Higher Speculations by Helge Kragh

In June, physics announced it had found a particle consistent with the long-sought Higgs boson, and Helge Kragh wants to take you on a historical journey looking at the theories and failures of modern physics.

In Higher Speculations: Grand Theories and Failed Revolutions in Physics and Cosmology, Kragh uses the past to explain the present – and sometimes even the other way around – to explore some of the current thinking in physics, from a grand theory of everything, to the multiverse, to string theory and quantum gravity. He concentrates on 12 separate theories or episodes in chronological order from the middle of the 17^th Century to the present, arguing that the questions physicists and cosmologist are trying to answer today should also be looked at from a historical perspective.

The book is written in a lively and engaging way, which even the non-physicists among you will be able to get your heads around.

Higher Speculations: Grand Theories and Failed Revolutions in Physics and Cosmology by Helge Kragh, Oxford University Press, January 2011, £35.

• We’ve got two copies of Higher Speculations to give away – to be in with a chance of winning just send your name, address and organisation/institution to phil.prime@laboratorynews.co.uk by 28^th September.