Commentary on the books `The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next,' by Lee Smolin, and `Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory And the Search for Unity in Physical Law,' by Peter Woit:

1. My review, posted at Cosmic Variance, with comment thread.

2. Lee Smolin's response, 4/28/07; (also, posted on his own site).

3. My response to Lee, also at Cosmic Variance with comment thread.

Basically, I believe Woit is simply excessively negative: in any human endeavor one could assume the worst at every turn, but this is not what moves the world forward.  Smolin seriously distorts both the science and history, manufactures ethical issues where they do not exist, and miscasts questions of science as issues of sociology.  Some of his points bear thought, but as presented they are wrapped in demagoguery and distortion.