What Are the Best Books and Colleges for Aspiring String Theorists?

[Kamvik Dimitri]

hey can somebody suggest me some good books on string theory ...i am looking forward to join this field and i have no knowledge about this theory ... and some information about some colleges which are good for quantum physics and what's the future in this field of quantum physics... by the way i am in 12 grade and want to become a string theorist ...
Thanks...
Kamvik

 

[MugiwaraNoSanji]

Hi, "The Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene is a good place to start.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/039333810X/?tag=pfamazon01-20

Or Barton Zwiebach, "A First Course in String Theory" is good for a beginner, but a bit more expensive.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0521880327/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[micromass]

Do you want pop-sci books, or do you actually want the real deal? For the latter, you'll need to study a lot of math and physics first.

 

[Spinnor]

Not a book but you might start with the free article by Edward Witten,

"What every physicist should know about string theory"

http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/magazine/physicstoday/article/68/11/10.1063/PT.3.2980

From the article,

"Some of nature’s rhymes—the appearance of similar structures in different areas of physics—underlie the way that string theorypotentially unifies gravity with the other forces of nature and eliminates the ultraviolet divergences that plague quantum gravity.

String theory has, even among theoretical physicists, the reputation of being mathematically intimidating. But many of its essential elements can actually be described simply. This article aims to answer a few basic questions. How does string theory generalize standard quantum field theory? Why does string theory force us to unify general relativity with the other forces of nature, while standard quantum field theory makes it so difficult to incorporate general relativity? Why are there no ultraviolet divergences in string theory? And what happens to Albert Einstein’s conception of spacetime?..."

You may not understand it all but you will be exposed to buzz words that you will need to understand at some point.

 

[Kamvik Dimitri]

thank you all for helping me out ... well i am really serious about this ... i just want to gather as much information about cosmos as i can ... again thanks a lot ..