The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question? Reprint Edition

by Leon Lederman (Author)

118 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0618711680

ISBN-10: 9780618711680

Why is ISBN important?

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Share <Embed>

Buy new

$9.52

In stock.
Usually ships within 4 to 5 days.

Ships from and sold by allnewbooks.

This item ships to France.

List Price: $16.95
Save: $7.43 (44%)

41 New from $16.10

Deliver to France

$9.52 + $31.06 shipping

Turn on 1-Click ordering

More Buying Choices

41 New from $16.10 64 Used from $12.97 1 Collectible from $11.40

106 used & new from $12.97

See All Buying Options

Free Two-Day Shipping for College Students with Amazon Student

A fascinating tour of particle physics from Nobel Prize winner Leon Lederman.

At the root of particle physics is an invincible sense of curiosity. Leon Lederman embraces this spirit of inquiry as he moves from the Greeks' earliest scientific observations to Einstein and beyond to chart this unique arm of scientific study. His survey concludes with the Higgs boson, nicknamed the God Particle, which scientists hypothesize will help unlock the last secrets of the subatomic universe, quarks and all—it's the dogged pursuit of this almost mystical entity that inspires Lederman's witty and accessible history.

Frequently bought together

+

Total price: $30.99

These items are shipped from and sold by different sellers. Show details

Buy the selected items together

This item:The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question? by Leon Lederman Paperback $9.52
In stock.
Ships from and sold by allnewbooks.
$3.99 shipping
The New World of Mr Tompkins: George Gamow's Classic Mr Tompkins in Paperback by George Gamow Paperback $21.47
Only 15 left in stock - order soon.
Ships from and sold by Ambis Enterprises.
$3.99 shipping

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Leon M. Lederman

48

Hardcover
37 offers from $6.49
Sean Carroll

241

Paperback
$12.13
George Gamow

23

Paperback
$21.47
Leon M. Lederman

35

Hardcover
$23.78
Brian Greene

933

Paperback
$10.89
John Gribbin

172

Paperback
$14.38

Sponsored products related to this item (What's this?)

Page 1 of 1Start overPage 1 of 1

Feedback

Jakob Schwichtenberg

1

Paperback
$26.79
Feedback

4

Paperback
$49.71
Feedback

Jun Ni

Kindle Edition
$18.53
Feedback

FREEMAN J DYSON

3

Paperback
$42.00
Feedback

Stephen Tolley

1

Paperback
$12.99
Feedback

John H. Walton

269

Paperback
$12.96
Feedback

John H. Walton

102

Paperback
$14.77

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Leon Lederman, Ph.D., a 1988 Nobel laureate in physics, is director emeritus of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the Pritzker Professor of Science at the Illinois Institute of Technology, and a resident scholar at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. Among the many awards he has received for his contributions to science are the Wolf Prize and the Enrico Fermi Award.

Product details

Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Mariner Books; Reprint edition (June 26, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780618711680
ISBN-13: 978-0618711680
ASIN: 0618711686
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 118 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #107,096 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #9 in Books > Science & Math > Physics > Nuclear Physics > Particle Physics
- #151 in Books > Textbooks > Science & Mathematics > Physics
- #189 in Books > Science & Math > Astronomy & Space Science > Cosmology

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?
If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?

Be the first video

Your name here

Sponsored products related to this item (What's this?)

Page 1 of 1Start overPage 1 of 1

Feedback

Jakob Schwichtenberg

1

Paperback
$26.79
Feedback

4

Paperback
$49.71
Feedback

Stephen Tolley

1

Paperback
$12.99
Feedback

FREEMAN J DYSON

3

Paperback
$42.00
Feedback

Jun Ni

Kindle Edition
$18.53
Feedback

Peter Bussey

9

Paperback
$19.80
Feedback

John H. Walton

102

Paperback
$14.77

Try the Kindle edition and experience these great reading features:

See Kindle Edition

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars

Write a customer review

See all 118 customer reviews

Top customer reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Amazon Customer

