"Gina Says" Adventures in the Blogosphere String War

In the summer of 2006, two books attacking string theory—a prominent theory in physics—appeared: Peter Woit's Not Even Wrong and Lee Smolin's The Trouble with Physics. A fierce public debate, much of it on weblogs, ensued.

This intrigued Gina, who's very curious about science blogs, and she is eager to learn more about the string theory controversy, as she is fascinated by questions about rationality and philosophy. While she knows quite a bit of mathematics, her knowledge of physics is derived mainly from popular accounts and blogs. But can these blogs be useful for learning about or discussing science? What happens in these blogs and who participates in them? 

This book uses the blog debate on string theory to discuss blogs, science, and mathematics. The book tries to show the immense difficulty involved in getting the facts right, and the issues that can occur when you interpret fragmented or partial information. From children's dyscalculia to Chomskian linguistics—this book helps you make some sense of the sometimes chaotic and confusing nature of science.