Riffing on Strings: Creative Writing Inspired by String Theory - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0980211409 ISBN 13: 9780980211405

Publisher: Scriblerus Press, 2008

Synopsis

Riffing on Strings is a unique collection of creative writing that explores the cosmic and cultural resonances of string theory. The book includes thought-provoking essays, short stories, poems, and a play from over 40 acclaimed authors, including Nobel Laureate Sheldon Glashow, Michio Kaku, Peter Woit, Adam Roberts, Colette Inez, Brenda Hillman, Joseph Radke, Bruce Holland Rogers, and Carole Buggé. "Sean Miller and Shveta Verma have put together an exhilaratingly eclectic anthology of creative and expository writing about one of the most exciting (even if controversial) intellectual fields of our time: string theory. Just Miller's erudite introduction by itself is worth the price of this sparkling collection." - S. Abbas Raza, Managing Editor of 3 Quarks Daily "Putting together a theory of everything requires a lot of creativity, and more than a little audacity - qualities which are also abundant in this collection of stories and poems inspired by string theory. Riffing on Strings is guaranteed to stimulate both hemispheres of your brain." - Sean Carroll, Theoretical Physicist, California Institute of Technology & Creator of Cosmic Variance

About this title

From the Publisher

"Sean Miller and Shveta Verma have put together an exhilaratingly eclectic anthology of creative and expository writing about one of the most exciting (even if controversial) intellectual fields of our time: string theory. Just Miller's erudite introduction by itself is worth the price of this sparkling collection."
- S.Riffing on Strings is guaranteed to stimulate both hemispheres of your brain.This is probably due to the effectiveness of a few popularizers and the seeming craziness of its concepts. This book demonstrates that, in addition to practical applications, scientific research can also have cultural impacts."
- John H. Schwarz, Harold Brown Professor of Theoretical Physics, California Institute of Technology

"The jury is still out on whether string theory serves to explain the nature of reality, but the writers who have contributed to Riffing on Strings convincingly demonstrate that it serves very well as a springboard for the imagination. From Sean Miller's cogent introduction on, this is an engaging--and much-needed--dialogue between art and science."
- Frank Wilson, Former Book Review Editor, The Philadelphia Inquirer & Creator of Books, Inq.Steinhardt, Professor of Physics, Princeton University & Co-Author of Endless Universe: Beyond the Big Bang

Review

WHAT first drew me to physics were the words. Cosmos. Entanglement. Spiralling galaxies and stars gone supernova, dark matter and charmed quarks. Physics brims with linguistic magic. And once you peer beneath the words, you find ideas can possess a poetry more poignant than any turn of phrase. String theory may turn out to be wrong. It might not be testable and it might not describe the real world. But it does describe a world that's undeniably poetic.

Still, I'll admit, when I picked up Riffing on Strings I was sceptical. Sure, the poetic building blocks are there, but creative writing and string theory? It's got the potential to go horribly awry. So I was pleased to find such an eclectic, thought-provoking and entertaining collection of writing - perfect for toting along on travels in other dimensions. The book opens with Sean Miller's introduction to string theory and its place in the arts, followed by a series of essays by acclaimed physicists. Michio Kaku's piece on duality is especially informative. Then come short stories, poems and plays that show the myriad ways in which physics seeps into public consciousness, is absorbed by the artist and re-emitted as something entirely new. These are pieces inspired by string theory, not about it. It's not a matter of whether the writers get the science right, it's how they play with it.

When it comes to string theory, people either love it or hate it. Some writers draw on the beauty of the theory, others, the absurdity. In "S-Bomb", Adam Roberts imagines a world haunted by the string-theory version of an atomic bomb, a weapon capable of unravelling the fabric of reality. Jarvis Slacks, in "Like Marriage", conjures a world in which people can opt out of life by walking into a "dome", an object akin to a peaceful black hole. Despite the bizarre premise, it becomes clear that life in a world chock-full of domes isn't any different from life as we know it: we can ultimately choose to live life or to head for the nearest black hole.

Some pieces are amusingly snide. In his poem "String Theory", Dave Morrison writes: "When my friends and I considered/such possibilities behind the/cafeteria with a nickel bag of/lame weed, it did not occur/to us that we were budding physicists". On the idea of a world made of tiny strings, Robert Borski writes, "God as a boy must have been/a strange child, if not actually gifted." Imagining a future in which string theory is the accepted theory of everything, Bruce Holland Rogers tells us, "Children learned that the eleven dimensions were Length, Width, Height, Time, Happy, Sneezy, Dopey, Grumpy, Sleepy, Doc, and... Even with the new names, one dimension was hard to remember."

My favourite is Daniel Hudon's "A Report on the New String Theory Library". It tells of the construction of a library created to house all of the available literature on string theory. As various proposals for the building's design are considered, we come to see that the library is nothing more than string theory - or rather, M-theory - itself. "The main collection of the library will be housed in a series of pairs of five-story circular towers connected by an infinite hallway. This tower duality (linked at the first, third, and fifth floors) will contain coupled versions of string theory scrolls and enable the exploration of the theory's various symmetries." The story would make Borges proud.

Some might argue that physics doesn't have a place in literature, or that literature doesn't have the tools to deal with physics. Surely, there will always be a tension between the two. James O'Hern writes, "For science, ambiguity is treated as an enemy while, for poetry, it is the essence." True, but both ultimately spring from the same source: imagination. -- Amanda Gefter, New Scientist, July 16, 2008

About this edition

• Publisher: Scriblerus Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0980211409
• ISBN 13: 9780980211405
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 312
• Editor: Miller Dr Sean, Verma Shveta