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Hole in Texas Paperback – June 6, 2005

by Herman Wouk (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars 627 ratings
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With this rollicking novel hailed equally for its satiric bite, its lightly borne scientific savvy, and its tender compassion for foible-prone humanity, one of America's preeminent storytellers returns to fiction.

Guy Carpenter is a regular guy, a family man, an obscure NASA scientist, when he is jolted out of his quiet life and summoned to the corridors of power in Washington, D.C. Through a turn of events as unlikely as it is inevitable, Guy finds himself compromised by scandal and romance, hounded by Hollywood, and agonizingly alone at the white-hot center of a firestorm ignited as three potent forces of American culture -- politics, big science, and the media -- spectacularly collide.
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  1. Print length
    289 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Back Bay Books
  4. Publication date
    June 6, 2005
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.73 x 8.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0316010855
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0316010856
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Editorial Reviews

Review

""Wouk constructs a tidy atom of a story....A quick read that serves double duty as an entertaining contemporary romp a gently compelling argument for taking the Superconduct Super Collider project out of mothballs."

About the Author

Herman Wouk's acclaimed novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Caine Mutiny; Marjorie Morningstar; Don't Stop the Carnival; Youngblood Hawke; The Winds of War; War and Remembrance; Inside, Outside; The Hope; The Glory; and A Hole in Texas.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Back Bay Books
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 6, 2005
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ Revised
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 289 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316010855
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316010856
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.73 x 8.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 out of 5 stars 627 ratings

About the author

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Herman Wouk

Herman Wouk

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Herman Wouk earned his living as a scriptwriter for Fred Allen before serving in World War II. His career as a novelist spans nearly six decades and has brought him resounding international acclaim. He lives in Palm Springs, California.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
627 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this book to be a great Wouk read with an enthralling narrative and rich characters. The writing quality receives positive feedback, with one customer noting it's believable in both prose and dialogue.

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34 customers mention "Story quality"25 positive9 negative

Customers find the book's narrative enthralling and well-written, with one customer noting it provides good insight into its subject matter.

"...Not Herman Wouk's best book but still an interesting and enjoyable read...4 1/2 stars. I'm reading Herman Wouk's...The Glory now...." Read more

"...The Caine Mutiny which I also really enjoyed. Wouk tells a great story, and A Hole in Texas is no exception. It's just down on my list." Read more

"...All of this is grist for a great deal of mostly gentle satire and poking of fun...." Read more

"...First the man can write and is a born story teller. His characters are clearly drawn and believable in both prose and dialogue...." Read more

29 customers mention "Readability"29 positive0 negative

Customers find the book to be a great Wouk read, with one customer noting it's an excellent novel by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author.

"...Not Herman Wouk's best book but still an interesting and enjoyable read...4 1/2 stars. I'm reading Herman Wouk's...The Glory now...." Read more

"...I've read all of his books. Then why four stars? I loved the book and recommend it. I just think that there are other Wouk books to read first...." Read more

"...Altogether not a bad book, but hardly a must read...." Read more

"...I have read several books written by Wouk long ago and enjoyed them thoroughly. First the man can write and is a born story teller...." Read more

11 customers mention "Writing quality"11 positive0 negative

Customers praise the writing quality of the book, with one customer noting it is believable in both prose and dialogue.

"I read a few of Herman Wouk's books and he is a great author. I bought A Hole In Texas to read and add to our family library...." Read more

"...Most of the characters are either nice, well-meaning and none truly villainous...." Read more

"A great author written so well that I could not put the book down...." Read more

"...First the man can write and is a born story teller. His characters are clearly drawn and believable in both prose and dialogue...." Read more

8 customers mention "Character development"8 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the character development in the book.

"...( THe Caine Mutany), plus many other great books is super with character development and interaction...." Read more

"...Most of the characters are either nice, well-meaning and none truly villainous...." Read more

"...First the man can write and is a born story teller. His characters are clearly drawn and believable in both prose and dialogue...." Read more

"...You are drawn into the characters and through all the political backstabbing, Hollywood excess, and scientific rivalry, they remain believeable and..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Thomas Erickson
    5.0 out of 5 stars fast paced novel about stop funded Super Collider in Texas to find "God particle" Higgs Boson. Did the Chinese find it first?
    Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    I read a few of Herman Wouk's books and he is a great author. I bought A Hole In Texas to read and add to our family library.

