books: November 2007 Archives

Yesterday I saw the movie No Country For Old Men based on the novel of the same title by Cormac McCarthy. McCarthy is my favorite living author, so I had been looking forward to this, although after what Matt Damon and Penelope Cruz had done to "All the Pretty Horses", I had some concerns. "No Country For Old Men" was, however, directed by the Coen brothers, so I had some hope.

In short, the film did not disappoint. Most inspiring was the bringing to life of the character Anton Chigurh, the mass-murdering anti-christ that provides the vehicle for McCarthy to set the philosophical underpinnings of the story. Chigurh is played by Javier Bardem, and it would not be a surprise if he were to win a best supporting role Oscar for this work.

The film (and the novel) are not for everyone. The theater was nearly full the other night, and a good part of the crowd actually booed at the end (although my guess is that this was mostly for the abrupt ending, true to the novel to the letter, no hollywood, feel-good resolution here.)

A year or so ago, I read a fascinating book by mathematician Peter Woit entitled Not Even Wrong, subtitled "The Failure of String Theory and the Continuing Challenge to Unify the Laws of Physics".

Woit makes a compelling argument characterizing the current field of theoretical particle physics as a cult devoted nearly exclusively to following string theory despite the fact that the theory has failed over the past thirty years to make any real progress in going beyond the standard model. Thirty years later, it still appears that graduate students are advised that they leave the field at their peril.

This story is personally relevant as I earned my Ph.D. in string theory from the University of California at Berkeley in the fall of 1992, and have had similar suspicions since leaving the field. This is the first time, however, that I have seen the arguments so cleanly laid out. It certainly has been frustrating to sit by and watch as proponents of the field (such as Brian Greene and Michio Kaku) continue to speak overly optimistically about the progress being made in the field.

A great read!