So, I recently finished The Trouble With Physics (initial comment here, full review forthcoming) and I read Not Even Wrong a little while ago (review here). I suppose I could dig up Lawrence Krauss’s book, and go for the String Theory Backlash trifecta, but I could also hit myself in the head with a brick…
My first inclination is to not read anything more about string theory for a good long while, but that seems a little unfair. Given that I’ve read a pair of anti-string books, the responsible thing to do would probably be to read something pro-string, to see how the other side views the same history.The question is, what should I read?
So, um, what should I read? Ideally this would be something broadly similar to Woit and Smolin, in that it should provide a good historical summary of the development of string theory, from the pro-string perspective, and a coherent argument about how it’s the coolest thing since sliced bread. Ideally, it would also be written by someone who isn’t barking mad.
So, what would that book be? I’ve got an unread copy of The Elegant Universe kicking around somewhere– is that the book I’m looking for?
Go read something completely unrelated to physics. It’s healthier.
Yeah, go pick up the new (by which I mean, old) Glen Cook Dread Empires book. It’s not bad.
It’s been a few years since I read The Elegant Universe, so my memory is fuzzy, but….
I thought the first parts were truly excellent. He gives the best popular-level introduction of GR that I’ve ever seen. I’m a little less enthusiastic about his popular level introduction to QM, but it’s still good.
Things get harder going when you get heavy into the strings, but it’s still quite readable, at least for the physicist…. It represents my full knowledge of string theory; I don’t understand anything past that.
I don’t remember how much historical stuff there was in the book, but the Nova special did have a fair amount of historical stuff. That’s worth blowing three hours on at some point if you can get your hands on it.
I haven’t read the Smolin or Woit books. I have this impression that it’s all part of an intraphysics flamewar. Should I read either/both books?
-Rob
I just finished Endless Forms Most Beautiful, about Evolutionary Development, which I found absolutely amazing. I come from a physics/engineering background so I’m trying to read more into biology and other areas. I’m currently reading Before The Dawn as a follow up. I’d recommend both, though Before The Dawn is a much slower read, as a followup to Endless Forms it has managed to easily keep my interest.
The Elegant Universe is a great book, you could certainly do worse than reading it, whatever the motivation might be. It’s true that the going gets a little tough when the actual string theory appears. And, of course, it appeared before Woit’s and Smolin’s books, so its spirit is more celebratory and less “answering the critics” in tone. But it’s a great book, far and away the best popular-level account of string theory.
Hi Rob,
Just wanted to notify that Peter Woit is having a rather interesting blog session: Bert Schroer’s ‘Samizdat’ on string theory.
Take care,
Jay
The Elegant Universe is a very well-written book, and good for getting a general picture of what string theory is. I’m not sure it’s a good counterpart (or antidote) to Smolin and Woit’s books, because it’s much more of a “gosh, wow” book for popular readers, it probably doesn’t address some of the more technical issues that Smolin’s and Woit’s books do (according to what I’ve read about them) — and it’s very positive about the prospects of string theory as The Grand Unifying Theory of Particle Physics which will uniquely specify everything, whereas I get the impression a lot of string theorists are now a lot less willing to suggest that. (Indeed, the whole “landscape” business is based on the idea that string theory won’t uniquely reproduce the Standard Model.)
Go read something completely unrelated to physics. It’s healthier.
Probably.
On the other hand, the physics books put me to sleep faster, unlike, say, Terry Pratchett, who keeps me up late.
Yeah, go pick up the new (by which I mean, old) Glen Cook Dread Empires book. It’s not bad.
I think I already have all the books in that omnibus in paperback.
As I said, I’ve had a copy of The Elegant Universe kicking around for a while now, but I haven’t read it out of sheer cussedness. When I say I’m a physicist, everyone expects me to have an opinion of it, and it’s sort of nice to be able to say that I haven’t read it, and head off the lengthy conversation about extra dimensions and all that.
I did watch at least some of the Nova episodes a while back (I dozed off for a while partway through), but I wasn’t terribly impressed. It spent way too much time recapping what had already been said, and didn’t get on with the new material.
If that’s still the best book on the subejct, though, I may give it a try.