"What happens when scientific theory departs the realm of testable hypothesis and comes to resemble something like aesthetic speculation, or even theology? The legendary physicist Wolfgang Pauli had a phrase for such ideas: He would describe them as "not even wrong," meaning that they were so incomplete that they could not even be used to make predictions to compare with observations to see whether they were wrong or not." "In Peter Woit's view, superstring theory is just such an idea. In Not Even Wrong, he explains that what many physicists call superstring "theory" is not a theory at all. It makes no predictions, right or wrong, and this very lack of falsifiability is what has allowed the subject to survive and flourish." "Woit tells the story of how the field of particle physics arrived at its current state and how it is in some ways a victim of its own success. He describes the exciting dialogue between mathematics and physics as well as the important role that mathematical beauty plays in the ongoing quest for new levels of understanding."--BOOK JACKET.… (more)