Quantum Gravity in a Nutshell2: Beyond Hawking-The Cosmic Quest for a Quantum Theory of Gravity

History tells us that if we hit upon some obstacle, even if it looks like a pure formality or just a technical complication, it should be carefully scrutinized. Nature might be telling us something, and we should find out what it is. There is no accepted theory of quantum gravity. There are currently a number of contenders, and by far the most popular is superstring theory. Many physicists find superstring theory compelling due to its internal elegance, but despite decades of intense research it has not produced a single experimentally testable result. Trying to unite general relativity and quantum mechanics may be the wrong way to go, and any future breakthrough may come from a completely unexpected direction; perhaps from some young mind with a fresh perspective. We are probably asking the wrong questions at the moment. Nevertheless it is impossible to resist the temptation to try. After all, the other fundamental forces – except gravity – fit very neatly with quantum mechanics. Beyond Hawking is a book in a series of quantum gravity in a nutshell that employees new ideas towards the development of a quantum theory of gravity in a bid to solve the major unsolved problems in physics.