String theory, once hailed as a potential "theory of everything,"
continues to progress at an astonishing rate, and this book brings the
reader up to date with the latest developments and the most active areas
of research in the field. New chapters discuss such topics as
Seiberg-Witten theory, M theory and duality., and D-branes. The book
includes a review of the fundamentals of string theory, making the
presentation of the material self-contained while keeping overlap with
the earlier book to a minimum. This book conveys the vitality of the
current research and places readers at its forefront.