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Higgs Force
Higgs Force tells the incredible story of the most important scientific discovery of the past 50 years. It begins with the ideas of the Greek philosophers over two thousand years ago, and takes us on a journey through many of the most important scientific discoveries in history before bringing us right up to date with the discovery of the Higgs particle in July 2012.
- GenresSciencePhysicsNonfiction
440 pages, Paperback
First published May 13, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 13, 2016
This is a very good updated book on the standar model of the fundamental interactions and particle physics,is excelent for those that dont have any scientific background,there is not any mathematical expresion in the book,yet have very clear explanations.
Tells very clearly, with the main contributors,the history of the physics and in part chemistry till the qantum field theory and the attempts of the explain the strong nuclear interaction by the quarks and the succes of the quantum electrodinamics and its final unification with the weak force ,in this final unification plays a important role the Higgs boson particle and the spontaneus simetry breaking by the Higgs field.
Explains very well the spontaneus simetry breaking using analogies with phase transitions as for exanple the magnetization below critical tamperature,freezing of the water or transition to superconductor state as another example.
The book also tells the history of particle acelerators till the most powerful large hadron collider LHC ruled by european CERN and the discovery of the Higgs boson particle by this accelerator, the bigest human made machine in the world.The book also emphatices the importance of the almost unknown by the people weak interaction as fundamental and neccesary in the nucleosintesis in the stars.
Has a final appendice where more deeply explains Landau theory of spontaneous simetry breaking and the getting mass by particles in coupling with the the Higgs field.
A excelent book strongly recomended for those without scientific background that would like know the ultimate known working of the physical laws of nature.
That ones that want have a deep knowledge of this subject i would reccomend the awesome book "Deep Down Things" by Schumm,in this book explains at a higher but yet popular level the inner work of the quantum fields,its inner Lie gauge groups invariance and the Noethers theorem that relates the invariance of the lagrangian of the fields under that gauge groups and conserved currents or charges,as for example the conservation of the electric charge
Tells very clearly, with the main contributors,the history of the physics and in part chemistry till the qantum field theory and the attempts of the explain the strong nuclear interaction by the quarks and the succes of the quantum electrodinamics and its final unification with the weak force ,in this final unification plays a important role the Higgs boson particle and the spontaneus simetry breaking by the Higgs field.
Explains very well the spontaneus simetry breaking using analogies with phase transitions as for exanple the magnetization below critical tamperature,freezing of the water or transition to superconductor state as another example.
The book also tells the history of particle acelerators till the most powerful large hadron collider LHC ruled by european CERN and the discovery of the Higgs boson particle by this accelerator, the bigest human made machine in the world.The book also emphatices the importance of the almost unknown by the people weak interaction as fundamental and neccesary in the nucleosintesis in the stars.
Has a final appendice where more deeply explains Landau theory of spontaneous simetry breaking and the getting mass by particles in coupling with the the Higgs field.
A excelent book strongly recomended for those without scientific background that would like know the ultimate known working of the physical laws of nature.
That ones that want have a deep knowledge of this subject i would reccomend the awesome book "Deep Down Things" by Schumm,in this book explains at a higher but yet popular level the inner work of the quantum fields,its inner Lie gauge groups invariance and the Noethers theorem that relates the invariance of the lagrangian of the fields under that gauge groups and conserved currents or charges,as for example the conservation of the electric charge
October 19, 2019
It looks like Nicholas Mee only waited for the announcement of the detection of Higgs particle before publishing the book. He brings the concept of the Higgs field and the experiment to detect the particle almost at the end of the book. Major parts of the book discuss the concepts that lead to the discovery, starting with our understanding of the universe from Plato.
What is most interesting is the Nicholas' choice of important milestones from Kepler's inspiration from snowflakes to describe the arrangement of atoms to symmetry breaking in superconductors, to tell the story of the most important discovery in the last few decades. I don't think there is a better way to tell the story of the Higgs particle and explain the symmetry breaking of the electroweak theory for the general audience. I could read the first 100 pages of the book 100 times as I find nothing more fascinating than mankind's journey to unlock the mysteries of nature.
