books:

	Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory and the Search for Unity in Physical Law Peter Woit Basic Books, 2006 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 40 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

At what point does theory depart the realm of testable hypothesis and come to resemble something like aesthetic speculation, or even theology? The legendary physicist Wolfgang Pauli had a phrase for such ideas: He would describe them as "not even wrong," meaning that they were so incomplete that they could not even be used to make predictions to compare with observations to see whether they were wrong or not.

In Peter Woit's view, superstring theory is just such an idea. In Not Even Wrong, he shows that what many physicists call superstring "theory" is not a theory at all. It makes no predictions, even wrong ones, and this very lack of falsifiability is what has allowed the subject to survive and flourish.

Not Even Wrong explains why the mathematical conditions for progress in physics are entirely absent from superstring theory today and shows that judgments about scientific statements, which should be based on the logical consistency of argument and experimental evidence, are instead based on the eminence of those claiming to know the truth.

In the face of many books from enthusiasts for string theory, this book presents the other side of the story.

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Informative and worth reading

This book is a great summary of the way the string theory emerged - and how it failed.
The discussion of the behaviour of the string community is alike the dispute of the defenders of the old theory of Aristoteles with Galileo Galilei.
I enjoyed every minute reading this book.


fine, but could be better

As a moderately knowledgeable chemical physicist (A's in QM--1st year and advanced--at Harvard from J. Schwinger), I had hoped for more than just listings of theorems.I know group theory and had a vague idea of what the group names denoted, but I think a non-physicist would be completely swamped . The chapter on accelerators was enlightening, but it could have been merged with the development of the Standard Theory to show better the interaction of theory and experiment. The later chapters--12 through 16--were excellent: string theory..., an evaluation; on beauty and difficulty; is superstring theory science; the only game in town; the landscape of string theory--and I would have been glad to purchase the book just for these. I was reminded, reading Richard Feynman's derogatory quote about string theorists "anything that doesn't agree with an experiment--they cook up an explanation", of the similar pattern for anthropic global warming enthusiasts.

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Good only if you are in the know

Woit's work is marvelous as a review piece for the working physicist, or at least someone with a degree in physics. In the book, specialist terms are never succinctly and aptly defined for the layman, and the reader is stranded between a writing prose that purports to cater to the needs of the general population while infused with an indecipherable gibberish technical jargons. That aside, "Not Even Wrong" is a good read, considering that it is comprehensive in its treatment of modern physics over the past 30 more years or so. Probably a bit difficult for someone who does not know a lot about physics already.

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Focus, focus, and more focus -NOT

Why is it so hard for someone to stay on the subject matter? Too much of the book was spent on matters other than the subject, and I did buy the book for a lecture one the lack of funding for physics research. regardless of its importance.


reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

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