Claims I wish I understood

There is undoubtedly an elusive quality to the gauge/string duality.  As well established as it is on technical grounds, it is just strange to have a fifth dimension that isn't really a dimension like the ones we know and love.  It's there not so much as a physical direction, but as a concept that describes aspects of the physics of four dimensions.  Ultimately, I'm not convinced that the six extra dimensions of string theory as a theory of everything will be more tangible than the fifth dimension of the gauge/string quality.

That is from Steven S. Gubser's The Little Book of String Theory.  There is much in this book I did not understand, but I've seen plenty of popular physics books over the last few years.  This is the first one in a long time that I both wanted to read and finished; it's full of fresh material, fresh at least to me.

Here is a podcast on gauge theory and economics, which I have yet to listen to.