Reddit reviews Facts and Mysteries in Elementary Particle Physics

Shortly before his death, Feynman criticized string theory in an interview: "I don't like that they're not calculating anything," he said. "I don't like that they don't check their ideas. I don't like that for anything that disagrees with an experiment, they cook up an explanation—a fix-up to say, ‘Well, it still might be true.'" These words have since been much-quoted by opponents of the string-theoretic direction for particle physics.

What some (gentile) Nobel laureates think about string theory:

• Sheldon Glashow: "String theory has failed in its primary goal"
  
• Martinus Veltman: "String theory is a figment of the theoretical mind"
  
• Phillip Anderson: "String theory a futile exercise as physics"
  
• Robert Laughlin: "String theory a 50-year-old woman wearing way too much lipstick"
  
• Richard Feynman: “String theorists do not make predictions, they make excuses”.
  

It definitely looks like crazy-not-really-science ramblings.

Maybe a good alternative, from a nobel laureate, would be Facts and Mysteries in Elementary Particle Physics by Martinus Veltman ?

It's extremely easy to read and I found it fascinating when I took my first introductory courses.

Facts and Mysteries in Elementary Particle Physics https://www.amazon.com/dp/981238149X/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_IYdHwbTA3WNGE

I wholeheartedly recommend [Facts and Mysteries in Elementary Particle Physics by Martinus Veltman] (http://www.amazon.com/Facts-Mysteries-Elementary-Particle-Physics/dp/981238149X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406678496&sr=8-1&keywords=facts+and+mysteries+in+elementary+particle+physics). In all honesty I am only 60 pages in, but I am loving being along for the easy-to-comprehend ride.

What some (gentile) Nobel laureates and their wannabes thought about string theory in their time:

• Sheldon Glashow: "String theory has failed in its primary goal"
  
• Martinus Veltman: "String theory is a figment of the theoretical mind"
  
• Phillip Anderson: "String theory a futile exercise as physics"
  
• Robert Laughlin: "String theory a 50-year-old woman wearing way too much lipstick"
  
• Richard Feynman: "String theorists do not make predictions, they make excuses".
  
• Michael Turner: "String theory is an empty vessel. The great thing about an empty vessel is that we can put our hopes and dreams in it.”
  
• Sheldon Cooper: "I’ve devoted the prime of my life to string theory and its quest for the compactification of extra dimensions. I’ve got nothing to show for it, and I feel like a fool...." (text)
  
  My take of string theory failure is here. This failure has many curious facets - including the fact that string theorists confused the dimensional scale of the their theory, so that they didn't spot its manifestation in everyday phenomena. And vice-versa: even the conceptual opponents of string theory bothered with concept of extradimensions quite a lot in the times of its hype, despite that today - after its alleged failure - bravely pretend, they predicted and knew about it all the time (while their own alternative predictions actually failed in the same way).
  
  
  The phenomenology of string theory is thus in a bit better shape, than string theorists themselves are expecting today after failure of many experiment "tests" of string theory (1, 2, 3) (not to say about their opponents, who don't understand extradimensional physics anyway).