Lost in math

What Hacker News says

1. arduanikaSep 2025
   > If a podcaster (e.g. Sabine Hossenfelder) has a book, read the book (Lost in Math is pretty good) rather than watching the podcasts.

   That's a good general takeaway, not just for physics drama. I can think of several people whose books are great or at least pretty good, but their social media presence is...Flanderized, would be a kind way of putting it.

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2. ieuankingAug 2025
   Yeah, watched this one! I love her stuff. Her book Lost In Math really stuck with me over the last couple of months
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3. InsanityFeb 2025
   Sounds more like the author just had bad experiences with non fiction? There are plenty of non fiction books which are good and where the book doesn’t just feel like filler. Some that come to mind quickly :

   - bad blood (about theranos)

   - SPQR

   - King Leopold’s Ghost

   - Lost in Math

   - masters of doom

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4. naaskingSep 2024
   > You can't rhetorically gloss over something as important as experimentally validating a 1964 prediction as though it doesn't matter or didn't happen.

   I'm not, I'm pointing out that theoretical progress has stagnated. Experimentalists are doing great.

   > So to expect something like that every decade is not realistic.

   I'm not expecting it every decade, but we've had 4 decades of recycling the same ideas using the same failed approaches to try to patch gaps in existing theory using bogus arguments, which ends up funding poorly motivated experiments that then find nothing. I think Sabine Hossenfelder elaborated the problems here in excellent detail (see "Lost in Math").

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5. stdbrouwAug 2024
   I'm not a physicist so I can't answer that question, though personally I trust in her expertise and really loved her book Lost in Math, but many of her most recent videos and tweets are not about physics at all but instead about nuclear power, capitalism, climate change, not having children, trans athletes, AI and so forth. The lure of punditry...
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6. fermigierMar 2024
   (I'm not a theoretical physicist).

   20 years ago, I read "The Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene, as an introduction to string theory. I was initially impressed by the brilliance of the theories it presented. What really threw me for a loop, though, was realizing (as far as I understood or remember) that string theory isn't one neatly packaged theory. Instead, it's this colossal family of theories, with so many 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 Smolin, which zooms out a bit. Smolin's beef with string theory isn't just about the science; it's about how this obsession is hogging resources and blocking other potentially groundbreaking ideas (including, but not limited to, his own). Think of it as a mix of a science critique and an insider's look at the politics and sociology of physics.

   - "Lost in Math" by Sabine Hossenfelder, which asks if physicists' quest for beauty in equations and theories is leading them astray. This one's the most accessible, mixing in history, interviews, personal stories, and a bit of philosophy.

   All three books are good, so if you have to chose one:

   - Woit's book is for the math geeks.

   - Smolin's is for those who like a side of sociology with their science.

   - Hossenfelder's is for folks intrigued by the blend of science, philosophy, and human bias.

   Also worthwhile, IMHO, is Sabine's most recent take on string theory, as a youtube video: http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2024/03/whatever-happened-t... / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRzQDyw5C3M

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