Category Archives: Book Reviews

Quantum Supremacy

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

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

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

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Two New Quantum Field Theory Books

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

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

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

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

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

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

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