Despite the depth and complexity of some concepts, Nicholas's treatment of the subject made it a joy to read. He starts by asking what it means when physicists say 'the symmetry is broken' or what do they mean by 'symmetry' and further explains the importance and role of symmetry in most of the important scientific discoveries. He uses this recurring theme to demonstrate how symmetry in our imagination helped us understand nature while in reality nature keeps breaking it.
It makes me wonder if perfect symmetry exists only in our imagination is this the reason for our existence?
What is most interesting is the Nicholas' choice of important milestones from Kepler's inspiration from snowflakes to describe the arrangement of atoms to symmetry breaking in superconductors, to tell the story of the most important discovery in the last few decades. I don't think there is a better way to tell the story of the Higgs particle and explain the symmetry breaking of the electroweak theory for the general audience. I could read the first 100 pages of the book 100 times as I find nothing more fascinating than mankind's journey to unlock the mysteries of nature.
Despite the depth and complexity of some concepts, Nicholas's treatment of the subject made it a joy to read. He starts by asking what it means when physicists say 'the symmetry is broken' or what do they mean by 'symmetry' and further explains the importance and role of symmetry in most of the important scientific discoveries. He uses this recurring theme to demonstrate how symmetry in our imagination helped us understand nature while in reality nature keeps breaking it.
It makes me wonder if perfect symmetry exists only in our imagination is this the reason for our existence?
September 23, 2017
Incredible. Simultaneously accessible and challenging. I feel very inspired to become a particle physicist now.
June 11, 2013
Opening sentences: One hundred metres beneath the ground on the outskirts of Geneva, two protons slam into each other in a mighty collision. The tremendous release of energy produces a new particle, the Higgs, unseen since the very earliest moments of the Universe.
Memorable sentence: Although some of the concepts of modern physics may be strange and even shocking, it is possible to express them in ordinary language, as I intend to demonstrate.
That's the very challenge which author Nick Mee then sets out to meet - and, for my money, he succeeds. I'm no scientist - failed each of my chemistry, physics and biology O-Levels abysmally. Barely managed to scrape through maths. But I am fascinated by science, by the need to understand - at least at a basic level - what makes the sky blue, the grass green, the planets revolve around each other and, indeed, what holds the universe together. And Higgs Force had brought me closer to that understanding in a way that no other "popular science" book has been able since Carl Sagan.
At one level, it's a Bronowski-like historical account of the steps humanity has taken since the time of the Ancient Greeks to get to grips with science and nature, and the giants who made those discoveries... Euclid's Elements, Plato's Timaeus, Newton's Principia, Gilbert's De Magnete, etc. At the same time, the explanation of those discoveries helps us, through Nick Mee's imaginative use of simple English, to build a model of the universe in our heads with all of its constituent parts and their scale. We might all understand that matter is composed of atoms, but did we realise that "one hundred million carbon atoms in a line would stretch a distance of just two centimetres"? By the end, I even understood (a little) what "quantum mechanics" actually means - simply the way in which elementary particles interact.
I understood too that there are two basic categories of elementary particle - the Fermions (including protons and electrons) from which all matter is composed, and the Bosons (including photons) that pass between other particles to produce physical forces like electro-magnetism and thus gravity, etc.
Which brings us to the Higgs Boson. Named after Peter Higgs (born Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, 1929) who calculated that "space" could not be the empty void that we all imagine but must, in fact, be filled with its own force, a "cosmic superconductor" (don't worry, Nick explains superconductors too!).
Nice theory, but how to prove it? And thus the author brings us, at last, to Switzerland, to CERN, and the Large Hadron Collider. But had the "God particle" really been discovered?
The big day finally arrived on 4 July 2012. With excitement mounting, at the end of the two-hour long talks, Director General Rolf Heuer summed up with the words: 'If I was a layman, I would say I think we have it - you agree?', and the lecture theatre erupted with cheers and rapturous applause. Peter Higgs, who was in the audience, took off his glasses and appeared to brush away a tear.
