Customer Reviews

The Search for Superstrings, Symmetry, and the Theory of Everything

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I was so enthused after reading John Gribbin's "SCHRODINGER'S KITTENS AND THE SEARCH FOR REALITY" that I placed an order for Dr. Gribbin's latest effort on August 24; that's four momths before its scheduled release....that's enthused! I started reading the book just as it cleared the shipping container. Pure unadulterated and uninspired fluff! There's nothing in the book that an interested layman (that's me) doesn't already know. One could live with "already knowing" but the writing is so uninspired and so dull that getting shot at sunrise would be an eagerly anticipated option to having to read this book more than once.... I can only guess that Dr. Gribbinn and the publisher wanted to immediately cash in on the success of his previous books, particularly the superb "SCRODINGER'S KITTENS AND THE SEARCH FOR REALITY." Unfortunately their hell-bent haste for economic rewards is reflected in the final product. This book is not worth the money. It's hard to believe that the guy who wrote this book also wrote "...The Search for REALITY" which is worth every penny of its selling price!

If you haven't had a solid introduction to quantum physics, this book is not the place to start -- Gribbin's excellent earlier book (Schroedinger's Cat) is the place to start. However, if you've read about the Cat and have a decent conceptual grasp, this book is a good update. Gribbin's strength is explaining the concepts, independent of the intense math that's involved in physics. The science is so complicated that this is clearly not an easy task, yet Gribbin is, in my opinion, quite good at bringing the concepts to a level that I can mostly, usually, get a grasp of. On this level, this book covers what's happened in physics from the quantum revolution up to the present. Superstrings, Symmetry, & TOE is really not the best title for it though, because I read the first half of the book waiting for Gribbin to get to any of the title concepts.

I don't think Superstrings is nearly as solid an effort by Gribbin as Cat was. I had a hard time grasping the symmetry concept. I was solid on the review of quantum mechanics (which was well done, but was not enough information to make me suggest skipping Schroedinger's Cat). I was right with him through the spin function, and I was doing pretty well all through quarks. When he (finally!) got to strings, I could understand again. Unfortunately, all through the discussion of symmetry -- which I read and re-read several times -- I just wasn't getting it.

All in all, I think this is a pretty solid book for covering the physics concepts of the last 70 years or so, but I recommend reading Schroedinger's Cat, or at least having a conceptual understanding of quantum mechanics first.

Recently I have found myself a student of all things science with a tremendous appetite for the abstract. I've enjoyed the works of many talented authors such as Richard Feynman's "Six Easy Pieces", Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time", James Gleick's "Chaos" and of course Albert Einstein's "Relativity". As a laymen, each of the above books presented it's own challenges in appreciating and understanding the text. However, each was gratifying, fulfilling and difficult to put down until the last page was finished...

Contrary to the good writing I've grown addicted, is John Gribbin's work in "The Search for SuperStrings, Symmetry, and the Theory of Everything". I found the book to be like a visit to a planetarium that insists on keeping the lights on during the show, interesting facts but impossible to follow. Worse, I was insulted by the authors frequent references to his other works; this book felt like a cheap commercial.

Yes, perhaps a little slow on the introduction and a drag for those of who had a beginners course in quantum physics or a college physical science background. But the author does an excellent job, in my opinion, of explaining in detail WHY it is that we're searching for SUSY, not just the buzzwords of this science for the impressionable readers. It also keeps a good psychological reality check, and defends certain theories over others; a very honest and unbiased book, and an interesting one too. Thanks!

I've been a Gribbin fan for a long time, and am of the opinion that each of his offerings is better than the last. I concur with the professional reviewers': this meets the very high standard of Gribbin's other work and easily exceeds the average for the genre.

In a conversational style laced with wit, an ability to *write* that is unfortunately lacking among some of the scientific intelligentsia, he addresses some of the most exciting issues in physics in this decade. It's a book about what we don't know, our thrilling ignorance and tantalizing hints, guesses, glimpses of an awesome explanation just around the corner... The field in itself is intoxicating, and one suspects that Dr. Gribbin must have enjoyed the process of researching and writing the book as much as his readers enjoy the results.

This is a complex subject, and requires a thorough grounding in quantum theory. Readers who, like myself, are familiar with Gribbin's other work, will find that while the first section covers some of the same ground, it does so on a higher level of technical detail. This is presented in a quick, concise summary, and makes a good refresher, though it may go a bit over the heads of some who are completely new to the subject (they might want to read another of his books as an introduction, and then treat _Superstrings_ as a sequel of sorts, picking up where earlier attempts to explain the quantum world leave off).

From there, he moves onto the tricky ground of modern theoretical constructs, the ever shifting leading edge of research. This is subtle stuff, but Gribbin is a competent and confident guide. Follow him closely, and you can be sure of your footing.

Adventure metaphors aren't miss-placed here, the subject is exciting, especially rinsed of the dry language of journal publications and deftly displayed by a very articulate expert. Anyone with an appreciation for conceptual beauty will enjoy this, I think. I certainly did.

If you are looking for an introduction to the newest theories in astrophysics, this is not the book for you. It has nearly the same brief intro to quantum mechanics as all the other books on the topic, then Gribbin simply wanders from topic to topic discussing weird phenomenon and theories and never really tying them together. He's got a ton of speculation about String Theory, but he never really provides any reason that you should believe in it other than that it sounds really cool.

He is also a bit behind the times (not necessarily his fault), for theoretical physics has (mostly) moved past the particular theories he presents, though they are helpful for understanding the most recent theories.

In all, this is not a book I would recommend. String Theory is beginning to collapse, and there are a few books coming out this year detailing the rise and fall of String Theory. One of these books would probably be a better introduction to String Theory that this one, even if you disagree with their conclusions.

Overall Grade: C-

If you are looking for more than " Oh, Golly" physics with some real mathematics, then this will be disappointing, but if you like Richard Feynman type informative lectures that name the names and give an understandable overview, then this is a well written book with history and facts and references. I got is as a gift from a friend who was trying to be of help! It was more help than some of my Google searches on the Internet!