Not Even Wrong
by Peter Woit · first published 2006
43% recommend50% neutral7% critical
Why HN recommends it
Critical account of string theory's empirical and mathematical standing, with useful historical detail and personal anecdote; suits readers curious about the physics debate and how it is argued.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2008–2024The Trouble With Physics
Lee Smolin
Recommended by 16 · mentioned by 4216 recommend · 42 mention16 recommend · 4216 recommend
2019–2022Three Roads to Quantum Gravity
Lee Smolin
Recommended by 2 · mentioned by 32 recommend · 3 mention2 recommend · 32 recommend
2015–2022About time
Paul Davies
Recommended by 2 · mentioned by 22 recommend · 2 mention2 recommend · 22 recommend
2009–2022Hyperspace
Michio Kaku
Recommended by 4 · mentioned by 64 recommend · 6 mention4 recommend · 64 recommend
2008–2024The Elegant Universe
Brian Greene
Recommended by 20 · mentioned by 3120 recommend · 31 mention20 recommend · 3120 recommend
…Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss The Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss Non-fiction: Ghost in the Wires - Kevin Mitnick The Elegant Universe - Brian Greene The Trouble With Physics - Lee Smolin Not Even Wrong - Peter Woit The Lean Startup - Eric Ries Blue Ocean Strategy - W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne Built To Last - Jim Collins Business Model Generation - Alexander Osterwalder Started, but unfinished,…
on “Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011” ↗…none. This whole "thing" about the lack of experimental support and lack of testable / falsifiable assertions in physics (especially String Theory) is explored at length in two pretty interesting books: Not Even Wrong[1] by Peter Woit and The Trouble With Physics[2] by Lee Smolin. [1]: http://www.amazon.com/Not-Even-Wrong-Failure-Physical/dp/046... [2]: http://www.amazon.com/The-Trouble-With-Physics-Science/dp/06...
on “Black holes might end their lives by transforming into their exact opposite” ↗…where he shares some (from my perspective) great insights on some of the mis-steps the Physics community has taken over the past 30-40 years. I second this motion. I'd also recommend reading the book Not Even Wrong by Peter Woit. This book covers similar ground (and, coincidentally, came out near the same time as The Trouble with Physics) and makes a nice complement to TTwP.
on “Lee Smolin on the nature of time” ↗Something Deeply Hidden - Sean Carroll[1] Lost in Math - Sabine Hossenfelder[2] The First Three Minutes - Steven Weinberg[3] Hyperspace - Michio Kaku[4] Not Even Wrong - Peter Woit[5] The Trouble With Physics - Lee Smolin[6] About Time - Paul Davies[7] Time Reborn - Lee Smolin[8] The Elegant Universe - Brian Greene[9] The Hidden Reality - Brian Greene[10] The…
on “Ask HN: Recommended Books on Physics?” ↗…parameters that it's hard to make predictions, and to justify "why this one and not the other ones?". Then, over the last 20 years, I read the 3 following books, which confirmed my initial impression. - "Not Even Wrong" by Peter Woit, a deep-dive critique of string theory for the mathematically inclined. Woit's basically saying, "If we can't test it, can we even call it science?" - "The Trouble With Physics" by Lee…
on “20 Years of "Not Even Wrong"” ↗…Truth - Paul Hoffman The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan - Robert Kanigel Lost in Math - Sabine Hossenfelder The First Three Minutes - Steven Weinberg Hyperspace - Michio Kaku Not Even Wrong - Peter Woit The Trouble With Physics - Lee Smolin About Time - Paul Davies Time Reborn - Lee Smolin The Elegant Universe - Brian Greene The Hidden Reality - Brian Greene The Fabric of the Cosmos…
on “Ask HN: Which books you have read till now that were worth investing time in?” ↗I enjoy Peter Woit's writing and especially loved his book "Not Even Wrong." I also enjoy shitting on string theory from the comfort of my armchair. Maybe this is "productive," in the sense that getting people to stop investing in string theory will get them to work on investing…
on “Theorists with a Swamp, not a Theory” ↗For those like me who are not too happy with this kind of "science" (for one, the title is worded in a way that makes this highly controversial view of reality sound like state of art in physics), "Not Even Wrong" [1] by Peter Woit is a great read for multiverse skepticism (mostly centered on "string multiverse", not quantum "many worlds"). [1] https://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/
on “There Are No Laws of Physics, There’s Only the Landscape” ↗Peter Woit is another theoretical physicist who says similar things. Both Smolin's book 'The Trouble with Physics' and Woit's 'Not Even Wrong' are well worth a read.
on “In the foundations of physics we haven't seen progress for the past four decades” ↗I prefer Woit's Not Even Wrong, which has a lot of interesting historical detail and personal anecdote, in addition to the headline polemic.
on “Physics is stuck” ↗> Is it that we have enough theoretical scientist, but the predictions are not testable? Yes, much research goes into string theory, but its predictions are "not even wrong", they cannot be proven false by experiment [1]. Disclaimer: I'm a layman on the topic, this is just repeating what I've heard. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Not-Even-Wrong-Failure-Physical/dp/04...
on “Particle physics may have reached the end of the line” ↗You may not be so "out there" at all. There were two books that came out a few years ago, both basically lambasting the state of physics - especially string theory. One was titled Not Even Wrong[1] and the other was titled The Trouble With Physics[2]. As best as I can tell, of the two (and I'm afraid I can't remember which it was now) made the case that we might be completely wrong about the…
on “Physicists Create Quantum Link Between Photons That Don't Exist at the Same Time” ↗…plenty of incentive for "hostile science" as I like to call it. There have been some well-known physicists who have written entire books bashing their competition for this purpose (See: Peter Woit's "Not Even Wrong", which incidentally, is chuck full of so many inaccuracies someone else wrote a book disputing his book...) So when I see articles like these, I like to check out who the author is. Do they have a reason…
on “A Crisis at the Edge of Physics” ↗This is mostly a problem with string theory. Here's a popular version of a critique.[1] Smolin's 2006 "The trouble with physics" is a book-length critique of it. Peter Woit' s "Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory & the Continuing Challenge to Unify the Laws of Physics" is even more critical. It's been a decade since that, and the experimental evidence for string theory remains nonexistent.…
on “A Crisis at the Edge of Physics” ↗…Perimeter crowd”). “Three Roads to Quantum Gravity” was the last general audience book that Smolin did before he’d fucking had it and did “The Trouble with Physics”. Woit went straight for the jugular with “Not Even Wrong”. These people have (for better or worse) burnt the ships with the people of their generation who write grants and sit on tenure committees. Hossenfelder’s pivot to “wildly over-credentialed pop-sci…
on “We don't know how the universe began, and we will never know” ↗