Who knows? If Nick Mee had been my science teacher, there might have been hope for those O-Levels after all! There was an added bonus with the book too since, when my ordered copy arrived, it was signed by the author himself. Nice touch! And the message inside? May the Force be with you! said Nicholas Mee. Thanks, Nick. Great book!
Memorable sentence: Although some of the concepts of modern physics may be strange and even shocking, it is possible to express them in ordinary language, as I intend to demonstrate.
That's the very challenge which author Nick Mee then sets out to meet - and, for my money, he succeeds. I'm no scientist - failed each of my chemistry, physics and biology O-Levels abysmally. Barely managed to scrape through maths. But I am fascinated by science, by the need to understand - at least at a basic level - what makes the sky blue, the grass green, the planets revolve around each other and, indeed, what holds the universe together. And Higgs Force had brought me closer to that understanding in a way that no other "popular science" book has been able since Carl Sagan.
At one level, it's a Bronowski-like historical account of the steps humanity has taken since the time of the Ancient Greeks to get to grips with science and nature, and the giants who made those discoveries... Euclid's Elements, Plato's Timaeus, Newton's Principia, Gilbert's De Magnete, etc. At the same time, the explanation of those discoveries helps us, through Nick Mee's imaginative use of simple English, to build a model of the universe in our heads with all of its constituent parts and their scale. We might all understand that matter is composed of atoms, but did we realise that "one hundred million carbon atoms in a line would stretch a distance of just two centimetres"? By the end, I even understood (a little) what "quantum mechanics" actually means - simply the way in which elementary particles interact.
I understood too that there are two basic categories of elementary particle - the Fermions (including protons and electrons) from which all matter is composed, and the Bosons (including photons) that pass between other particles to produce physical forces like electro-magnetism and thus gravity, etc.
Which brings us to the Higgs Boson. Named after Peter Higgs (born Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, 1929) who calculated that "space" could not be the empty void that we all imagine but must, in fact, be filled with its own force, a "cosmic superconductor" (don't worry, Nick explains superconductors too!).
Nice theory, but how to prove it? And thus the author brings us, at last, to Switzerland, to CERN, and the Large Hadron Collider. But had the "God particle" really been discovered?
The big day finally arrived on 4 July 2012. With excitement mounting, at the end of the two-hour long talks, Director General Rolf Heuer summed up with the words: 'If I was a layman, I would say I think we have it - you agree?', and the lecture theatre erupted with cheers and rapturous applause. Peter Higgs, who was in the audience, took off his glasses and appeared to brush away a tear.
Who knows? If Nick Mee had been my science teacher, there might have been hope for those O-Levels after all! There was an added bonus with the book too since, when my ordered copy arrived, it was signed by the author himself. Nice touch! And the message inside? May the Force be with you! said Nicholas Mee. Thanks, Nick. Great book!
May 28, 2015
There are plenty of books about the hunt for the Higgs boson, most notably Jim Baggott's excellent Higgs, so at first sight, Higgs Force, might seem to be more of the same, but in a couple of areas it is unparalleled in anything I've read in the field.
Where Higgs is very much the story of the hunt with a bit of physics thrown in, Higgs Force takes us on a journey through our developing understanding of the nature of the components of the universe, putting the eventual origin and significance of the Higgs field (and boson) into context.
It's not perfect, by any means, and I was on course to give it four stars rather than five. This is because it has a tendency to concentrate on the bit of the history of science that fit the picture that is being developed, and rather skims over, or even slightly distorts, those that don’t. A good example is the description of Dirac’s relativistic equation for the electron, and his prediction of the positron. The book gives the impression that Dirac stared into the fire for an evening then came up with the whole thing, which misses out a whole lot of duplication of other people’s work and near misses. But more importantly, this book is very much focused on the importance of symmetry and suggests that Dirac’s equation predicted the positron through symmetry considerations. In fact the equation predicted negative energy electrons, which brought Dirac to his outrageously bold suggestion of the negative energy sea, which is anything but symmetrical, and then to the idea that there could be holes in the negative energy sea which could be interpreted as positrons. A very different chain of thought.
