Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsIf you've ever mused what your life might have been like as a Particle Physicist, then you might enjoy this.
Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2016
If you are looking for a good primer on Particle Physics, this is probably not the right book. For that I'd recommend something like "Quarks and Gluons: A Century of Particle Charges" by M. Y. Han. It's a short and simple introduction to Particle Physics basics. This book does offer plenty such information along the way, but its greater offerings are the experiences of a Particle Physicist who took part in some of the greatest milestones in the field, all chronicled delightfully by a very humble author whose lofty participation is recounted quite affably - from the disappointing setbacks of software and hardware problems, through the dicey navigation of political funding and public perception, to the exciting confirmations of data bumps at specific energy levels indicating discovery. I do envy this man's experiences; not only for his role in what might turn out to be the most important discovery in Physics, but for his front-row seat to the life-altering technological changes over the past few decades that played an integral part in - and in some cases emerged from - the efforts of CERN as it grew from a noble endeavor of international cooperation to the massive vanguard of humanity's cutting-edge frontier in our understanding of nature we regard it as today. This man was one of the pioneering global villagers before we even had a term for that; and a better man to relay such a life to the public I cannot think of. If I had to describe the book in a phrase, I'd say Bill Bryson-cum-Particle Physicist.
