Question for People Waaay Smarter than Me

[thomryng]

Can anyone recommend a good book / site / source for string theory that is (a) accurate and (b) suitable for somebody who never managed to pass Calculus 246b?

I'm thinking along the lines of "String Theory for the Amateur, with Lovely Brightly-Coloured Illustrations and a Minimum of Big Words" or something.

Thanks.

Comments

String Theory

[darkphilodox.livejournal.com]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/

http://www.superstringtheory.com/

So why do you want to know about String Theory for anyways?

Re: String Theory

[abadman.livejournal.com]

The program is available on-line too.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/programs.html

Re: String Theory

[thomryng.livejournal.com]

So why do you want to know about String Theory for anyways? [sic]

The world is bound in secret knots.

[kingandy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory

I can't vouch for its accuracy, being Wikipedia and all. There is some suggested reading, though.

[spasmsproject.livejournal.com]

I thought the subject was "Question for People Way Shorter than Me," and was intrigued.

Brian Greene's book was pretty accessible, I thought: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375708111/qid=1123065003/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_sbs_1/104-1704791-4308738?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

[thomryng.livejournal.com]

Way Shorter than Me

The love of my life, jaynefury is, in fact, way shorter than me.

I suppose I could have just asked her...

[spasmsproject.livejournal.com]

See?

I think this will help

[kingcadillac.livejournal.com]

My string theories are as follows:

Kite string can be used to truss a chicken, but cooking twine is sometimes too heavy to use when flying a kite.

String bikinis are, at times, too much like bikinis and not enough like string.

String cheese cannot be used in making a functioning guitar, nor can sustenance be derived from guitar strings, even the nylon ones.

Silly string ceases to be silly when explained by a chemist.

"String" is more fun a word to say fifty or so times, in various pitches and volumes, than "gorgonzola" or "intercalendary."

Re: I think this will help

[thomryng.livejournal.com]

Useful, though in an entirely different way than I intended.

On related notes:

I'm running out of synonyms for "string", and

"String" also works as an answer for the famous question: "what is a six letter word with only one vowel?"

The question, of course, was made famous by that enormous neon billboard that used to stand across the road from Borders in Tacoma: "Christ is the Answer".

Re: I think this will help

[kingcadillac.livejournal.com]

You know, Tacoma would have been a very different place if the sign had said "String is the Answer."

Re: I think this will help

[thomryng.livejournal.com]

In my book, of course, string is the answer.

And I may even have a neon sign that appears to say that at first blush.

Hmmm...

I believe..

[phantomoftruth.livejournal.com]

someone already suggested 'Elegant Universe'. Well written, and easy on the high/hard science for us non-theoretical physics people.