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32nd out of 174 books
—
160 voters
The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?
In this extraordinarily accessible and enormously witty book, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Leon Lederman guides us on a fascinating tour of the history of particle physics. The book takes us from the Greeks' earliest scientific observations through Einstein and beyond in an inspiring celebration of human curiosity. It ends with the quest for the Higgs boson, nicknamed...more
Paperback, 448 pages
Published
January 1st 1994
by Delta
(first published 1993)
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May 05, 2008
Jim
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Science fans, those who want to know more about particle physics, anyone with a lively mind.
A very lively, funny, and informative book by Nobel Laureate Leon Lederman. The first part of the book is a vivid and hilarious historical survey of ideas and discoveries in Western physics from the Greeks down to the present day. Having brought you as a reader step by step on this journey, Lederman then opens the door to his own utterly fascinating but little-understood speciality, particle physics. Lederman conveys with excitement and humor what it is like to be one of two or three people in t...more
Lederman provides an entertaining history of physics and much of it is accessible to the general reader. Interestingly, he writes that it takes a grad student at least two years "to develop quantum intuition." This comment bolsters the confidence of the lay reader.
The book leads to the so-called God particle. What gives particles their mass, he asks, and then he answers that "we suspect a field." The Higgs field he writes later, generates all mass. As massless particles (light of various wave l...more
The book leads to the so-called God particle. What gives particles their mass, he asks, and then he answers that "we suspect a field." The Higgs field he writes later, generates all mass. As massless particles (light of various wave l...more
Mi primer acercamiento serio al bosón de Higgs y ha satisfecho mis expectativas.
Me suele pasar que en los de física me gusta más la primera parte dónde sientan las bases de la segunda, dónde supuestamente está el meollo de la cuestión.
En este caso no ha sido una excepción, me ha resultado muy ágil la primera parte dónde desarrolla los hitos, experimentos y descubrimientos más importantes en la historia de la Ciencia que han llevado a la famosa partícula, más si si tenemos en cuenta que Leon Led...more
Me suele pasar que en los de física me gusta más la primera parte dónde sientan las bases de la segunda, dónde supuestamente está el meollo de la cuestión.
En este caso no ha sido una excepción, me ha resultado muy ágil la primera parte dónde desarrolla los hitos, experimentos y descubrimientos más importantes en la historia de la Ciencia que han llevado a la famosa partícula, más si si tenemos en cuenta que Leon Led...more
This book provides an interesting foray into the deep mechanisms of particle physics. Nicknamed 'The Plumber'(due to his preference for experimentation) by Murray Gell-Mann, it is clear from this book that Lederman's work in the 60s and 70s is nothing short of Nobel calibre. This book is fairly dense in terms of physics technicalities, but one can still appreciate the humorous anecdotes throughout.
As generally explained in the book, a neutrino ('little neutral one') is an elementary particle of...more
As generally explained in the book, a neutrino ('little neutral one') is an elementary particle of...more
Far more informational than I had hoped, perhaps even better than all the questions it answered for me was all the new questions it made me think up that weren't answered between its covers; without loading his book down so as to be unwieldy or frightening for the mathophobes, Lederman's managed to get at least this reader enticed to learn more. If only it had a list of other books that are great reads for the couch physicists out there.
Anyway, it's a must-read to round out all that your high sc...more
Anyway, it's a must-read to round out all that your high sc...more
As a history of particle physics, it's pretty good. However, I still had to consult Wikipedia after I read it to find out what the Higgs field is (the point of the book was to tell the story of the quest to prove its existence, upon which all of particle theory rests...), And despite many references to God and Creation, Lederman is still a champion of making science more accessible to the general public. And there's this one great passage where he rips on "The Tao of Physics" and other pseudo-sc...more
I read this book because I wanted to learn about the Higg's boson. The book does talk about this but only at the end, you have, basically, a summary of the major changes in science since 'greek-philosopher times'. It was interesting and funny but a bit long and slow. At one point Lederman is suposed to be having a dream in which Democratus appears and they have a chat that goes on for like 15 pages. I think I was able to understand everything fairly well but there were some points that were a bi...more
The story of particle accelerators and particle physics told in an amusing, entertaining tone by a Nobel-prize laureate. Lederman does a great job stepping the beginner reader through how particle physics started and what its study aims to accomplish, including finding the Higgs boson.
