M Theory

[Daniel]

I just finished reading The Grand Design and loved it. Can anyone recommend a good primer on M Theory along the same lines but more focused?

[Kenny]

You might look at Brian Greene's last couple of books

The Hidden Reality and The Elegant Universe

[Ksz]

It's been a while since I managed to get through it (and it does get surprisingly technical at times), but Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions seems to be quite the accurate primer on that whole pesky "we need 10 or maybe even 11 dimensions" issue that has some people so hostile towards the theory.

[Jorge]

The only way to understand string theory is by learning string theory, which requires, de facto, having physics and mathematics knowledge of a first or second year graduate student. The most accesible, non popular book is of course Barton's Zweibach A First Course in String Theory, then when you have more serious physics and math in your pocket, go with Becker's String Theory and M-Theory: A Modern Introduction and then you may begin to grasp the whole point of string theory. There is an implicit handicap in reading popular books (I don't actually like it, at least in math-physics, but this is just my taste) is that, if you're not told all the truth, the picture seems less clear than it is, and doubts come when you push too hard the metaphores that try to explan rigurous and perfectly clear mathematical concepts-theorems.

Kind regards

[Kenny]

Nivalth, I understand what you are saying, but disagree as does your selected avatar image:

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.
- Albert Einstein
From: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quo...

The scientific issue with string theory is that it is not a scientific theory, it makes no predictions, is not even complete ... the m theory attempts to put it together, but it's not there yet.

[Jorge]

String Theory is a scientific theory, more specifically a framework which is going to complete the low energy limit (stantard model) and weak field limit (general relativity). I'm not a string theorist but I've made my way through the first chapters of Becker's book and that book (a standard introduction book), a book about string theory, it is a book about natural phenomena (in particular physics) explained via string theory. It is pretty much a scientific theory, however there is a huge amount of work in order to study the formalism.

Kind Regards

[Kenny]

You should also read Lee Smolin's The Trouble with Physics.
The Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science and What Comes Next