By Joseph Conlon
CRC Press
As the author himself states, the primary aim of this book is to explain why so many scientists choose to work on a theory that has no direct experimental support and is unlikely to have so anytime soon.
String theory, the origins of which date back to 1968, has developed into a major component of theoretical particle physics. It is most famous as a theory of quantum gravity and as a candidate unified theory of fundamental interactions at the smallest scales – so small that, unfortunately, we cannot directly test it with experiments.
Although string theory is built on a very solid mathematical basis and allows rigorous calculations, the author uses almost no equations. Rather than a textbook, this is a book on the history, science and philosophy lying behind a fascinating and speculative theory.
In the first part, the theory of quantum-mechanical relativistic strings is placed within the broader context of theoretical particle physics, and ultimately science in general. It is then discussed why there is still a need for ideas and paradigms that go beyond what we already know, and why string theory is a candidate for being a global theory that includes all others. Following this, the author describes the motivation driving this field and how this has evolved during the past 50 years. In particular, he dedicates various chapters to the connections of string theory with quantum field theory, mathematics, cosmology, particle physics and quantum gravity.
The last part of the book discusses the social aspects of science: the diverse ways of approaching the topic as well as various personal driving forces. A chapter is also dedicated to the most significant criticisms of string theory, to which the author provides a reply.
The book is intended to appeal to laypersons interested in fundamental physics as well as to physics students, so the author chooses to avoid mathematical formulations of the theory. However, the risk is that the book is then not sufficiently clear and explanatory to be an easy read for non-experts, nor technical and detailed enough to appeal to students.
