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In Search of the ultimate building blocks

In Search of the ultimate building blocks by Gerard 't Hooft gives a concise look at the development of particle physics at the end of the 20^th century. The first few chapters give a simple introduction to some of the basics of modern physics, but I don't think that this is a book for the complete beginner, since it quickly moves on to more advanced material. Although this is dealt with in a non-technical way, I feel that there isn't enough detail for a reader without at least a little previous knowledge of the subject.

't Hooft looks at the state of particle physics in the 1960's and describes how it moved forward during the next few decades, including his own contributions to the field. He looks at the development of the 'Standard Model' and shows how its predictions were bourne out in experimental discoveries. He covers a large range of subjects in this short book - magnetic monopoles, grand unification and technicolor, to name but a few. If you want a quick tour of how particle physics has developed and where it may be going, then this book by a well known expert in the subject is well worth reading.

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Paperback 205 pages
ISBN: 0521578833
Salesrank: 469001
Weight:1.1 lbs

Published: 1996 Cambridge University Press

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Amazon.co.uk info

Paperback 205 pages
ISBN: 0521578833
Salesrank: 720552
Weight:1.1 lbs

Published: 1996 Cambridge University Press

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Amazon.ca info

Paperback 205 pages
ISBN: 0521578833
Salesrank: 308191
Weight:1.1 lbs

Published: 1996 Cambridge University Press

Amazon price CDN$ 19.50

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Product Description
From 1960 until 1990 theoretical physicists and experimentalists worked together to probe deeper and deeper into the basic structure of matter, moving closer to an understanding of the ultimate building blocks of the universe. Gerard 't Hooft was closely involved in many of the advances in modern theoretical physics that led to improved understanding of elementary particles, and this is a first-hand account of one of the most creative and exciting periods of discovery in the history of physics. Using language a layperson can understand, this narrative touches on many central topics and ideas, such as quarks and quantum physics; supergravity, superstrings and superconductivity; the Standard Model and grand unification; eleven-dimensional space time and black holes. This fascinating personal account of the past thirty years in one of the most dramatic areas in twentieth-century physics will be of interest to professional physicists and physics students, as well as the educated general reader with an interest in one of the most exciting scientific detective stories ever.

Product Description

From 1960 until 1990 theoretical physicists and experimentalists worked together to probe deeper and deeper into the basic structure of matter, moving closer to an understanding of the ultimate building blocks of the universe. Gerard 't Hooft was closely involved in many of the advances in modern theoretical physics that led to improved understanding of elementary particles, and this is a first-hand account of one of the most creative and exciting periods of discovery in the history of physics. Using language a layperson can understand, this narrative touches on many central topics and ideas, such as quarks and quantum physics; supergravity, superstrings and superconductivity; the Standard Model and grand unification; eleven-dimensional space time and black holes. This fascinating personal account of the past thirty years in one of the most dramatic areas in twentieth-century physics will be of interest to professional physicists and physics students, as well as the educated general reader with an interest in one of the most exciting scientific detective stories ever.

Dear Me *
Perhaps I was taken in by the 5-star average review of this book when I bot it, or seduced by the reviewer who claimed even a raw beginner could profit by reading it. I should have been more cautious when one reviewer said that it was not for the timid or faint of heart. I have read some popularizing books on this subject and even taken a course for non-physicists in the subject of particle physics. I found the book unreadable for several reasons. Professor t'Hooft undertook by himself to translate this book from its Dutch original into English; it is clear that his upbringing in the excellent Dutch school system allowed him too early to specialize in the sciences at the expense of language study. Even though the book's English was vetted by Robin Mize, in many places--averaging once per page--the English expression is nearly unintelligible. A difficult subject whose mathematical elegance is apparent to the baptized but admittedly difficult to convey in language for tyros is here often beyond hope of being understood. The first 11 chapters, wherein the author presents a history of the subject with its brilliant breakthroughs and sometimes insurmountable problems, are readable. But once the author himself, then a graduate student seeking a thesis topic, enters the history and the account becomes personal, the book ceases to be intelligible. Sadly, this is the very selling point of the book: "This is a first-hand account . . ." The cover reviewers from Nature and Physics World are enthusiastic, but then they are scientists. "Sharp statements" and "novel formulations" are not the stuff that open doors for novices in search of broad avenues of understanding. And the "dry ingenious humor" of the author was quite lost on this reader who was struggling to parse the English with Dutch syntax. Sorry

Dear Me *

Perhaps I was taken in by the 5-star average review of this book when I bot it, or seduced by the reviewer who claimed even a raw beginner could profit by reading it. I should have been more cautious when one reviewer said that it was not for the timid or faint of heart.

I have read some popularizing books on this subject and even taken a course for non-physicists in the subject of particle physics. I found the book unreadable for several reasons. Professor t'Hooft undertook by himself to translate this book from its Dutch original into English; it is clear that his upbringing in the excellent Dutch school system allowed him too early to specialize in the sciences at the expense of language study. Even though the book's English was vetted by Robin Mize, in many places--averaging once per page--the English expression is nearly unintelligible. A difficult subject whose mathematical elegance is apparent to the baptized but admittedly difficult to convey in language for tyros is here often beyond hope of being understood.

The first 11 chapters, wherein the author presents a history of the subject with its brilliant breakthroughs and sometimes insurmountable problems, are readable. But once the author himself, then a graduate student seeking a thesis topic, enters the history and the account becomes personal, the book ceases to be intelligible. Sadly, this is the very selling point of the book: "This is a first-hand account . . ." The cover reviewers from Nature and Physics World are enthusiastic, but then they are scientists. "Sharp statements" and "novel formulations" are not the stuff that open doors for novices in search of broad avenues of understanding. And the "dry ingenious humor" of the author was quite lost on this reader who was struggling to parse the English with Dutch syntax. Sorry

Fascinated by cosmology. *****
It included a Eureka moment for me, t' Hooft sets the elementary particles into a sensible context in his smart particle tables, it was one of those "I get it" moments, in which strange quarks (and the rest) just made sense. The text is lucid and includes light touches of humor, mainly at the expense of the TOE "theories", this is a real physicist, which gently advices "reality checks" to those who will forget that physics is about the world we experience, with experimental verification high on the priority list. Not many of us (me included) had the pleasure of a Physics Nobel laureate explaining his field of expertise to us in a personal way, this book is the closest most of us can get to that. My only negative comment is that it should have been a longer book, including more subjects and more of `t Hooft's insights.

Fascinated by cosmology. *****

It included a Eureka moment for me, t' Hooft sets the elementary particles into a sensible context in his smart particle tables, it was one of those "I get it" moments, in which strange quarks (and the rest) just made sense.
The text is lucid and includes light touches of humor, mainly at the expense of the TOE "theories", this is a real physicist, which gently advices "reality checks" to those who will forget that physics is about the world we experience, with experimental verification high on the priority list.
Not many of us (me included) had the pleasure of a Physics Nobel laureate explaining his field of expertise to us in a personal way, this book is the closest most of us can get to that.
My only negative comment is that it should have been a longer book, including more subjects and more of `t Hooft's insights.

A honest, independent and anti-irrational popularizing book *****
Gerard t'Hooft is a surprisingly rare example of a rational physicist who is not-so-willing to support all those main-stream paradoxical and irrational claims which often saturate works of some celebrated theoretical physicists. Consequently, Dr. t'Hooft is not so popular among the fashionable camp of string mystics, but rather remains an idependently thinking theorist of Einstein's or Jaynes' scientific ethics. In my opinion, Dr. 't Hooft wrote a very honest, competent, sincere, and yet highly readable book. In comparison with those popular but misleading books in the style of "The Elegant Universe" (B. Greene) or "The First Three Minutes" (S. Weinberg), this book is a much better example of a fair popularizing book on fundamental particle physics and its recent history, from a perspective of a personal scientific advanture. Dr. 't Hooft is evidently well aware about some fundamental intrinsic difficulties in modern theoretical physics, which many other physicists either ignore, or simply cannot recognize. Just one typical quote from t'Hooft's book which many quantum, statistical and string physicists should read as a mantra every morning: "Probabilities and statistics are mistreated a great deal, even by physicists." (p. 14) Yes, here is the root of many "paradoxes" of modern physics. As a theoretical physicist (and independently from my personal preferences), I think that Gerard 't Hooft is right also on many other sensitive issues of modern physics and that he wrote a very honest popularizing book. This book is fair to a layman and interesting even to an advanced physicist. (As a rare exception to this rule, I cannot fully support his section on Planck's radiation law (p. 9) where I found some common physical misperceptions and some traces of a historical myth.)

A honest, independent and anti-irrational popularizing book *****

Gerard t'Hooft is a surprisingly rare example of a rational physicist who is not-so-willing to support all those main-stream paradoxical and irrational claims which often saturate works of some celebrated theoretical physicists. Consequently, Dr. t'Hooft is not so popular among the fashionable camp of string mystics, but rather remains an idependently thinking theorist of Einstein's or Jaynes' scientific ethics.

In my opinion, Dr. 't Hooft wrote a very honest, competent, sincere, and yet highly readable book. In comparison with those popular but misleading books in the style of "The Elegant Universe" (B. Greene) or "The First Three Minutes" (S. Weinberg), this book is a much better example of a fair popularizing book on fundamental particle physics and its recent history, from a perspective of a personal scientific advanture.

Dr. 't Hooft is evidently well aware about some fundamental intrinsic difficulties in modern theoretical physics, which many other physicists either ignore, or simply cannot recognize. Just one typical quote from t'Hooft's book which many quantum, statistical and string physicists should read as a mantra every morning:

"Probabilities and statistics are mistreated a great deal, even by physicists." (p. 14)

Yes, here is the root of many "paradoxes" of modern physics. As a theoretical physicist (and independently from my personal preferences), I think that Gerard 't Hooft is right also on many other sensitive issues of modern physics and that he wrote a very honest popularizing book. This book is fair to a layman and interesting even to an advanced physicist. (As a rare exception to this rule, I cannot fully support his section on Planck's radiation law (p. 9) where I found some common physical misperceptions and some traces of a historical myth.)

Thoughtful and well balanced. *****
Gerard 't Hooft is one of the best and most thoughtful physicists in the world; there are many who think he should have received the Nobel Prize long before he finally did (in 1999). This short book is a marvel. It can be read with almost no prior knowledge of mathematics or physics, and it gives an extremely clear and well-balanced view of the well-established state of knowledge in particle physics and field theory as of 1997; little has changed in the intervening four years. 't Hooft has his own prejudices and enthusiams, but in this book he tried scrupulously to stick with the mainstream concensus in the first 21 of 28 chapters. In the last seven chapters, he describes some of the current and more speculative work being done by various people all over the world who are attempting to create a "Grand Theory of Everything". This discussion is cautious and somewhat skeptical, as I believe it should be, but the underlying ideas of the various approaches are clearly described. I consider 't Hooft to be one of the greatest physicists of the 20th century, and I consider this to be one of the half-dozen best books for laymen on any aspect of modern physics that I have come across. I believe that's because 't Hooft himself thinks so clearly.

Thoughtful and well balanced. *****

Gerard 't Hooft is one of the best and most thoughtful physicists in the world; there are many who think he should have received the Nobel Prize long before he finally did (in 1999). This short book is a marvel. It can be read with almost no prior knowledge of mathematics or physics, and it gives an extremely clear and well-balanced view of the well-established state of knowledge in particle physics and field theory as of 1997; little has changed in the intervening four years.

't Hooft has his own prejudices and enthusiams, but in this book he tried scrupulously to stick with the mainstream concensus in the first 21 of 28 chapters. In the last seven chapters, he describes some of the current and more speculative work being done by various people all over the world who are attempting to create a "Grand Theory of Everything". This discussion is cautious and somewhat skeptical, as I believe it should be, but the underlying ideas of the various approaches are clearly described.

I consider 't Hooft to be one of the greatest physicists of the 20th century, and I consider this to be one of the half-dozen best books for laymen on any aspect of modern physics that I have come across. I believe that's because 't Hooft himself thinks so clearly.

a charming reading for a layman *****
't Hooft's journey through particle physics is pleasant and sometimes exciting. In the last chapters he discusses the latest theoretical models in a clear and synthetic way. He seems to think that, as we know more and more about the basic structure of matter, time and space, classical physics and quantum mechanics somehow will get closer and closer, and maybe will eventually rejoin. And this is surely a fascinating perspective.

a charming reading for a layman *****

't Hooft's journey through particle physics is pleasant and sometimes exciting. In the last chapters he discusses the latest theoretical models in a clear and synthetic way. He seems to think that, as we know more and more about the basic structure of matter, time and space, classical physics and quantum mechanics somehow will get closer and closer, and maybe will eventually rejoin. And this is surely a fascinating perspective.

An excellent afternoon *****
Anyone that has slogged their way through BPHZ, LZT, proof of renormalizability of Yang Mills fields or singularity theorems deserves to read this book, because this book is what it is all about. The book details `t Hooft's career and opinion of what IT's all made of. Both topics are fascinating for a graduate student with similar interests. The writing is breezy and insightful and makes for a perfect afternoon.

An excellent afternoon *****

Anyone that has slogged their way through BPHZ, LZT, proof of renormalizability of Yang Mills fields or singularity theorems deserves to read this book, because this book is what *it* is all about. The book details `t Hooft's career and opinion of what IT's all made of. Both topics are fascinating for a graduate student with similar interests. The writing is breezy and insightful and makes for a perfect afternoon.