Customer Reviews

The Ideas of Particle Physics: An Introduction for Scientists

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I cannot agree with many of the comments in earlier reviews of this book. To begin, the intended audience remains unclear. There is insufficient mathematics to get much of a feel for the topic and frequently the mathematical ideas which do appear fall from the sky with little or no warning. Even more troubling is that these concepts, crucial for any real understanding, are often left half done. This must leave many mathematically competent readers nonplussed and leave the mathematically challenged simply out in left field.

There are better, more modern, books out there for the technically inclined. This books is not even close to being "the best physics book ever".

Look at a library copy before buying.

I knew one of the authors (Coughlan) when we were undergraduates at the University of Western Australia. So it was with some interest that I went through this book. While I can't tell which was his contribution and which was the other author's, the combined effort is an elegant rendition of particle physics, circa late 1980s.

A merit of the book is who it is pitched at. It is not really for a generalist outside physics. Rather, it seems best suited for the physicist (student or not) who is not in particle physics. Non-physicists may be surprised at this, but particle physics can seem strange and forbidding even to physicists. The text gives enough detailed physics to satisfy a physicist; that he is indeed getting enough of the real stuff to gain insight.

While the title does say it is for scientists, I wonder a little about how accessible the book might be to a typical chemist or geologist.

This is such an up to date and accurate book I have never read a book that explains particle physics in such detail yet keeps the information understandable. If your are just starting out in particle physics read this book. It's brilliant!

I feel lucky to have found this book. There are scores, if not hundreds, of books and magazine articles that present the ideas of particle physics to the layperson, and there are also a good dozen standard graduate texts that call themselves introductions but seem to assume that the student already knows some quantum field theory. This book lies happily between the two extremes. It dispenses with derivations and instead gives just enough of a smattering of mathematics to make the explanations lucid and precise. If anyone knows of any other texts like this one, please speak up!

A good introductory book, but I was looking for more mathematical detail, or at least references to more detailed books. Nice historical background of particle physics.

Excellent use of figures and pictures in place of equations. Useful for an undergrad survey course, or as a reference for grad courses. Fred Olness, SMU