String Theory, Vol. 1 : An Introduction to the Bosonic String (Cambridge Monographs on...

String Theory, Vol. 1 : An Introduction to the Bosonic String (Cambridge Monographs on Mathematical Physics) | Joseph Polchinski | The best introduction to strings.

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	String Theory, Vol. 1 : An Introduction to the Bosonic String (Cambridge Monographs on Mathematical Physics) Joseph Polchinski Cambridge University Press, 1998 - 422 pages average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

very thorough and complete

Polochinski presents upto date developments (mostly in 2nd volume) in string theory such as D-branes and dualities that are not discussed in Green, Witten, Schwarz's Superstring theory text. However, I found GWS's arguments easier to follow because they were intuitively and physically motivated. Although Polchinski's books lack physical insights, he more than makes up for them by completeness of the material, mathematical rigor and helpful exercises. However, I highly recommend that you first get Di Francesco's conformal field theory and read chapters 3-7 , 10 and 12 to get a better feel for stuff like state-operator mappings, Virasoro algebra, OPE's, etc. Although Polchinski claims the books are pretty much self-contained, I would say QFT (probably around lvl of 1st vol. of Weinberg) and GR are min prereq and some knowledge of SUSY, rep. theory of Lie alg, alg. toplogy wouldn't hurt. Lastly, the first edition had many many typos but corrections are frequently updated and you can download them through a website whose address is given in the book (the address in the book has a typo and should read "ucsb").

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The best introduction to strings.

I think there is no other book with so clear and precise explanations of string theory. All equations are carefully derived, all non-trivial conclusions are reached by a sequence of trivial thoughts. It exhibits the author's great pedagogical talent.

Great book, even for mathematicians

Exposition is extrememely clear, and requires very little background in field theory - although it may require some sophistication. (ie it helps to have tried and not understood before.)

Great book, very clear!

Excelent introduction to string theory. Carefully written, paying attention to details and displaying the logic structure of the theory in a very clear way.

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reviews: 1, page 2

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