Маленькая книга о большой теории струн

Sadly, I discovered that Steven has died in the year 2019 at the age of 47. The present book is an interesting attempt to introduce the reader to superstring theory. Was it successful? Well, by no means, actually. Just like any other book on the subject this one falls short. The author is not to blame, however. The complexity of this theory makes it unsurmountable peak for mere mortals (pun intended, sorry Steve). A mess of mathematical mumbo-jumbo, highly abstract ideas, forbiddingly large array of prerequisite knowledge, esoterically speculative nature of this theory renders it absolutely intractable and turns to sacral symbol of science about Universe. Yet still, was it that bad in itself? I mean the book, not the theory. Definitely no. The author is quite honest about the topic, he doesn't strive to sell you big bright superstringy future. He admits the difficulties and tries to explain things as simple as possible. But way too simple, so that it won't get any clearer. See above. The effort was worth it.

In contrast to some other books about the subject this one is probably less ambitious. It's very light description of the theory, hoveeer containing explanations about some very important concepts in physics (like symmetries and gauge symmetry in the first row). Don't expect much, don't seek for good understanding here and for answers to the all of questions of the Universe here and the book won't disappoint you. No really, at least there's Kaku with his introductory book on strings (not to be confused with his futuristic fantasies). And if you're not a faint-hearted one, go for it. This book in contrast is very light and it doesn't pretend to make you into someone as cool as Sheldon from the BBT.