Lee Smolin . Trouble with physics: the rise of string theory, the decline of science and what follows Smolin Lee "Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of Science, and What Comes Next" Lee Smolin’s new book, Trouble with Physics, is emotionally opposed to the enthusiastic enthusiasm of Brian Greene’s books. Modern theories of the leading edge (first of all, string theory) have considerable problems, and honest talk about them serves as a kind of bucket of cold water on hot heads. Lee Smolin is known as one of the founding fathers of loop quantum gravity theory the main competitor of the string approach and as the author of Life of the Cosmos (1997) and Three Roads to Quantum Gravity (2001), which were not published in Russia. The book in some places is not easy to comprehend, but very informative . It contains the most recent results in one place, which would not be easy for a layman to find from primary sources. In the first three parts of the book, the state of fundamental physics is evaluated from the angle that string theory has reached a dead end, fresh experimental data are given that do not find an explanation within its framework. The fourth part is devoted to the organization of (Western) academic science and the social causes of stagnation in the field of fundamental physics. Of course, the views expressed in the book are subjective and sometimes seem heretical. History, as always, will judge .