However, the reason I eventually overlooked these foibles is that this book fills in the gaps that Higgs misses. In the review for that book I complained 'Like every other book I’ve read on the subject it falls down on making the linkage between the mathematics of symmetry and the particle physics comprehensible.' Although there a few bumpy moments (and I wish the author had given more detail on symmetry groups, which he never actually names) I would say that Nicholas Mee has achieved the impossible, and made a generally clear and (relatively) easy to follow explanation of the significance of symmetry and symmetry breaking that I'd say no one else has really managed. This is an extremely impressive feat. It leaves the description he gives of the various particle accelerators and the actual discover of the Higgs particle feeling rather flat - the book could easily lose a chunk of that, because by comparison it is mundane.
There's one other section where this book absolutely hits the spot: in its description of Feynman diagrams. Many books cover these, and show how they represent, say, the interaction of a photon and an electron - but Higgs Force has by far the best description of Feynman diagrams I’ve ever seen in a popular science book, properly explaining the interface between the diagram and the associated calculations, which is brilliant, and again pretty well unique.
So not a uniformly brilliant book (I also question the relevance of putting puzzles for the reader in a book like this), but where Mee does hit the spot, he achieves a remarkable ability to communicate complexity, and never more so than the fundamental aspect of symmetry and how it has shaped modern particle physics.
Where Higgs is very much the story of the hunt with a bit of physics thrown in, Higgs Force takes us on a journey through our developing understanding of the nature of the components of the universe, putting the eventual origin and significance of the Higgs field (and boson) into context.
It's not perfect, by any means, and I was on course to give it four stars rather than five. This is because it has a tendency to concentrate on the bit of the history of science that fit the picture that is being developed, and rather skims over, or even slightly distorts, those that don’t. A good example is the description of Dirac’s relativistic equation for the electron, and his prediction of the positron. The book gives the impression that Dirac stared into the fire for an evening then came up with the whole thing, which misses out a whole lot of duplication of other people’s work and near misses. But more importantly, this book is very much focused on the importance of symmetry and suggests that Dirac’s equation predicted the positron through symmetry considerations. In fact the equation predicted negative energy electrons, which brought Dirac to his outrageously bold suggestion of the negative energy sea, which is anything but symmetrical, and then to the idea that there could be holes in the negative energy sea which could be interpreted as positrons. A very different chain of thought.
However, the reason I eventually overlooked these foibles is that this book fills in the gaps that Higgs misses. In the review for that book I complained 'Like every other book I’ve read on the subject it falls down on making the linkage between the mathematics of symmetry and the particle physics comprehensible.' Although there a few bumpy moments (and I wish the author had given more detail on symmetry groups, which he never actually names) I would say that Nicholas Mee has achieved the impossible, and made a generally clear and (relatively) easy to follow explanation of the significance of symmetry and symmetry breaking that I'd say no one else has really managed. This is an extremely impressive feat. It leaves the description he gives of the various particle accelerators and the actual discover of the Higgs particle feeling rather flat - the book could easily lose a chunk of that, because by comparison it is mundane.
There's one other section where this book absolutely hits the spot: in its description of Feynman diagrams. Many books cover these, and show how they represent, say, the interaction of a photon and an electron - but Higgs Force has by far the best description of Feynman diagrams I’ve ever seen in a popular science book, properly explaining the interface between the diagram and the associated calculations, which is brilliant, and again pretty well unique.
So not a uniformly brilliant book (I also question the relevance of putting puzzles for the reader in a book like this), but where Mee does hit the spot, he achieves a remarkable ability to communicate complexity, and never more so than the fundamental aspect of symmetry and how it has shaped modern particle physics.