Since the time of the book the SSC was shot down by Congress but the LHC finally made it to realization (albeit with some technical issues to be worked out yet.)
It's a good read if you're into this stuff (and I am....more
Since the time of the book the SSC was shot down by Congress but the LHC finally made it to realization (albeit with some technical issues to be worked out yet.)
It's a good read if you're into this stuff (and I am....more
This was arguably the best popular science book I've read. The titular God Particle, or theoretical Higgs boson, is a recurring character in the book, but the scope is far broader than one yet-to-be-discovered particle. Nobel laureate Lederman tells the story of particle physics from Thales and Democritus up to the as-then-not-yet-aborted Superconducting Supercollider in Waxahachie, TX. He re-envisions the history of physics and chemistry as the quest for the fundamental piece of nature, a quest...more
Jun 28, 2007
Eric
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
individuals interested in discovering an invisible atomic and subatomic world of particles
This book is written in an extremely coherent, informative manner with a touch of intellectual humor and imagination. Not having much of a history with the study of physics, the first time reading through this book, many concepts seem somewhat beyond my grasp of initial comprehension. Although, it touches on nearly every theorist's and experimenter's ideas and results concerning the physical world and it's constituents. I'm still in the process of getting into this book, but for the first few ch...more
Almost gave it five stars - bit weak on the whole Higgs-Boson background but then the book was written 20 years ago.
Dr. Lederman give a brilliant account - mostly from the viewpoint of an experimental (!!) physicist - of the developments around particle physics and managed to finally make me understand the particle/wave duality of photons (no mean feat given limited IQ of the reader - I'm not Finn).
He uses very little math (thank you!) and his anecdotes are memorable ("... asking a theoretical p...more
Dr. Lederman give a brilliant account - mostly from the viewpoint of an experimental (!!) physicist - of the developments around particle physics and managed to finally make me understand the particle/wave duality of photons (no mean feat given limited IQ of the reader - I'm not Finn).
He uses very little math (thank you!) and his anecdotes are memorable ("... asking a theoretical p...more
Really the only thing that irks me are the god references. I like a catchy name as much as anyone, and it really doesn't detract from the content, it's just a pet peeve. Lederman gets in some good cracks against the Tao of Physics/Dancing Wu Li Masters types and gives a solid and pretty unbiased layman's overview of QM, with good humor and no BS. His explanations are clear and fun. If the Higgs Field/Boson is all that interests you and you have some familiarity with QM, you might want to skip so...more
This is the best popular treatment of particle physics I've ever read maybe because I've finally read enough to begin understanding the subject. My only complaint is that the author (who is probably an atheist) insisted on always using the pronouns she/her when referring to God. Other than that the book was very informative and entertaining.
I would not describe Lederman as a Feynman by any means but he is comparable to Simon Singh by way of Brain Green, though I prefer Singh's work simply due to the absence of obnoxious puns and over the top attempts at some form of verb schtick. Overall, it was okay with the amount of information that was easily obtained and ability to comprehend but the writing style was beyond annoying bordering on tedious.
The pursuit of THE GOD PARTICLE. This title may turn off the hard core atheists among us, so let me rephrase: the pursuit of the SINGLE PARTICLE THAT MAKES UP THE ENTIRE EVERYTHING. What? Yes. Wait, what? That is sort of the premise of this book, but in order to get to that point, our authors give us a great 101 of physics, starting with, of course, an ancient Greek and winding all the way up to the present day and the creation of super particle accelerators built to smash already tiny shit into...more
A great account into science from ancient times to present time. With the recent finding of the Higgs Boson I intend to re-read this great work. This account is very humorous and can be understood by those who have next to no mind for science (and I know quite a few of these..lol).
The best nonfiction book I read last year. I just read it again and I am amazed by Leon Lederman's story telling ability. Nobel prize winner, IMSA founder, Fermilab director, Lederman brings it here, into one grand historical story of how physics came to be the way it came to be.
Unquestionalbly the best science book Ive ever read.
Such an easy informative humorous tour through the world of particle physics,a branch of science which
the U.S. was preeminent,but due to underfunding and shortsightedness the preeminence has moved to Europe.