Good book; very poor Kindle edition

November 1, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Note that this review is for the KINDLE edition:
1) I continue to be surprised--in a sad way--that so many Kindle book versions are as poor as they are, and this book is certainly an example. Whether it's true or not, this Kindle version gives every indication of having been generated by an OCR program scanning a paper document, and released without proofreading. Every few pages you'll find missing punctuation--which is perhaps merely annoying--but all too often you'll see words misspelled in ways that clearly indicate what was originally written (e.g. "for example, the sim, and indeed, in time, the distant stars" where "sim" should obviously be "sun.") Sometimes the problems are more serious than a simple misspelling: in a section discussing Thompson's experiments involving a ratio e/m, "e/m" is constantly written as "elm" (like the tree); in a description of Maxwell's equations, the text says "In these equations, £ stands for the electric field, £ stands for the magnetic field, and c, the velocity of light...". In case it doesn't print correctly here on Amazon, the text not only uses the symbol for Pounds Sterling for the electric field...which would be bad enough...it uses that same symbol for _both_ the electric field and the magnetic field. These are just a couple of _far_ too many text mistakes that occur throughout this edition.
The bottom line is that if you're at least a little familiar with the material, you'll only be annoyed every couple of pages, but if this is new to you, you should definitely avoid the Kindle edition of this book, because it'll just be confusing.
(I should admit I haven't seen the paper copy; it's possible, though I'd be amazed to find that this level of mistakes exists in all editions.)
2) The book itself is interesting and and enjoyable. Frankly, I think the author should leave out his nearly-constant attempts at humor--most of which fall flat in my opinion, and so are nothing but distractions--but humor is highly subjective, and I'm sure others will think it gives the book a boost. Overall, though, I enjoyed the perspective supplied by this book as the history of physics was used to lead the reader up to the title matter.

20 people found this helpful

Comment

John J. Falkenstine

STILL A VERY GOOD BOOK!

March 26, 2018

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Let's not forget. This book was not written in the 21st century. I'm reading a lot of reviews here that are critical of the book because it's not current. Lederman's sense of humor is quite good, and despite the fact that I'm not a scientist, a theoretician or a philosopher, merely a grunge lumpenproletariat dreamer, the book is highly understandable and still relevant. I bought it dirt cheap and I have no regrets. Those who use it as a platform to display their own limited knowledge are missing the enjoyment.

6 people found this helpful

Comment

WOW! from a layman

March 31, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Mr. Lederman, thank you for putting IT all in plain language; I agree with your statement in Chapter 9: "the arguments were abstract, mathematical, and very lively. Most of it was over my head." Nevertheless, the presentation of a very complex subject (even those studying it do not know ALL the questions/answers) is so well done, this is on my to read again list.

This book presents the behind-the-scenes search for our origins, the before the Big Bang what?, the what is going to happen next; the brains, actions, competition, and risks of the participants in this enterprise are tremendous. The only thing they are not searching for is why humankind is so ignorant, violent, and self-centered.

Nevertheless, I highly recommend this tome to those lay persons who are interested in physics, but are willing to let others do the heavy lifting, especially since Lederman sees the creator as female and has peppered a large dose of humor into his great work! Again, thanks, Mr. Lederman.

7 people found this helpful

Comment

The Search for the Ultimate Simplicity Continues

December 27, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I love long books that peek my interest, challenge conventional ways of thinking, and sufficiently address / answer the author's main topic; the latter part is where I feel the book comes up short. Despite needing updating since it was originally written, it starts with a well articulated and interesting history of physics (I especially like his sense of humor) however following that, if your intent is to learn quantum physics, be prepared to read disproportionately about supercolliders and the authors's experiments, and throughout take notes to try to comprehend the science (also might help if you took an intro to physics course). Among many other terms, he explains and speaks fluently of anti-protons, baryons, bosons, dimensions, electrons, fermions, gluons, hadrons, ions, kaons, leptons, mesons, muons, neutrons, nucleons, photons, pions, protons, selectrons, sleptons, tevetrons, and upsilons. Don't get me wrong, I think (as apparently does the author) that he is brilliant, which is why, despite my degree in mathematics, the book makes me feel like a peon (so I do not feel bad about obtaining the book at a significant discount). If I have walked away with any lasting impressions, they are 1. physicists apparently like words that end in "on" and 2. I'm now convinced that they will not solve the Higgs Boson God Particle mystery until they have exhausted all the combinations and permutations of such words. ... Anon

3 people found this helpful

Comment

William B. Elmer

The book ends somewhere around 1997 though and you need a book like "The Particle at the End of The Universe" which ...

May 3, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Lederman is a priceless teller of real stories. That is because he has lived through the development of particle physics. The book ends somewhere around 1997 though and you need a book like "The Particle at the End of The Universe" which takes you to the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012. Do not cheat yourself by buying just the latter however! Lederman covers the entire history of Physics going back to Democritus. Even at that there is nothing boring about his writing and his experience telling good stories. He has a co-author, Dick Teresi.

4 people found this helpful

Comment

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?

Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway

This item: The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?

Set up a giveaway

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Leon M. Lederman

48

Hardcover
37 offers from $6.49
Sean Carroll

241

Paperback
$12.13
Leon M. Lederman

45

Paperback
$19.99
Leon M. Lederman

35

Hardcover
$23.78
Brian Greene

933

Paperback
$10.89
R. Kirby Godsey

4

Hardcover
$18.59

English United States

Conditions of Use
Privacy Notice
Interest-Based Ads
© 1996-2018, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates