Category Archives: Book Reviews

The Impossible Man

Posted on November 15, 2024 by woit

There’s a new book out this week, a biography of Roger Penrose by Patchen Barss, with the title The Impossible Man: Roger Penrose and the cost of genius. Penrose is one of the greatest figures in physics and mathematical physics … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 25 Comments

The Elegant Universe: 25th Anniversary Edition

Posted on August 20, 2024 by woit

Brian Greene’s The Elegant Universe is being reissued today, in a 25th anniversary edition. It’s the same text as the original, with the addition of a 5 page preface and a 36 page epilogue. The initial excitement among some theorists … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 17 Comments

Quantum Supremacy

Posted on May 3, 2023 by woit

We’re hearing this week from two very different parts of the string theory community that quantum supremacy (quantum computers doing better than classical computers) is the answer to the challenges the subject has faced. New Scientist has an article Quantum … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, This Week's Hype, Wormhole Publicity Stunts | 29 Comments

Before the Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe from the Multiverse

Posted on July 29, 2022 by woit

There’s a new book out this month, Before the Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe from the Multiverse, about which we’re told: One of the world’s most celebrated cosmologists presents her breakthrough explanation of our origins in the multiverse. … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Multiverse Mania | 17 Comments

Memories of a Theoretical Physicist

Posted on June 1, 2022 by woit

Joe Polchinski’s autobiographical Memories of a Theoretical Physicist has just been published, in an open-access version that is freely available. Much of the volume is what appeared here on the arXiv back in 2017, but this has been supplemented with … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 20 Comments

Two New Quantum Field Theory Books

Posted on April 11, 2022 by woit

I’ve recently noticed that two very good new books on quantum field theory have become available, one aimed more at mathematicians, one purely for physicists. What Is a Quantum Field Theory? Available online now from Cambridge University Press (actual printed … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 35 Comments

This Way to the Universe

Posted on February 10, 2022 by woit

There’s a new popular book out this week by string theorist Michael Dine, This Way to the Universe, as well a a new Sean Carroll podcast interviewing him about the book and the state of particle theory research. According to … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Multiverse Mania | 9 Comments

Visit to Brown

Posted on September 24, 2021 by woit

I spent yesterday up in Providence, visiting the Theoretical Physics Center at Brown, and giving a talk there (slides are available here, newer version of a paper here), At some point a recording of the talk should appear online. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Euclidean Twistor Unification | 7 Comments

Conversations on Quantum Gravity

Posted on August 26, 2021 by woit

Things for many years now have been going badly for string theory on the public relations front. Today the Economist has Physics seeks the future: Bye, bye, little Susy, where one finds out that: But, no Susy, no string theory. … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 42 Comments

Hawking Hawking

Posted on April 8, 2021 by woit

There’s a very good new book about Stephen Hawking that just came out, Charles Seife’s Hawking Hawking. Some detailed reviews can be found at Prospect Magazine (Philip Ball) and the New York Review of Books (James Gleick). Seife has chosen … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 19 Comments