Beyond Einstein: The Cosmic Quest for the Theory of the Universe
by Michio Kaku
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Book Summary Information
Author: Michio KakuContributor: Jennifer Trainer Thompson
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1995-09-01
ISBN: 0385477813
Number of pages: 240
Publisher: Anchor
Book Reviews of Beyond Einstein: The Cosmic Quest for the Theory of the Universe
Book Review: Sketchy and somewhat out of date
Summary: 3 Stars
I can only give this book a very lukewarm endorsement. My two complaints were that it is sketchy and somewhat out of date.
Sketchy --- By sketchy I mean that it does not explain anything in depth. This book just skims the surface of string theory and most of the subjects covered are discussed just superficially. This is not, in and of itself, a necessarily bad thing. In fact, for some audiences it is actually a desirable feature. High school students and those who just want a brief introduction to string theory and some aspects of modern physics may find this just what they want, but those who want a somewhat more in depth discussion will be disappointed. While superficial, the book does give an overviews of many subjects, namely: quantum mechanics, relativity theory, QED (and the difficulties with renormalization), the Standard Model (and its deficiencies) and cosmological features such as dark matter, dark energy, black holes and the big bang theory. There are also a lot of thumbnail biographies of people like Evariste Galois, Stephen Hawking and Vera Rubin scattered throughout the book.
The book is largely about superstring theory, but there is no clear distinction between this and string theory. (I think that the former refers to the fact that superstring theory incorporates supersymmetry into string theory, but this is never stated in this book.) There is a discussion of symmetry, but Noether's theorem (a major reason for considering symmetry) is never mentioned. In contrast to the obvious enthusiasm shown by the authors for superstring theory, it is not a theory ascribed to by the majority of physicists. While the authors do admit that there is no experimental verification for superstring theory, they neglect many other criticisms. For example, Lee Smolin (who is never referenced in this book) and others have pointed out that there are many, many, variations of string theory, but no way to determine which is the right one (or if any one of them is correct). The above-mentioned criticisms should not, however, be taken as a completely negative assessment of this book. As has been mentioned, a lot of material is covered, although in not as detailed or balanced a manner as I would have liked. You, however, may be looking for as less detailed treatment of and this would then be a good book for you. The style is breezy and informal and you can learn a lot from the time spent with this book.
Somewhat out of date --- The cover of the book states that it has been revised and updated, but it seems that it has only been updated to 1995. (There is another version of the book, with a slightly different sub-title which was published in 1998, so some of the following comments may not apply as much to this 1998 version.) Twelve years is a long time for a subject like string theory. The authors tout superstring theory as the most up to date idea, but it has now being supplanted by M theory. This need not be a problem if one is interested in superstring theory as of 1995 and if one takes some of the claims put forward by the authors with a grain if salt, but this is a problem if you want something more closely resembling the current view of particle physics. As a general rule I think that one should only spend time with modern physics books, prepared for a general audience, that were written within the last 5 years (at the outside). I wish that I had paid more attention to my own rule, but the revised and updated statement above the title of the book fooled me. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.
Summary of Beyond Einstein: The Cosmic Quest for the Theory of the Universe
Beyond Einstein takes readers on an exciting excursion into the discoveries that have led scientists to the brightest new prospect in theoretical physics today -- superstring theory. What is superstring theory and why is it important? This revolutionary breakthrough may well be thefulfillment of??Albert Einstein's lifelong dream of a Theory of Everything, uniting the laws of physics into a single description explaining all the known forces in the universe. Co-authored by one of the leading pioneers in superstrings, Michio Kaku, and completely revised and updated with the newest groundbreaking research, the book approaches scientific questions with the excitement of a detective story, offering a fascinating look at the new science that may make the impossible possible.
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