    The 279 book read super fast. Great reading with no boring parts. I read it in 1 day and could not put it down.

    Herman Wouk a Pulitzer prize winner ( THe Caine Mutany), plus many other great books is super with character development and interaction.

    The main character is a nuclear physicist named Guy Carpenter who was one of many physicists hired to use the miles big Super conducting, Super Collider to be built in Texas. Because of high costs the collider is never finished and congress pulls the multi billion dollar plug. The biggest "atom smasher" ever to be built was for acceleration of atomic particles to be smashed into other particles, hopefully to find the ultimate "God particle" the Higgs Boson.

    Of course the military is wanting the creation of Higgs Boson particles for making of a weapon that would make the most powerful H bomb seem to be a mere firecracker.

    We see the Chinese especially a good looking young 60ish Chinese scientist nicknamed Wendy discovering the Higgs Boson and beating out the US?

    We see an ex movie star now Congresswoman helping Guy Carpenter get by Congressional grilling. Plus we see Guy's young kid, cat and really jealous wife who thinks Guy may have had an affair with the Chinese scientist.

    Lots of fast paced people interaction in this book. I liked that there was some hard science in this fast paced novel.

    In real life many scientists believe there is a "God particle" named Higgs Boson to be found. Plus there are Colliders like Cern in Switzerland.( Some non educated, believe these huge future Super colliders may accidentally create mini black holes and destroy the Earth). Many scientists today want bigger and more powerful "atom smashers" Super Colliders to find and produce fantastically small and enormously energetic sub atomic particles.

    I won't ruin the ending just say did the Chinese really discover the "God particle" Higgs Boson and are they capable of creating a weapon powerful enough to wipe out a continent in one blast?

    Not Herman Wouk's best book but still an interesting and enjoyable read...4 1/2 stars. I'm reading Herman Wouk's...The Glory now. I'll review that book when done.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Ben
    4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable book
    Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    I'm a huge Wouk fan who had never read one of his books until he passed away a few years ago. After reading his obituary, I decided to read The Winds of War and I was hooked. I've read all of his books. Then why four stars? I loved the book and recommend it. I just think that there are other Wouk books to read first. 1. The Winds of War/2. War and Remembrance 3. The Hope/4. The Glory 5. Marjorie Morningstar 6. Youngblood Hawk...and he won a Pulitzer for 7. The Caine Mutiny which I also really enjoyed. Wouk tells a great story, and A Hole in Texas is no exception. It's just down on my list.
    11 people found this helpful
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  • Phred
    3.0 out of 5 stars A light hearted look into science, politics, movies, the media and the human heart
    Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Have you ever heard about the Higgs Boson Blues?
    I'm going down to Geneva, baby
    Gonna teach it to you
    Who cares?
    Who cares what the future brings?

    Fm: The Higgs Boson Blues, Nick Cage and the Bad Seeds, release 2013

    Herman Wouk’s A Hole in Texas is not bad. It is not the bitterly acerbic satire of Heller’s Catch 22, nor is it the soaring heroics of Wouk’s own Winds of War. Much of the history and science is correct. Further Wouk is a capable writer. He is not a first rank novelist and this novel neither hurts not helps his reputation. It affirms family values but I cannot see it being of much interest to YA or younger readers. So a sold middle ground read. Too long for an airplane read and maybe a good weekend at the beach read.

    Herman Wouk introduces his novel with the notion that Particle Physicists having been the leading science that gave us the Nuclear Bomb and later Nuclear Power had become the darlings of the several congresses that willingly signed checks to allow them to research ever more obscure and remote ideas. Then came the effort to build the Super Collider. After a lot of sectional politics a contract was awarded to begin construction in Waxahachie Texas. A 54 mile underground ring was dug and many of the expensive supplies and support material had been delivered when in 1993 it was cancelled.

    A key problem in high energy physics at that time was that results at each new level of energy required a disproportionally larger new device to generate the energy to achieve each new level of analysis. Building and operating a super collider is a lot of money (initial outlay $4.4 Billion USD starting 1987 ). By 1993 not all of the physical properties had been rendered into agreed engineering design. Congress cut off funding turned instead to the Space Station. The Large Hadron Collider (CERN) in Switzerland, operating in international cooperation was where in 2012 the Higg’s Boson was discovered.

