Books [Archive] - Physics Forums

Creighton Hogg

Apr1-04, 12:22 PM

I was wondering what everyone's favorite texts on string theory are and
why? Are there any books that are good beyond the standard texts used?
My own feelings in a nutshell about the books I own are as follows:
GSW: Because of its age there's alot of topics it doesn't cover, but what
it does include it explains in alot of depth.
Polchinski: Hard to read and glean concepts from, but I think from a
technical standpoint it's the most useful book I've seen.
D-branes by Clifford Johnson: I found this book very easy to understand
but it obviously glosses over alot of things about basic string theory.

These five volumes of text seem to cover everything I can imagine is
important for a novice, but are there other good books out there I don't
know about?

[Moderator note: some books, such as the new textbook of Barton Zwiebach,
as well as G+S+Witten and Polchinski, are listed and linked at the group's
website

http://schwinger.harvard.edu/~sps/ Cheers, LM]

Urs Schreiber

Apr2-04, 11:06 AM

On Thu, 1 Apr 2004, Creighton Hogg wrote:

> I was wondering what everyone's favorite texts on string theory are and
> why? Are there any books that are good beyond the standard texts used?

The lecture notes by Theissen and Luest have also been published in
book form, and I have found them very helpful.

p_branes

Apr15-04, 09:09 PM

<jabberwocky><div class="vbmenu_control"><a href="jabberwocky:;" onClick="newWindow=window.open('','usenetCode','toolbar=no, location=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,status=no ,width=650,height=400'); newWindow.document.write('<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Usenet ASCII</TITLE></HEAD><BODY topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 BGCOLOR=#F1F1F1><table border=0 width=625><td bgcolor=midnightblue><font color=#F1F1F1>This Usenet message\'s original ASCII form: </font></td></tr><tr><td width=449><br><br><font face=courier><UL><PRE>If you are new to string theory I found this book to be very helpful -\nThe Elegant Universe by brian greene.\n\n[ L.M.: See also other books listed on http://schwinger.harvard.edu/~sps/\ni.e. the home page of sci.physics.strings ]\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\nThis post submitted through the LaTeX-enabled physicsforums.com\nTo view this thread with LaTeX images:\nhttp://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=17838\n\n</UL></PRE></font></td></tr></table></BODY><HTML>');"> <IMG SRC=/images/buttons/ip.gif BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER ALT="View this Usenet post in original ASCII form">  View this Usenet post in original ASCII form </a></div><P></jabberwocky>If you are new to string theory I found this book to be very helpful -
The Elegant Universe by brian greene.

[ L.M.: See also other books listed on http://schwinger.harvard.edu/~sps/
i.e. the home page of sci.physics.strings ]

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Player

May28-04, 03:50 AM

<jabberwocky><div class="vbmenu_control"><a href="jabberwocky:;" onClick="newWindow=window.open('','usenetCode','toolbar=no, location=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,status=no ,width=650,height=400'); newWindow.document.write('<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Usenet ASCII</TITLE></HEAD><BODY topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 BGCOLOR=#F1F1F1><table border=0 width=625><td bgcolor=midnightblue><font color=#F1F1F1>This Usenet message\'s original ASCII form: </font></td></tr><tr><td width=449><br><br><font face=courier><UL><PRE>\n"Creighton Hogg" <wchogg@hep.wisc.edu> wrote in message\nnews:Pine.LNX.4.31.0404011219440.25535-100000@feynman.harvard.edu...\n> I was wondering what everyone\'s favorite texts on string theory are and\n> why? Are there any books that are good beyond the standard texts used?\n> My own feelings in a nutshell about the books I own are as follows:\n> GSW: Because of its age there\'s alot of topics it doesn\'t cover, but what\n> it does include it explains in alot of depth.\n> Polchinski: Hard to read and glean concepts from, but I think from a\n> technical standpoint it\'s the most useful book I\'ve seen.\n> D-branes by Clifford Johnson: I found this book very easy to understand\n> but it obviously glosses over alot of things about basic string theory.\n>\n> These five volumes of text seem to cover everything I can imagine is\n> important for a novice, but are there other good books out there I don\'t\n> know about?\n>\n>\n> [Moderator note: some books, such as the new textbook of Barton Zwiebach,\n> as well as G+S+Witten and Polchinski, are listed and linked at the group\'s\n> website\n>\n> http://schwinger.harvard.edu/~sps/ Cheers, LM]\n>\n\nMichio Kaku\'s Hyperspace was the one that finaly made me understand string\ntheory to a degree that didn\'t vex me completely :)\n\nRegards\n\n\n\n---\nOutgoing mail is certified Virus Free.\nChecked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).\nVersion: 6.0.691 / Virus Database: 452 - Release Date: 26/05/2004\n\n\n</UL></PRE></font></td></tr></table></BODY><HTML>');"> <IMG SRC=/images/buttons/ip.gif BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER ALT="View this Usenet post in original ASCII form">  View this Usenet post in original ASCII form </a></div><P></jabberwocky>"Creighton Hogg" <wchogg@hep.wisc.edu> wrote in message
news:Pine.LNX.4.31.0404011219440.25535-100000@feynman.harvard.edu...
> I was wondering what everyone's favorite texts on string theory are and
> why? Are there any books that are good beyond the standard texts used?
> My own feelings in a nutshell about the books I own are as follows:
> GSW: Because of its age there's alot of topics it doesn't cover, but what
> it does include it explains in alot of depth.
> Polchinski: Hard to read and glean concepts from, but I think from a
> technical standpoint it's the most useful book I've seen.
> D-branes by Clifford Johnson: I found this book very easy to understand
> but it obviously glosses over alot of things about basic string theory.
>
> These five volumes of text seem to cover everything I can imagine is
> important for a novice, but are there other good books out there I don't
> know about?
>
>
> [Moderator note: some books, such as the new textbook of Barton Zwiebach,
> as well as G+S+Witten and Polchinski, are listed and linked at the group's
> website
>
> http://schwinger.harvard.edu/~sps/ Cheers, LM]
>

Michio Kaku's Hyperspace was the one that finaly made me understand string
theory to a degree that didn't vex me completely :)

Regards

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