This book was a real joy to read. Jesper has beautifully described his personal struggles, hard work, new insights, and passion involved in his quest to find a theory of everything.

He alternates his personal experiences and views with a description of the daunting mathematics and theory structure in a pleasant pace.

The scientific parts are written in a comprehensible way for those who are not field experts without oversimplifying the hard stuff. Jesper not only builds their theory from the ground up together with the reader, he adds the human perspective of it all. 

Shell Beach had me hooked from start to end, each chapter left me wanting for another story and uncovering more of the theory.

                                      Jos v. Egmond, Holland

SUMMARY

The book Shell Beach is a book about people, nature, and the search for the final theory that binds the two together: The theory of everything. The book excels at introducing key cornerstones in physics, and it serves them without a single equation, making them edible for the common reader. More specifically, the reader is introduced to the quantum world of the microscopic scale and Einstein's theory of relativity which governs the large structures in the universe. Finally, we are introduced to quantum field theory which is the playground where relativity and the quantum worlds merge. This is where the search for the theory of everything takes place, at least in part. And as described in the book, this search take us to a rather unexpected place of emptiness. While this is going on, we get a lot of insight into the life of the author and how you go from an idea to math to a real physical theory. And all this is taking place in the war zone of theoretical physics, where there are clear factions and the money and funding are limited.

ANALYSIS

In this book, much attention is given to show the similarities between hunting the theory of everything, and kayaking. The leap of faith taken, when you go white-river kayaking and dropping down a steep untried waterfall, is compared to the leap when you get an idea and follow it until it has become a real theory, well knowing that this theory might not bear any fruit. This also leads to another core issue highlighted in this book. The search for a theory of everything is not something many dares, the stakes are high and the chance of success is small. This leads us to some absurd scenarios highlighted in the book. We even get faced with the question: "Are we allowed to come up with something new and original?" This book shows, in detail, the issues and limitations which humans artificially create, because we struggle to remain objective and free of our own emotions. The limited funding has divided the few who dare search into factions that fight their ground. Many physicists have spent lifetimes hunting this elusive theory, and giving up a theory can be hard. It is this exact problem that makes paradigm changes so slow, and many new and great ideas may already have become lost in this battle. This is why this book is so refreshing. The author has taken to modern solutions, to free himself from this war and become a freelancer physicist, who is free to pursue a new and very promising idea, an idea that might lead us to the theory of everything.

In writing a review, criticism should be given where it is deserved. This book is excellently written and very exciting from the point of view of a physicist. However, it will always be a compromise. The book has no math, which makes it a great read for non-science readers, but some readers of the scientific community would maybe have appreciated more details about the theory. I am aware of the scientific papers which are released on the matter of the book, but the theory in its full rigor requires such complicated math that only a few people in the world can even comprehend it. With that
said, this book is easy to read and it gives an interesting insight into the world of physics and the life of a physicist, something other popular science books like Steven Hawkings "A brief history of time" completely ignore. The comparison with nature is very fitting, especially given the fact that, at
the end of the day, the theory of everything is a theory about nature at a fundamental level.

CONCLUSION

This book was a joy to read as a fellow physicist. The idea presented in this book is inspiring in its simplicity and elegance. It brings fresh air to an old dream, the dream of unifying the small and big with a simple concept. This book is a great read if you like nature and is curious about all the fascinating math and theory hid in it! If this description matches you, I doubt you will be disappointed with this book. Personally, I've not been so excited about reading a book in a long time.


                                      Mattias Ermakov Thing, Denmark
                                      Theoretical high-energy physicist

Med sin bog Shell Beach tog Jesper Møller Grimstrup mig i hånden på en rejse langt ind i fysikkens verden, hvor jeg - som humanist - normalt ikke har min gang. Det kræver helt særlige formidlingsevner at gøre teoretisk fysik forståeligt for lægmand - men Jesper besidder de evner. Bogen er imidlertid meget andet og mere end et glimt af forståelse for moderne teoretisk fysisk. Den balancerer nemlig i et magisk univers mellem filosofi, naturvidenskab og en skildring af Jespers personlige rejse som menneske og forsker. Bogen gav mig følelsen af at forstå fysikkens ufattelige kompleksitet og videnskabsmandens fascination og stædighed. Jesper formår at formidle sin egen styrke og skrøbelighed i processen samt skønheden, ensomheden og den poesi, der ligger i at arbejde med et område, som er så komplekst og abstrakt, at de færreste forstår det. I jagten på den endelige teori.  
Jeg kan på det varmeste anbefale bogen, som er ganske særlig. Og meget læseværdig. 


                                                Birgitte Højland, Denmark