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47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beware of bandwagons, 28 Feb 2007

By	Charlie T. (Glasgow, Scotland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science and What Comes Next (Hardcover)

Lee Smolin is one of those rare physicists who writes a good story about his subject. He is also unusual because he works in an unfashionable area of physics, dauntingly known as "loop quantum gravity," and has avoided jumping on the string bandwagon. Most physicists today think that string theory is the ultimate "theory of everything," and Smolin claims that it is hard to get taken seriously if you don't ride this bandwagon. But he also thinks it is being ridden up a dead end, and that physics has made a fundamental wrong turning.
There's no sour grapes in any of this. He just wants people to be more open minded anbd look at other possibilities, not necessarily loop quantum gravity. And he does a brilliant job of explaining string theory itself. I particularly like his discussion of how there are an infinite number of solutions to the single theory of general relativity, and the infinite number of string "theories" ought really to be regarded as solutions to a single underlying theory we have not yet discovered.
But there's as much sociology as science in the book, and Smolin gloomily confesses that he can't see any reason why "an intellectually ambitious young person with an original and impatient mind" would want to be "limited to working in any of the current research programmes." If anything can inspire such people and get their imagination working "outside the box" this is the book to do it.

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36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Postmodernist? More like Pre-Enlightenment!, 24 Mar 2008

By	Dr. D. C. Davies "deadlyvices" (Nottingham, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Theoretical physicists are a peculiar bunch. They go to ground for thirty years and emerge blinking into the sunlight, talking an arcane gobbledegook that only they can understand and which seems to have no relevance to any other area of science, let along the material world as a whole. They then act amazed and hurt when other scientists have the temerity to ask whether their work actually has any value.

Of course, it's easy to belittle such criticisms when they come from, say a chemist (such as me), as they can claim that we really don't understand the subtleties and are incapable of grasping the technical detail of their arguments. At which point one wonders that if such a reality is all so damn complicated and abstruse, perhaps it's because (gasp) their theory might be wrong after all.

Lee Smolin has pondered this elementary objection, yet to be satisfactorily addressed, and elaborates upon it brilliantly in this book. He happens to be a physicist, not a chemist, but like *most* other scientists he understands perfectly well how science is done. I say `most', because there is an obdurate rump of numbskulls out there that seem to have developed a radical new way of modelling the world around us. This radical variation on the scientific method dispenses altogether with the need for experimental verification because it has *also* previously dispensed with formulating theories that yield testable predictions. This branch of science is called `string theory', its practitioners `string theorists', and they make up the majority of particle physicists recruited to many academic departments in the past decade.

Trouble is, they have produced a theory that actually cannot be tested, because the effects that it predicts take place at such high energies and such tiny distances that no experiment that could be devised in any foreseeable future. It's just mathematics, albeit of a very clever and sophisticated kind. But it isn't science, not as old-school boffins like me recognise it. Of course, because it can't model reality in any meaningful way, at least not the reality we know, its champions have sought to excuse this failing on the basis that it predicts not our universe but billions of billions of billions of possible universes, and they just haven't yet worked out what the parameters are yet that predict our own universe. This is obviously a ridiculous way of doing science but according to Smolin this is precisely what has been going on for the past three decades.

Tendentiously dismissing this important book as a `postmodernist diatribe' does it a gross disservice and says a great deal more about his traducers than it does about the book itself. For one thing, postmodernism is mostly illucid gibberish but Smolin's writing is lucid, compelling and passionate. For another, Smolin is not arguing for a diversity of interpretations of physical reality, quite the opposite. He is arguing for a diversity of *approaches* towards some of the fundamental problems of particle physics, a *recognition* that there are some equally important unanswered questions in modern physics (such as the foundational problem of quantum mechanics) and a re-embrace of the tried and tested ethic that accords experiment the pivotal role in the scientific method.

In fact, it's hard to think of a more postmodern approach to physics than string theory, if Smolin is right. The language might be mathematics instead of French, but the parallels are too uncomfortable to ignore: any subjective interpretation of reality is held to be as valuable as any other, truth is constructed almost entirely within (mathematical) discourse, and evidence is relegated to a secondary role. None of this will impress the string theorists, who are convinced that they are right, even if they can't prove it yet. It almost makes you wonder if you are witnessing the birth of a new religion. Smolin on the other hand is quite prepared to accept that his proposed way of modelling the Universe might well turn out to be wrong, if only because he knows when the time has come to stop playing with models and start doing some proper experiments.

Every string theorist should go out and read this book. They should treat it as a wake-up call: the rest of the scientific world - and not just that part that consists of physics departments - has been regarding them with a scepticism that is now in danger of turning into full-flooded contempt. At the very least they should listen to what Smolin has to say then go away and think about it, rather than dismissing it out of hand. It would at the very least make a change from what they've been doing over the past thirty years, which is exclusively listening to each other.

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30 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On the other hand...., 22 Sep 2006

By	S. Holland (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next (Hardcover)

At the time of writing, the sole other review is highly negative. Prospective readers may find it worth looking at the generally highly positive reviews of this book over at amazon.com, which include the following editorial quotes.
"Lee Smolin provides a much needed, enlightening and engagingly written antidote to string-theory hype." --David Deutsch, Oxford University, author of The Fabric of Reality
"If you want to think in new ways about the interconnected universe around you, read Lee Smolin's provocative, inspiring book." --Margaret Geller, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Harvard University
"Bold, provocative, and, best of all, a joy to read." --Evelyn Fox Keller, Professor of the History and Philosophy of Science, MIT
"Smolin tells the somber tale of contemporary physics with virtuosity, passion, and courage." --Joy Christian, Oxford University
"An uncommonly clear and confident account of the great obstacles--and opportunities--facing physics today. . . .engrossing and illuminating." --Tim Ferris, author of Coming of Age in the Milky Way and The Big Shebang
"[Smolin] exudes a love of science and imagination, and a faith in the next generation of young physicists." --Jaron Lanier, computer scientist and columnist for Discover
"Lee Smolin is keeping his eyes open, asks sharp questions, and offers his delightful insights as a critical insider." --Gerard 't Hooft, Nobel Laureate, University of Utrecht
"[Smolin's] knowledge of [string theory] enables him to tell the story, and survey the road ahead, with clarity and grace." --Neal Stephenson, author of Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, and Quicksilver
"Lee Smolin's understanding of theoretical physics is unusually broad and deep, and his critical judgments are exceptionally penetrating." --Roger Penrose, author of The Road to Reality and The Emperor's New Mind
"Lee Smolin has written an epic story with great energy and characteristic passion. . . .Thrilling." --Janna Levin, Barnard College of Columbia University, author of How the Universe Got Its Spots
"Clear, lively, and continuously interesting. . .Reading it is a very exciting experience and just what is needed at this time." --Kim Stanley Robinson, best-selling author of The Mars Trilogy

You may consider David Deutsch, Jaron Lanier, Roger Penrose, and Gerard 't Hooft etc eminently more reliable guides than our hostile friend.

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