August 4, 2014
I very much enjoyed reading this book. The title is arguably a little deceptive in that the Higgs force only comes into its own in the closing chapters of the book. However, the earlier chapters slowly build up to this crescendo with comprehensible, non-mathematical accounts of quantum theory, cosmology, particle physics, the Standard Model, superconductivity and the Large Hadron Collider. And throughout there is an emphasis on the importance of symmetry, which is intended to lead the reader towards the role that the Higgs plays in breaking the symmetry of the electroweak force.
Nonetheless, I found that Mee's explanation of how the Higgs force breaks symmetry and thus gives mass to elementary particles was harder to understand than much of what had gone before in the book. However, I've now read several non-specialist books on this subject, as well as trying to delve deeper behind the scenes, and I've come to recognise that there is no middle ground when it comes to describing how the Higgs mechanism gives mass to particles. At one extreme there is the over-simplified (and inaccurate) sort of answer, along the lines that the Higgs field selectively slows particles down by impeding their movement, effectively increasing their mass. At the other extreme are highly mathematical accounts which refer to scaler fields and symmetry breaking. Mee does a great job of trying to find the centre ground but I feel that it is an unattainable goal through no fault of his. I'm concluding that those of us who are not mathematical physicists just have to accept what the Higgs force does without understanding too deeply how it does it.
Overall, this is a great book and I recommend it as a good introduction to the fascinating world of subatomic physics, including the Higgs mechanism.
Nonetheless, I found that Mee's explanation of how the Higgs force breaks symmetry and thus gives mass to elementary particles was harder to understand than much of what had gone before in the book. However, I've now read several non-specialist books on this subject, as well as trying to delve deeper behind the scenes, and I've come to recognise that there is no middle ground when it comes to describing how the Higgs mechanism gives mass to particles. At one extreme there is the over-simplified (and inaccurate) sort of answer, along the lines that the Higgs field selectively slows particles down by impeding their movement, effectively increasing their mass. At the other extreme are highly mathematical accounts which refer to scaler fields and symmetry breaking. Mee does a great job of trying to find the centre ground but I feel that it is an unattainable goal through no fault of his. I'm concluding that those of us who are not mathematical physicists just have to accept what the Higgs force does without understanding too deeply how it does it.
Overall, this is a great book and I recommend it as a good introduction to the fascinating world of subatomic physics, including the Higgs mechanism.
January 10, 2025
A good book providing a potted history of some of the key concepts (eg. matter, forces, symmetry) in physics leading up to the theoretical prediction and then the experimental discovery of the Higgs boson. The focus of the book is on symmetries and how these are crucial for understanding physics.
It's a perfectly good account but I found myself, as with other such books I've read, struggling to understand concepts like symmetry breaking. The language used here (and in other expositions I've read) is too analogical for me - it doesn't feel like a solid explanation, more like a "think of it like this..." analogy. I'm left feeling like I've been brushed off by the physicists who think (perhaps correctly) that lay readers like me won't be able to understand the real explanations and hence have to be communicated to with analogies.
Definitely worth a read, but bear in mind that you might not feel like you have really gained an understanding.
February 5, 2022
I have read a myriad of physics books over the past year and this has been by far the most enlightening. Although the main focus of the book is seemingly on the Higgs force , Nicholas Mee manages to cover a vast chunk of physics as he leads you to the discovery of the Higgs boson. The book doesn't bore you at all. It's highly interactive and includes variety, from puzzles ,to Feynman diagrams for visuals, and the mathematics behind it all.
I would not recommend this book to anyone with a complete lack of background knowledge in physics as it may be confusing and overcomplicated. However, that does not mean it is reserved for people who are at a degree level or above. I would highly recommend this book to those who already have an interest in physics, and have some form of background knowledge as the engaging nature of the text really allows you to absorb information like a sponge.
I would not recommend this book to anyone with a complete lack of background knowledge in physics as it may be confusing and overcomplicated. However, that does not mean it is reserved for people who are at a degree level or above. I would highly recommend this book to those who already have an interest in physics, and have some form of background knowledge as the engaging nature of the text really allows you to absorb information like a sponge.
