Y'all have a pretty good idea how much (little) physics I remember from my checkered career at MIT, at least those of you who are sufficiently voracious readers to have seen my attempts to add to physics-rich threads here. In other words, as a target audience for science books, I am in between the professional and lay categories. Given that, what would you recommend for reading to catch up on recent developments in theoretical physics, particularly string theory?
I know you guys like a challenge ...