Superstring Theory (Vols 1 and 2)

by E Witten, J Schwarz & M Green

The notion of string theory was already present, even in the late 1960s, but only in 1984, with the work of Green and Schwarz, did people realise string theory could really be consistent with quantum mechanics, as well as including gravity, and could provide theories that looked very much like the standard model of particles. So there was this tremendous light-bulb moment. And this book, Superstring Theory, captures that era in a very substantive way.