July 5, 2021
Reading this book felt like listening to an harmonious melody.
The explanations where accessible and the understanding of the implications of the breakthroughs are astonishing.
I wish my science classes where more like this, because you get to understand and the fascination from topics that are usually for a 'selected group'.
The building of the book is just perfect. Higgs appears in the last chapters, but in that point you already have the necessary foundations to incorporate the concept.
The explanations where accessible and the understanding of the implications of the breakthroughs are astonishing.
I wish my science classes where more like this, because you get to understand and the fascination from topics that are usually for a 'selected group'.
The building of the book is just perfect. Higgs appears in the last chapters, but in that point you already have the necessary foundations to incorporate the concept.
September 10, 2018
Engrossing read about the history, origins and relevance of the Higgs Boson. With it comes a background of the wider topics such as quantum and particle physics. Lost me at times but overall gave me a deeper understanding of particle physics and also very revealingly how scientists go about actually finding new particles and what the work looks like. Certainly worth a read.
October 15, 2019
This book made me feel both incredibly smart and incredibly dumb simultaneously, which is exactly what I need in a book.
July 15, 2015
Fantastic book!!
This book starts with the ancient greeks and walks you through all the relevant science - chemistry, physics, quantum mech, particle physics and so on - right up to today, but without losing you in maths or the other complexities of the subject.
Much of it was material I'd read before in say 'the fly in the cathedral' or 'the strangest man' but here it was all presented clearly, concisely but largely in laymans terms. The sections on the early greats like Faraday were fascinating. The final chapters on the race to build the most powerful particle accelerator dealt as much with the people and social climate as with the science which was very interesting to read about. And of course the discovery itself, and what it means, was all laid out clearly and again without recourse to jargon or maths.
This was one of those books which had me frequently amazed, or turning to my fiancee and saying "wow did you know that...." . A thoroughly enjoyable read.
This book starts with the ancient greeks and walks you through all the relevant science - chemistry, physics, quantum mech, particle physics and so on - right up to today, but without losing you in maths or the other complexities of the subject.
Much of it was material I'd read before in say 'the fly in the cathedral' or 'the strangest man' but here it was all presented clearly, concisely but largely in laymans terms. The sections on the early greats like Faraday were fascinating. The final chapters on the race to build the most powerful particle accelerator dealt as much with the people and social climate as with the science which was very interesting to read about. And of course the discovery itself, and what it means, was all laid out clearly and again without recourse to jargon or maths.
This was one of those books which had me frequently amazed, or turning to my fiancee and saying "wow did you know that...." . A thoroughly enjoyable read.
June 17, 2013
"Higgs Force" is a brilliant guide to understand the building blocks of our universe, using an enjoyable and intense narrative to tell the journey through philosophy, chemistry and physic that culminated in the Standard Model of particle physics. It masterfully, and with the general public in mind, describes how the electromagnetic, weak and strong forces interact with the basic particles and why Symmetry does matter. Nevertheless, the title can be misleading because the Higgs itself isn't cover with the depth and helpful analogies of the other topics.
April 19, 2014
I read this particular book on the higgs because it was new enough to present the experiment actually discovering the particle. Mee does a very good job reavealing the nature of the higgs force and the role it plays in the electroweak force, and that combined force in its importance for providing the necessary ingrredient in not only in one form of radioactive decay, but providing for important aspects of atoms as a whole.
April 18, 2015
Good overview of the history leading up to Higgs. Not technical in its approach, but suffers a bit from generalising difficult topics. It tries hard to explain the importance of symmetry and some of the examples given are excellent. I was not left with as clear an understanding as I would like, but that does not mean it wasn't a great attempt. The failing could easily be mine. Good, enjoyable, read. Similar but briefer than the Quantum Story.
July 27, 2013
A very well written and accessible account of extremely complex subject matter.
March 9, 2014
really good summary of the progress in particle physics over the last century.
December 27, 2014
Left much of the Weak Force out of the picture - particles decay would be an important aspect to the existing contents of the book
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews