A Zeptospace Odyssey: A Journey into the Physics of the LHC
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Review
If you have ever wondered what would drive an entire scientific community to spend 20 years designing a single experimental facility, or are merely curious as to what makes particle physics so fascinating and seductive, then this book is for you ... Both the layman and expert will find these insights into particle physics fascinating ... Reading this is like being led through the wonderland of theoretical physicists' most fervent imaginings by a slightly wicked, gossipy guide... (Tara Shears, Times Higher Education Supplement )
...enjoyable reading, with the important information that it carries mixed in with many fun facts and anecdotes of all sorts. Not to mention the spot-on explanatory metaphors that are distributed profusely throughout almost every chapter ... this book will become required reading for anyone interested in scientific human endeavour, in the reality of our world. (Richard Barbieri, CERN Courier )
...engaging and frequently witty, speckled with original analogies and pithy quotations from physicists and cultural figures alike ... an excellent introduction to the LHC. (Physics World )
Gian Giudice has given us a charming, comprehensive, and deep yet easily readable description of the history, technology, and scientific aspirations of the Large Hadron Collider, perhaps the greatest scientific experiment ever. (Gordon Kane, University of Michigan )
This book, written by one of the leaders of the field, has a number of outstanding qualities: it is brilliant, original, comprehensive, entertaining and clear. It is a must for cultivated, non specialist readers who want to get an introduction to contemporary particle physics and to the exciting programme of the Large Hadron Collider of CERN. (Guido Altarelli, University of Rome and CERN )
Gian Giudice has drawn on his deep understanding of physics to write a wonderful book, presenting the central ideas underlying the grand intellectual adventure of particle physics in an engaging and thought-provoking way. A must read for anyone who wants to understand the big questions we face in fundamental physics, and the ways we are tackling them. (Nima Arkani-Hamed, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton )
Gian Giudice provides a comprehensive introduction to the LHC as only a physicist working in the field could do. (Lisa Randall, Harvard University, author of the book, Warped Passages )
Gian Giudice has, as one would expect from such a clear and original thinker, produced a book which both challenges and excites, providing fresh insights into the domain of particles and their interactions. (Ken Peach, John Adams Institute for Accelerator Science, University of Oxford and Royal Holloway University of London )
This fascinating book is entertaining and comprehensible, leading the reader to the world of extremes: the high technology of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN and its huge particle detectors, the quest for the Higgs particle and the mysterious Dark Matter, and the theories of superstrings and extra dimensions at the verge of human imagination. (Thomas Lohse, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany )
This book shows that it is possible to describe to non-experts the frontiers of modern physics, in a way which is both faithful and comprehensible. I almost envy the author his right-on-the-bull's-eye explanatory metaphors. I believe that this book will become required reading for anyone interested in the reality of our world and in scientific human endeavour. (Riccardo Barbieri, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy )
I enjoyed this book tremendously. The weaving of important information with fun facts and anecdotes was awesome. (Savas Dimopoulos, Stanford University, winner of the 2006 Sakurai Prize in Theoretical Physics )
...enjoyable reading, with the important information that it carries mixed in with many fun facts and anecdotes of all sorts. Not to mention the spot-on explanatory metaphors that are distributed profusely throughout almost every chapter ... this book will become required reading for anyone interested in scientific human endeavour, in the reality of our world. (Richard Barbieri, CERN Courier )
...engaging and frequently witty, speckled with original analogies and pithy quotations from physicists and cultural figures alike ... an excellent introduction to the LHC. (Physics World )
Gian Giudice has given us a charming, comprehensive, and deep yet easily readable description of the history, technology, and scientific aspirations of the Large Hadron Collider, perhaps the greatest scientific experiment ever. (Gordon Kane, University of Michigan )
This book, written by one of the leaders of the field, has a number of outstanding qualities: it is brilliant, original, comprehensive, entertaining and clear. It is a must for cultivated, non specialist readers who want to get an introduction to contemporary particle physics and to the exciting programme of the Large Hadron Collider of CERN. (Guido Altarelli, University of Rome and CERN )
Gian Giudice has drawn on his deep understanding of physics to write a wonderful book, presenting the central ideas underlying the grand intellectual adventure of particle physics in an engaging and thought-provoking way. A must read for anyone who wants to understand the big questions we face in fundamental physics, and the ways we are tackling them. (Nima Arkani-Hamed, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton )
Gian Giudice provides a comprehensive introduction to the LHC as only a physicist working in the field could do. (Lisa Randall, Harvard University, author of the book, Warped Passages )
Gian Giudice has, as one would expect from such a clear and original thinker, produced a book which both challenges and excites, providing fresh insights into the domain of particles and their interactions. (Ken Peach, John Adams Institute for Accelerator Science, University of Oxford and Royal Holloway University of London )
This fascinating book is entertaining and comprehensible, leading the reader to the world of extremes: the high technology of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN and its huge particle detectors, the quest for the Higgs particle and the mysterious Dark Matter, and the theories of superstrings and extra dimensions at the verge of human imagination. (Thomas Lohse, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany )
This book shows that it is possible to describe to non-experts the frontiers of modern physics, in a way which is both faithful and comprehensible. I almost envy the author his right-on-the-bull's-eye explanatory metaphors. I believe that this book will become required reading for anyone interested in the reality of our world and in scientific human endeavour. (Riccardo Barbieri, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy )
I enjoyed this book tremendously. The weaving of important information with fun facts and anecdotes was awesome. (Savas Dimopoulos, Stanford University, winner of the 2006 Sakurai Prize in Theoretical Physics )
Product Description
At this very moment the most ambitious scientific experiment of all time is beginning, and yet its precise aims are little understood by the general public. This book aims to provide an everyman's guide for understanding and following the discoveries that will take place within the next few years at the Large Hadron Collider project at CERN. The reader is invited to share an insider's view of the theory of particle physics, and is equipped to appreciate the scale of the intellectual revolution that is about to take place. The technological innovations required to build the LHC are among the most astonishing aspects of this scientific adventure, and they too are described here as part of the LHC story. The book culminates with an outline of the scientific aims and expectations at the LHC. Does the mysterious Higgs boson exist? Does space hide supersymmetry or extend into extra dimensions? How can colliding protons at the LHC unlock the secrets of the origin of our universe? These questions are all framed and then addressed by an expert in the field. While making no compromises in accuracy, this highly technical material is presented in a friendly, accessible style. The book's aim is not just to inform, but to give the reader the physicist's sense of awe and excitement, as we stand on the brink of a new era in understanding the world in which we all live.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I find that books about particle physics tend to fall into one of two categories. Either they are a) full of maths and/or impenetrable to the lay reader or b) comprehensbile to a lay reader but less than exciting with rote descriptions of subatomic particles. This book manages to be both well within the grasp of a non-expert and also very entertaining. The author has a practitioner's understanding of his subject which is matched by a very entertaining delivery. Rightly or wrongly, I get the feeling I will have a better intuitive understanding of particle physics after reading this book than after reading no end of others. In short, highly recommended. Don't be put off by the cover. When I first picked it up, I thought it was yet another dense OUP monograph. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Great Read!
6 April 2010
Format:Hardcover
I loved this
book: it is really fun to read. The LHC machine as well as the theories are presented with clarity and wit. The author works at CERN and he
knows the laboratory inside out. He is clearly a real expert in the theories and he is quite original and thought-provoking in the way he
presents them. Explanations are clear and often supplemented with simple analogies. You get a real tour of what's going on at CERN and in
the world of modern physics. I feel I now understand why the LHC is so important.
The book is lavished with the kind of stories and
anecdotes that only an insider like Guidice could provide. He's so much at his ease here in leading us through the rocky terrain of
particle physics, that he can afford to be funny, relaxed, and take us down some fascinating side roads.
