Review - Not Even Wrong

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Review - Not Even Wrong - Peter Woit [UNRATEABLE]

Before plunging into Peter Woit's remarkable Not Even Wrong it's necessary to explain why this is the only book on the site that is unrated. This is an assessment of just what is wrong with string theory/superstrings/M theory - but it would be unfair on the reader to describe it as a popular science book in the conventional sense. For much of the book, I'd suggest, you need a physics degree to be able to read it without really understanding it, but getting a gist of what's going on (a bit like some of undergraduate lectures). To truly get the whole contents will probably require a postgraduate degree in physics or applied maths.

And yet... bits of it are tantalisingly good even without those qualifications. Woit provides a detailed explanation of how superstrings, M-theory et al - the only real attempt on the table at pulling together particle physics and gravity - came about. He also blisteringly tears apart what he suggests is perhaps not even science - the reason being that despite being around for over 20 years these theories are yet to make a single testable prediction. It really is stunning that these theories are given the attention they are. Woit makes a good case for this being down to the system. As it's pretty well the only game in town, new particle physics have little choice but to go into it - and once in it, have committed too much time to head off in a totally new direction.

The worst part of the book is where Woit gives a detailed history of a range of particle accelerator projects, and his history of quantum mechanics is rushed and confusing, but there is much to learn in his assessment of the development of the standard model, and his description of where superstrings and M-theory came from.

So this is a hugely recommended book, but one that is extremely difficult to understand. The popular science audience is used to supporters of superstring/M-theory writing excited books that tell how wonderful these ideas are, without every bothering to point out they don't actually have any connection with reality. It's such a shame that Woit didn't get a co-author who knows how to write for a general audience - or perhaps he can work with someone on a Not Even Wrong lite. This is a story that needs to be widely told - and Woit has a powerful voice in doing so, which is why the content deserves 5 stars, but the complexity of the book makes it, as popular science, extremely low rated. Perhaps it was chickening out to leave it unrated, but I felt there was no other choice.

Hardback.

Reviewed by Brian Clegg

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