    No longer content to call it by its given name, press coverage at the time dubbed it the ‘God Particle”. The theory being that it is the Higg’s Boson that converts energy into matter.

    Writing in 2004 Wouk retells the Supercollider story and much of the science with several novelistic twists. In his version it is the Chinese who make the discovery and America responds with a lot of finger pointing, with the added urgency that a potential Boson Bomb would instantly render every nuclear weapon unimportant.

    The media frenzy is such that Congress is forced into a lot of investigating, CYA over its prior decision and even Hollywood wants a piece in its effort to grind out a sci-fi movie before the public can get bored and move to the next crisis.

    All of this is grist for a great deal of mostly gentle satire and poking of fun. Most of the characters are either nice, well-meaning and none truly villainous. The center of the media storm is a scientist, no longer young, once in the second string in the project to build the Texas Collider and now in the second string to build a Space Telescope. We meet Guy Carpenter a family man with a nerdy bachelor’s past who loves his sometimes fierce wife, his new daughter and their shared passion/devil their cat. Of course his past links him with the Chinese Scientist who led the effort to find the Higgs. And to round out the romantic side of the plot there is a widowed ex actress turned Congress woman who needs Guy’s brains and may be susceptible to his nice guy charms.

    For those not entirely taken in with the pacing of the novel, too many long e mails, and the various shenanigans of the plot, (Did he then and will he now?). It can be fun to decide which of the fictional characters are supposed to be which real people. Too often the veil of fiction is paper thin. For example if you missed that the Jewish Lawyer is supposed to be Alan Dershowitz; is the reference to a prior case involving O.J. Simpson enough of a give away?

    Altogether not a bad book, but hardly a must read. Were this a play, the headlines would be: “A light hearted look into science, politics, movies, the media and the human heart. Song and Music by Sondheim.”
    10 people found this helpful
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  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read
    Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    A great author written so well that I could not put the book down. I’ve read many ofWouk,s stories and enjoyed them all, they just keep getting better and better
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  • Cou
    4.0 out of 5 stars Once past the science instructions the story took off.
    Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    It has been a long time since I read Wouk. I'm so pleased that I decided to read "A Hole in Texas". I am now ready to pick up Wouk's work that I have not yet read.
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  • Joan Atlas
    5.0 out of 5 stars Wouk Rediscovered
    Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    I first read Marjorie Morningstar in my teens. Now in my eighties , I have read several books written by Wouk long ago and enjoyed them thoroughly. First the man can write and is a born story teller. His characters are clearly drawn and believable in both prose and dialogue. The collision of serious science, politics, and Hollywood created an exciting well told novel.
    4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • M J.
    3.0 out of 5 stars Pas le meilleur Wouk, loin de là, mais...
    Reviewed in France on October 18, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Pas mal tout de même pour un écrivain de 88 ans! Moi qui suis une grande fan de cet auteur ("Ouragan sur le Caine" est dans mon top 20 des meilleurs livres de tous les temps, et j'ai dévoré aussi tous ses autres avec une prédilection pour "City Boy", "Inside, Outside", "Don't stop the carnival" et "Aurora Dawn") j'avoue que le style de HW a un peu vieilli, mais c'est un roman honorable où l'on apprend pas mal de choses sur le boson de Higgs (dont j'ignorais totalement l'existence) et le fonctionnement de la Chambre des représentants aux Etats-Unis. Il y a aussi une vieille histoire d'amour assez mystérieuse entre le héros, un savant américain, et une séduisante scientifique chinoise qui ressurgit dans sa vie après des années, et une ébauche d'idylle avec une non moins séduisante députée, mais comme toujours chez Wouk, l'amour conjugal sera le plus fort et la morale sera sauve... Je mets 3 étoiles par fidélité à cet écrivain formidable et aussi parce que ce livre se laisse agréablement lire.
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  • Brian Richman
    4.0 out of 5 stars This is an excellent book, in the fine standard of
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 1, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    This is an excellent book, in the fine standard of, in my opinion, the finest writer of the 20th century. In his 90s, he was still writing original material, and I understand has finally published an autobiography at the age of 100!
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  • H Wregget
    5.0 out of 5 stars Another great Wouk work
    Reviewed in Canada on September 1, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    Maybe not as sweeping as Winds of War but nevertheless captivating with the story line and his wonderful casting of characters.
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