The Search for Superstrings is primarily a crash course in particle physics, in which Gribbin attempts to crowbar a century s worth of particle research into three chapters. That s most of the book. Having said that, Gribbin does cram a lot of information in, although non-scientists may find absorbing it all to be more effort than it s worth. While Gribbin is a science generalist with no apparent enthusiasm for superstrings, Brian Greene is quite the opposite. But Greene is also well aware that string theory has plenty of weaknesses to overcome.
Critics point out that string theory is currently untestable.
That s a big problem. To understand and identify particles that are extremely small, scientists use giant accelerators to smash particles together at velocities near the speed of light. Another serious problem with the theory is the unwieldy mathematics. Theorists can make approximate calculations, but that s not good enough. Without precise mathematical instructions, the theory cannot make testable predictions.