predictions about the Theory of Everything, he does give a complete overview of the main features that he feels a Theory of Everything should contain. The fact that the conclusions are followed through from the physics explained in the book makes the conclusions much more justifiable than those of Superstring theories, even if you disagree with Penrose's final conclusion. Although the book does not contain cutting edge physics, such as Superstring theory, this does not detract from the overall theme of the book, and indeed the speculations made by Penrose about the Theory of Everything are just as interesting as those in many books about Superstring theory.
Overall, the Emperor's New Mind is a challenging read, but delivers a complete tour of 20th Century mathematics and physics, as well as a taster of neurology, that leaves the reader feeling both enlightened and eager to learn more. Outstanding!