The Search for Superstrings, Symmetry, and the Theory of Everything [Hardcover]

John Gribbin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0316329754 | ISBN-13: 978-0316329750 | Publication Date: January 5, 1999

Few areas of current scientific investigation are as intriguing, contentious, or bizarre as physicists' search for a Grand Unified Theory that would unite all the forces and particles of nature in one coherent mathematical package. Since Einstein's time, this "theory of everything" has become the Holy Grail of physics, and its pursuit has resulted in some of the most extraordinary conceptions in the history of science. In "The Search for Superstrings, Symmetry, and the Theory of Everything," best-selling science popularizer John Gribbin explores the field of particle physics, the most exciting area of research in physics today and the key to uncovering the Grand Unified Theory.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In days of yore, educated men and women would avidly follow new developments in the world of science; these days it seems to be too much trouble--relativity was bad enough, but "N-dimensional space"? Fortunately for those of us who have trouble visualizing parallel parking, much less quarks and gluons, John Gribbin is back with an up-to-date primer on subatomic physics. The Search for Superstrings, Symmetry, and the Theory of Everything refers as much to the reader's search for understanding as to the physicist's search for clever theories and experimental evidence to back them up, and Gribbin's prose is up to both tasks.

While meeting luminaries from Einstein to Steven Weinberg, we are treated to clear explanations of what in the world they're talking about, whether it's the "collapse of the wave function" or "high-energy particle acceleration." This material is especially fascinating to those of us without much mathematical inclination, as Gribbin manages to show the state-of-the-art in modern physics without forcing us to go back to school for a few years. (There is an appendix, "Group Theory for Beginners," for interested parties.) Writers like Gribbin are helping us reclaim the time when a little learning was all it took to understand science--and The Search for Superstrings, Symmetry, and the Theory of Everything might just convince you that it's not so hard, after all. --Rob Lightner

From Publishers Weekly

Ever since Einstein came up with the General Theory of Relativity, the Holy Grail of physics has been a "Theory of Everything" that would explain the behavior of all the particles and forces in nature in one set of equations. Popular science writer Gribbin tackles this quest in a thorough yet palatable primer geared to the serious reader. He starts with a clear introduction to the subatomic particle zoo (the subject of his last book, Schrodinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality). Where once protons, neutrons and electrons reigned, there is now a "periodic table" of particles, and physicists have to worry about a potentially infinite number of types of particles with names like W and Z bosons, red up quarks, blue down quarks, etc. From there, Gribbin moves on to supersymmetry, a theory that attempts to bring Einsteinian space-time back into the quantum-mechanical fold of contemporary particle physics. Many physicists now treat particles not as points but as strings, tiny one-dimensional entities vibrating in 10-dimensional space-time. Gribbin helps us get our bearings in a universe of 11 dimensions, and while he refrains from the cosmic speculations of, say, Paul Davies, diligent readers without any specialized knowledge of physics or mathematics will come away with a flavor of the latest ideas theorists are grappling with, including the six major rival contenders for the TOE (Theory of Everything). An appendix previews the experiments scientists are planning in their attempts to create "little bangs," particle-accelerator collisions that may reveal what types of matter arose during the primal Big Bang. Overall, this is an exciting tour de force. 23 drawings.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (January 5, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316329754
• ISBN-13: 978-0316329750
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,529,653 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is a disapointing book..........., May 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Search for Superstrings, Symmetry, and the Theory of Everything (Hardcover)

My biggest problem with this book is that the title suggests material that is only covered in the last 10% of the book. I purchased it to get a lay person's view of string theory but the book hardly refers to string theory at all. It covers a lot of material in the first 90% that I was already familiar with and did not need another book to explain it all to me again. I was expecting a book that concentrated on events over more recent years, and not another book going right back to the beginning of quantum theory. In my opinion, the title misrepresents the content.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A wandering review of physics, April 22, 1999

By 

S. Brown "s_brown" (Potsdam, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Search for Superstrings, Symmetry, and the Theory of Everything (Hardcover)

Stick with Michio Kaku if you want a overview of unification theories. Use The Search for Superstrings, Symmetry, and the Theory of Everything if you want specific details on how the unification theories are developed.

The Search for Superstrings, Symmetry, and the Theory of Everything is a loosely organized treatment of the search for a unification theory of "natural" forces. The book covers the modern history of unification theories, subatomic particles, wave/particle theories, string theory, etc. While the book does have some good explanations of subatomic "particles" and forces, the book is overall a difficult read because the organization is somewhat confusing. Only in the last chapters is the unification theory finally addressed and the reason for the apparently unorganized layout somewhat evident -- ironically, the book is unified in the last chapter.

The ending was odd and brief -- to say the least. I literally turned the page and the book ended. The sudden ending appeared more like a hasty close than a normal ending to a book of covering topics of this magnitude.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent overview of a challenging topic, July 14, 2001

By 

Alex Bergier (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Search for Superstrings, Symmetry, and the Theory of Everything (Hardcover)

I discovered John Gribbin relatively recently and have been going through any of his books that I could find. Even though his enthusiasm leads him into the realm of speculation at times, he is a very competent source of exciting and important information and remains a consistently good writer for whom clarity comes naturally.

This book is shorter and more succinct than many others by the author, and he mostly remains within the mainstream boundaries. It can serve two purposes: as a quick refresher in modern physics, and as an overview of some of the latest developments in force unification efforts.

For me, the writing was of just the right level of difficulty to make it worth-while to put in the effort necessary for the enjoyment of understanding the ideas it is trying to convey. Usually, they made good sense on the second reading of a given section (allowing for some inevitable vagueness of the subject as explained in words without the underlying mathematics).

I would advise, however, that the complete neophyte starts elsewhere (maybe some earlier books by the same author); on the other hand, people who are interested in much more detail of string theory in popular form could read e.g. "The Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene.