A Hole in Texas (Wouk, Herman) [Hardcover]

The book is very light-hearted. Its romance elements are "G" rated, the particle physics is passed-over trippingly, and its two themes are tied together by a non-serious plot involving some nefarious Capitol Hill doings and a 60-year-old Congresswoman with really great legs.

A major character (and romance interest) in the book is a female Chinese particle physicist, and every once in a while, the book inadvertently (I think!) pops up some stereotypes about female Asian/Pacific Islanders - their "youthful" appearance, other things about their appearance, intelligence, attraction to particle physics, etc. It is not a large part of the book, but the author's mild case of "Asiaphilia" seems worth mentioning for the sake of any readers who might be made uncomfortable by this.

Be that as it may, most readers will enjoy this quick and amusing book, which finds the human interest in a rather esoteric occupation!

As expected from an author of his stature, there is a hefty helping of unusual words and references to literature. But this book also blends in mystery, national security, Hollywood extravagance, politics, and cross-society naiveté.

His theme is that the Chinese have succeeded in finding the theoretical Higgs Particle while the US was "sleeping." The unifying plot element involved placing blame for "killing" the Superconducting Supercollider and the resultant ceding of US dominance in Particle Physics (although there is no guarantee that the Superconducting Supercollider in Texas would have actually "discovered" the Higgs Particle).

What is really done well is the attention to detail that Mr. Wouk gives his characters. For instance, a corporate jet is made available to the lead character and he has to look around the rest room to find the "hidden" toilet. Heck, most literature does not even mention characters visiting the rest room.

Most readers will not have a good set of pre-arranged expectations for a particle physicist, and the book is not terribly long, so the author wisely falls back on middleclass family life as the basic relationship between his main character and the reader. His characters are truly 3-Dimensional -- and several are "retro" (like an aging CongressWoman who converses with her dead husband... and a wife who slouches into a "SuperMom," juggling career and family because she does not believe that her husband can cope with these details). The characters have plenty of realistic flaws but, as in real life, they mostly stumble ahead in spite of themselves.

Mr. Wouk takes it upon himself to educate readers on cutting edge science, mostly using traditional two person dialog (S. Holmes and Dr. Watson style) but mixing in letters and e-mails for added precision. He also finds time to chastise the US Congress for shortsightedness and lack of collective memory. A Hole in Texas is not written to be an action movie and -- I am glad to report -- in the end, most characters emerge happier.

Liberal Americans will read this book if they like to be entertained while improving their vocabulary and getting a better understanding of their world. Conservative Americans will read this book if they like to be entertained while gaining a better idea of the power structure in the Congress as it relates to Science funding. Non-Americans will read this book if they like to be entertained while identifying some peculiar American quirks and seeing how Big American Science relates to science in the rest of the world. Literature buffs should probably re-read The Caine Mutiny.

For the record, the existance of the Higgs Particle is still merely theoretical. Physicists are still pondering whether such a contrived mathematical device might actually exist, and the energy required to "create" it in a laboratory is probably out of our reach for the near future. The approach used by the Chinese in this book (Atmospheric monitoring for Cosmic Ray interactions) is probably our best bet near-term for science to detect any ultra-massive particles like the Higgs and/or microscopic Black Holes, either of which would inform science tremendously as to the role of gravitation among the other 3 known forces of nature.