First of all, I think that Mr. Penrose's book is not accesible to the average reader. I have no degree in Physics and I am an amateur Physicist, but despite of that I could understand very well the contents of the book.<br><br>If you want to buy this book I strongly recommend you to learn before the following subjects (preferibly using the marvelous book of Finn and Alonso): Newtonian mechanics, rudiments of vector calculus and matricial algebra (at undergraduate level), a little electromagnetism (Maxwells equations), and also a little special and general relativity (I recommend you in this subject the Stefan Waner's papers on the Net and the book of Bernard Schutz). It is also important to have a background in complex calculus, reading for example the book of Gillespie, which introduces you in the complex numbers world and also in notions like the Hilbert's space, that are central in Quantum Mechanics.<br><br>Once you have some ideas of the above mentioned subjects and once you are familiarised in reading physical equations, you will be able to read the book of Mr. Penrose.<br><br>On the other hand, I think that "The Road to Reality" is the best physics book I have ever read: Because it teaches you in great detail the newest theories of moderns physics and their mathematical fundaments. It makes you a real theorist physicist.