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bondinthesand
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I have, for a couple of weeks, been looking up what string theory is all about but i can never actually really grip it. Is there anyone one out there who can give me a simple explanation of it?
If they did, it would be wrong. There's no "simple" about it.bondinthesand said:Is there anyone one out there who can give me a simple explanation of it?
That was going to be my suggestion too.sndtam said:Did you read The elegant Universe by Greene?
There may something you are missing here. HE is making the ENTIRE effort in writing the book so that YOU can be lazy enough not to understand anything but FEEL like you understood something.ralilu said:i read it when i was a junior in high school. "Imaginary time" and "sum of histories"... are concepts that arent that easy to grasp and he doesn't make much of an effort to explain them.
He stays away from math and formulae pretty well. It's aimed at the knowledgeable layperson. But it's still quite brain-stretching. I had to read it sloooowwwly.ralilu said:my copy of "the elegant universe" shud be in my mailbox on the 28th. How deep does it go in trying to explain all this modern physics? Does Brian Greene make an effort to make the average reader understand or is it like Stephen Hawking who doesn't make much effort?
bondinthesand said:I have, for a couple of weeks, been looking up what string theory is all about but i can never actually really grip it. Is there anyone one out there who can give me a simple explanation of it?
humanino said:There may something you are missing here. HE is making the ENTIRE effort in writing the book so that YOU can be lazy enough not to understand anything but FEEL like you understood something.
DaveC426913 said:He stays away from math and formulae pretty well. It's aimed at the knowledgeable layperson. But it's still quite brain-stretching. I had to read it sloooowwwly.
I could not get through it. It went in a completely uninteresting direction for me.QuantumKitty said:I suggest reading Lee Smolin's The Trouble With Physics. It gives an in depth, easy to grasp understanding of what string theory is, and also goes into what the theory has done for and to science in general. I enjoyed it greatly.
I'd be interesting to know how you compare the two books.seerongo said:@ Humanino: Thanks for the tip about Lisa Randall's book. I just requested it from my library. We'll see how that one goes!
seerongo said:I probably will look at Lee Smolin's "The Trouble with Physics" after that. I've actually been avoiding that one because it sounded like it may be too negative and philosophical for my taste. Based on some some other pieces by him and blogs I've read, it sounds as if he is getting discouraged, like he doesn't know where to hang his hat anymore
I personally think there is one major overall message in all smolins books which I consider to the main point, and that is to encourage the reader to be critical of current frameworks and open for possibilities, and not put all eggs in one basket because the scientific progress needs both a selection and variation
Is there anyone one out there who can give me a simple explanation of it?
I'll elaborate on this. The avoidance of infinities allows the reconciliation of SR and QM, which is one of the Holy Grails of our time.Naty1 said:Because they are extended entities not point particles, infinites are avoided.
Naty1 said:Never has consensus "main stream" science been completely correct...
humanino said:Is Randall's book difficult or unpleasant ? I'm surprised, I found it excellent.
humanino said:Is Randall's book difficult or unpleasant ? I'm surprised, I found it excellent.