Don't be put off by the textbook-
like cover: its content is really quite accessible. I think this book should be on the must-read list of any high school student interested
in science or engineering. It is perfect reading for science teachers and for anybody interested in modern physics. Highly recommended.
book: it is really fun to read. The LHC machine as well as the theories are presented with clarity and wit. The author works at CERN and he
knows the laboratory inside out. He is clearly a real expert in the theories and he is quite original and thought-provoking in the way he
presents them. Explanations are clear and often supplemented with simple analogies. You get a real tour of what's going on at CERN and in
the world of modern physics. I feel I now understand why the LHC is so important.
The book is lavished with the kind of stories and
anecdotes that only an insider like Guidice could provide. He's so much at his ease here in leading us through the rocky terrain of
particle physics, that he can afford to be funny, relaxed, and take us down some fascinating side roads.
Don't be put off by the textbook-
like cover: its content is really quite accessible. I think this book should be on the must-read list of any high school student interested
in science or engineering. It is perfect reading for science teachers and for anybody interested in modern physics. Highly recommended.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Interesting and readable
14 Jan 2010
Format:Hardcover
This book gives a remarkably enjoyable, exciting, and digestible introduction to the LHC and the experiments there. This is the best science book I have ever read. I didn't know anything about the LHC before reading this book, and now I feel I understand the main objectives of this colossal experiment. I was left truly impressed by the LHC and the marvels of our world that will be explored there. I especially enjoyed the last chapters which speculate on the strange phenomena, fruit of the wilder current theories, which might be found at the LHC. It will be fun to find out what the LHC eventually discovers.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
A cutting-edge insider account of particle physics today
2 Jan 2011
Format:Hardcover
The LHC (Large Hadron Collider) is not only a gigantic technological feat, but also a tribute to the idealistic international quest to probe deeper into the fundamental principles of physics that account for the nature of the universe. Zeptospace, by the way, refers to distances no larger than a few hundred zeptometers. A zeptometer is equal to a billionth of a billionth of a millimeter.
Gian Francesco Giudice, a member of the Theoretical Physics Division at CERN who enjoys lecturing for non-specialist audiences, is an enthusiastic, humorous and reliable guide for this mind-boggling odyssey, providing striking analogies and metaphors to illuminate the abstract concepts of particle physics as well as amusing and revealing anecdotes about the foremost physicists of the 20th century and their work. The result is a reader-friendly cutting-edge insider account of particle physics today, and what we might expect tomorrow. The author weaves together a well-balanced tapestry of story-telling, theory, experimental data, technical facts and speculation.
As a non-physicist who has visited CERN, I found this book compelling, although it did require some effort to read. I learned a great deal but would not claim to master all the details of such a complex subject. The finest scientific minds of the last century were often challenged by the puzzling curveballs that nature has thrown us, and yet they kept coming back for more. The desire to solve these conundrums and to see where they lead us is what keeps research alive.
Gian Francesco Giudice, a member of the Theoretical Physics Division at CERN who enjoys lecturing for non-specialist audiences, is an enthusiastic, humorous and reliable guide for this mind-boggling odyssey, providing striking analogies and metaphors to illuminate the abstract concepts of particle physics as well as amusing and revealing anecdotes about the foremost physicists of the 20th century and their work. The result is a reader-friendly cutting-edge insider account of particle physics today, and what we might expect tomorrow. The author weaves together a well-balanced tapestry of story-telling, theory, experimental data, technical facts and speculation.
As a non-physicist who has visited CERN, I found this book compelling, although it did require some effort to read. I learned a great deal but would not claim to master all the details of such a complex subject. The finest scientific minds of the last century were often challenged by the puzzling curveballs that nature has thrown us, and yet they kept coming back for more. The desire to solve these conundrums and to see where they lead us is what keeps research alive.
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