"This layreader-friendly, amusing treatise gives an enlightening look at a growing issue within physics."- Publishers Weekly "Even educated readers will struggle to understand the elements of modern physics, but they will have no trouble enjoying this insightful, delightfully pugnacious polemic about its leading controversy."- Kirkus (starred review)
Only by embracing reality as it is can science discover the truth. To escape, physicists must rethink their methods. Worse, these too good to not be true theories are actually untestable and they have left the field in a cul-de-sac. The belief in beauty has become so dogmatic that it now conflicts with scientific objectivity: observation has been unable to confirm mindboggling theories, like supersymmetry or grand unification, invented by physicists based on aesthetic criteria. This is why, Sabine Hossenfelder argues, we have not seen a major breakthrough in the foundations of physics for more than four decades. Whether pondering black holes or predicting discoveries at CERN, physicists believe the best theories are beautiful, natural, and elegant, and this standard separates popular theories from disposable ones. Description In this provocative book ( New York Times), a contrarian physicist argues that her field's modern obsession with beauty has given us wonderful math but bad science.
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