Category Archives: Book Reviews

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 | 3 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

The God Equation

Posted on April 4, 2021 by woit

When I was out for a bike ride yesterday I stopped by a large book store and looked to see if they had a copy of Michio Kaku’s new book The God Equation. They didn’t, but did have plenty of … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, This Week's Hype | 32 Comments

New Spaces in Mathematics and Physics

Posted on March 22, 2021 by woit

Available online today (if your institution is paying…) from Cambridge University Press are two volumes well-worth spending some time with: New Spaces in Mathematics and New Spaces in Physics. These contain write-ups based on a workshop organized back in 2015 … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 7 Comments

Quantum Reality

Posted on September 2, 2020 by woit

Jim Baggott’s new book, Quantum Reality, is now out here in US, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the issues surrounding the interpretation of quantum mechanics. Starting next week I’ll be teaching a course on quantum mechanics … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 37 Comments

This and That

Posted on December 2, 2019 by woit

First, a few physics items: Mark Alpert has a new novel out, Saint Joan of New York, a thriller subtitled “A Novel About God and String Theory”, which is an accurate description. It’s published by Springer, so you may be … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Multiverse Mania, Uncategorized | 23 Comments

The Man Who Solved the Market

Posted on November 14, 2019 by woit

There’s an excellent new book out about Jim Simons and Renaissance Technologies, The Man Who Solved the Market, by Gregory Zuckerman. I recommend it enthusiastically to anyone interested in the story of how a geometer ended up being worth \$23 … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 14 Comments

The Number of the Heavens

Posted on September 18, 2019 by woit

Multiverse mania seems to have been dying down recently, with this only the third entry in that category here so far this year, after 10 in 2018, 13 in 2017, 10 in 2016, 17 in 2015, 18 in 2014, 12 … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Multiverse Mania | 10 Comments

Something Deeply Hidden

Posted on August 20, 2019 by woit

Sean Carroll’s new (available in stores early September) book, Something Deeply Hidden, is a quite good introduction to issues in the understanding of quantum mechanics, unfortunately wrapped in a book cover and promotional campaign of utter nonsense. Most people won’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Multiverse Mania | 76 Comments