Five selected papers explore topics related to a theory many have declared fallen, but which apparently still hangs by a thread. They cover large N gauge theories and ADS/CFT correspondence, towards a microscopic understanding of black hole physics, duality and instantons in string theory, D-branes and F-theory, and mass scales in string and M-theory. One author is from India; the rest are from Europe. There is no index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)