|
|
|
|
This web site is: |
 |
|
|
The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, The Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next |
|
|
Amazon Sales Rank: 8793
Publication Date: 2007-09-04
Publisher: Mariner Books
ISBN: 061891868X
Type: Paperback
Number Of Pages: 416
|
In this illuminating book, the renowned theoretical physicist Lee Smolin argues that fundamental physics -- the search for the laws of nature -- losing its way. Ambitious ideas about extra dimensions, exotic particles, multiple universes, and strings have captured the public's imagination -- and the imagination of experts. But these ideas have not been tested experimentally, and some, like string theory, seem to offer no possibility of being tested. Yet these speculations dominate the field, attracting the best talent and much of the funding and creating a climate in which emerging physicists are often penalized for pursuing other avenues. As Smolin points out, the situation threatens to impede the very progress of science. With clarity, passion, and authority, Smolin offers an unblinking assessment of the troubles that face modern physics -- and an encouraging view of where the search for the next big idea may lead.
Average Rating: 
Review: 2008-10-13
Food for thought
I don't read very much since I read slow but I was glad I finished through this book. There is a very good background of the state of physics in the first 3/4ths of the book. The ending could be skipped if you aren't all that interested in the authors prescriptive suggestions for addressing the state of academia and research funding.
Review: 2008-09-27
Finding the Wrong Assumptions: How to Fix Physics
Excellent read. Smolin's critique of string-them-along string theory in What's Wrong with Physics is greatly superior to Greene's cheerleading treatment of the same topic in The Elegant Universe. It is interesting the way that physics is being corrupted in a similar way to the financial system in the current crises causing a meltdown on Wall Street: people spewing out equations that nobody really understands and that have little relation to reality. But Smolin, while enlightening in his insider insights into the achievements and failures of string theory, falls into many of the same faulty assumptions of contemporary physics. My own view is that special relativity was fairly brilliant, but general relativity is essentially flawed. Physicists pay too much homage to Einstein, without admitting that he could be wrong. Remember that nobody has ever found a gravity wave, but general relativity appears to be premised on their existence. It would be more profitable to seek to create a theory that explicitly makes gravity waves impossible than to continue to believe in any theory where they exist. And the entire program of unification is suspect. Why should the Universe require unification when everything we know points to simply finding, over time, that it contains more and more things and phenomena -- different laws at different scales of spatial dimension -- and becomes bigger and bigger than we ever thought before? The Universe seems to require diversity, not unification. And while physics flounders, there are legitimate advances in related fields: our understanding of the information sciences and the concept of entropy appear to be critical for any advances in physics.
 |
Amazon List Price: $15.95
Choose an Amazon Store
 Buy from Amazon |
|
 Go back to previous page |
|
|
Product reviews, information, best prices and cheap buys for a range of popular products. Ranging from books, video games, DVD's, toys and music. Products include the fabulous Harry Potter, Gordon Ramsay, A Thousand Splendid Suns, The God Delusion, A History of Modern Britain, The Children of Hurin, The Secret, I Can Make You Thin, (Paul McKenna), The Kite Runner , Tricks of the Mind, Derren Brown, Suite Francaise , Catherine Tate Comic, Pirates Of The Caribbean, Shrek 3 the Third, Rocky Balboa , James Bond - Casino Royale , Dad's Army - Series 9, Doctor Who, Prison Break Season 2 , Scrubs - Series 5, Blood Diamond , Doctor Who - Series 3, Dreamgirls, It Won't Be Soon Before Long, Maroon 5, Back To Black, Winehouse, Black Rain, Ozzy Osbourne, Send Away the Tigers, Manic Street Preachers, The Best Club Anthems, Icky Thump, White Stripes, Sweet Warrior, Richard Thompson, 50 cent , abba , akon , amy winehouse , arcade fire , arctic monkeys , avril lavigne , beatles , biffy clyro , beverley knight , beyonce , black sabbath , bob dylan , bob marley , bjork , bon jovi , bruce springsteen , bryan adams , cascada , cat stevens , cliff richard , coldplay , css , dance , david bowie , deep purple , depeche mode , diana ross , dolly parton , elliot smith , elton john , elvis presley , eric clapton , eurovision , fall out boy , fleetwood mac , frank sinatra , funeral for a friend , genesis , groove armada , hawkwind , hed kandi , iron maiden , james , jeff buckley , jimi hendrix , johnny cash , joni mitchell , justin timberlake , kaiser chiefs , kings of leon , led zeppelin , linkin park , love songs , madonna , manic street preachers , mark ronson , maroon 5 , megadeth , mcfly , metallica , michael buble and many more. The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, The Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next
|
|
|