Library Book.
Such an easy informative humorous tour through the world of particle physics,a branch of science which
the U.S. was preeminent,but due to underfunding and shortsightedness the preeminence has moved to Europe.
Library Book.
this was the first, best explanation of the science surrounding the search for the Higgs Boson. If you like to really understand something very complex and deep, Lederman is very good at this. his video lectures are also quite interesting.
Sorry - but I found the humour in this book so annoying that I couldn't get past the first few chapters. I tried this in the nineties and failed. Tried again in 2012 and gave up at the same point - the dialog with Democritus.
Jun 29, 2008
Pablo
added it
I'm really interested in quantum physics (layman's quantum physics), particularly when using the discipline to try to gain a greater understanding of the very fabric of existence and how that begins to approach spirituality. In theory, God Particle has the recipe to satisy this penchant, but I cannot get past Lederman's hokey methods e.g. fabricating a conversation with a Greek philosopher that is supposed to be funny but is actually as entertaining as watching a silent film without picture. Led...more
It's not an easy reading, but Leon Ledderman is a fabulous and funny story teller. He brings to the layman understanding of rhe profound laws that govern the universe. I can't say I got it all, but I surely feel like I understand a bit more what's going on in the world of the very very very small.
30 years ago we thought the atom was the final frontier but today with the quarks and the leptons and the gluons and now Higgs boson the cosmos shows us that there are a lot of strange things going on r...more
30 years ago we thought the atom was the final frontier but today with the quarks and the leptons and the gluons and now Higgs boson the cosmos shows us that there are a lot of strange things going on r...more
With the constant reminders that Lederman wrote this in 1993, the book sometimes dates itself, but ultimately, it's a fun look at the history of physics and the really incredible personalities and research that have come out of it in the mid- to late-20th century. Lederman's humor is sometimes a little too campy (even for me...yeah...it's pretty campy), but it grew on me after a while. By the end, I wouldn't have minded another chapter--always a good sign!--and so if anyone has any suggestions o...more
Leon Lederman is a pip! This book is really fantastic and you don't need a physics degree to appreciate it. He covers a lot of history of advancement in the field and spends a lot of time on quarks since that was big shit when he wrote the book. There's also some cutesy, fun diagrams that paint a really neat picture of the standard model and some geometric classification of every single subatomic particle. But don't be frightened, it's not like a text book at all! At the end of the book, Lederma...more
Highly enjoyable read. The brunt of the book is dedicated to historical advancements in the quest for the a-tom, all building up to the accelerators/colliders in search of quarks and Higgs. A favorable and accessible balance of history, physics, mathematics, and wit to keep the reading light and help await results from the Large Hadron Collider. PS. Texas politicians are Aristotelian #@$%#!
This book is very funny. Leon Lederman has a good sense of humor.
He takes a difficult subject Physic's and makes it very easy to understand.
I give this book 5 stars!
He takes a difficult subject Physic's and makes it very easy to understand.
I give this book 5 stars!
Oct 11, 2010
Rhonda
is currently reading it
I like Lederman's sense of humor. For being a physics book, it's pretty interesting and quite readable. I have used a couple exerpts for reading in my chemistry class.
This book translates tons of bizarre mathematical formulas into series of imaginable metaphors.
What are the odds of having a Nobel Prize winner to hold your hands, explain the universe to you and make you laugh at the same time?
What are the odds of having a Nobel Prize winner to hold your hands, explain the universe to you and make you laugh at the same time?
Anyone who can make particle physics so accessible is a friend of my simple mind. I was particularly taken with the mysticism of the Higgs boson and Lederman's implication that there almost seems to be a force that prevents us from discovering it. His tower of babel analogy and comparison of using particle colliders as the modern tower to reach and see the realm of God was poetic and scary, so I still think about it when I'm falling asleep, or stumble across a news article that mentions particle...more
An excellent guide to particle physics/quantum physics for the layman. I understand the structure of the atom and the history of physics in a way that I did not before. The "God Particle" of the title is the Higgs boson, not a reference to a deity. The biggest drawback to this book is that it is somewhat outdated; it was written in the early 1990's, and predates the cancellation of the Superconducting Supercollider in Texas, and the discovery of the top quark. Lederman is somewhat folksy in his...more
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