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miq33l's review against another edition
4.0
Oerter takes upon himself a grand task of making the Standard Model more understandable for general public. I think he is successful in this undertaking.
The book is written in a clear language with an avoidance of jargon, which makes it accessible. Even though I was familiar with majority of ideas presented, the amount of information contained in this book, particularly regarding particle decays, is sometimes overwhelming.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in modern physics. There is much to be learned from it.
The book is written in a clear language with an avoidance of jargon, which makes it accessible. Even though I was familiar with majority of ideas presented, the amount of information contained in this book, particularly regarding particle decays, is sometimes overwhelming.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in modern physics. There is much to be learned from it.
jameskeates's review against another edition
4.0
A thorough chronological journey through the development of the world's most precisely confirmed scientific theory. I found it interesting to see the history of how the SM developed (my main interest as I had studied the actual science in university, although this was a good refresher of the basic principles, without the maths). Not really a history, not really a text book, but a good over view for the advanced amateur.
banandrew's review against another edition
4.0
Score: 3.5/5
Mixed feelings on this book. I picked it up for obvious reasons---who wouldn't want a casual introduction to the standard model?
Author Robert Oerter tries to write this book in an accessible way, but as you might expect, managing the line between accessibility and rigor in a book on particle physics is tricky, and some parts of the book are better than others.
Early on, when building up some early historical context, Oerter shows you Schrödinger's wave equation ("Just to show you what it looks like, here is the Schrödinger equation for the quantum field, denoted by Ψ"), but doesn't bother to explain the terms, the partial derivatives, or any of the equation's meaning. It leaves you feeling like he has just said "look at this big, scary equation, doesn't it look complicated?"
Another example shortly afterwards: Oerter explains that all probabilities in a given probability space must sum to 1 (of course), then informs you about Max Born's discovery that "the probability [of an electron's location] is equal to the square of the quantum field"---but no explanation is present as to where this came from, how Born went about finding it, or what further implications that relationship has.
Oerter tries a little too hard to inject humor into the book ("You can check Grimaldi's results for yourself. Find a straight-edged object such as a ruler, a pen, or a Republican"), but that doesn't generally detract from the actual content.
Despite these issues, I enjoyed Oerter's writing the further I got into the book. It often didn't have the details I was interested in, but the result was exactly what I wanted: a springboard to go learn more. By the end, I felt I had enough of a rudimentary grasp of the known elementary particles to comfortably dig into more rigorous materials.
The book was published in 2006, before the recent LHC experiments and Higgs boson. Oerter spends a good bit of time explaining what was thought about the Higgs boson, what it could mean if it was found, and what approaches might be tried if the Higgs doesn't exist after all. Even without the last seven years of history, the context is sufficient to provide a much better understanding of recent news.
Recommended for the intended audience: people who know nothing about the Standard Model but are interested!
(As a follow-up, I think I might get one of these.)
Mixed feelings on this book. I picked it up for obvious reasons---who wouldn't want a casual introduction to the standard model?
Author Robert Oerter tries to write this book in an accessible way, but as you might expect, managing the line between accessibility and rigor in a book on particle physics is tricky, and some parts of the book are better than others.
Early on, when building up some early historical context, Oerter shows you Schrödinger's wave equation ("Just to show you what it looks like, here is the Schrödinger equation for the quantum field, denoted by Ψ"), but doesn't bother to explain the terms, the partial derivatives, or any of the equation's meaning. It leaves you feeling like he has just said "look at this big, scary equation, doesn't it look complicated?"
Another example shortly afterwards: Oerter explains that all probabilities in a given probability space must sum to 1 (of course), then informs you about Max Born's discovery that "the probability [of an electron's location] is equal to the square of the quantum field"---but no explanation is present as to where this came from, how Born went about finding it, or what further implications that relationship has.
Oerter tries a little too hard to inject humor into the book ("You can check Grimaldi's results for yourself. Find a straight-edged object such as a ruler, a pen, or a Republican"), but that doesn't generally detract from the actual content.
Despite these issues, I enjoyed Oerter's writing the further I got into the book. It often didn't have the details I was interested in, but the result was exactly what I wanted: a springboard to go learn more. By the end, I felt I had enough of a rudimentary grasp of the known elementary particles to comfortably dig into more rigorous materials.
The book was published in 2006, before the recent LHC experiments and Higgs boson. Oerter spends a good bit of time explaining what was thought about the Higgs boson, what it could mean if it was found, and what approaches might be tried if the Higgs doesn't exist after all. Even without the last seven years of history, the context is sufficient to provide a much better understanding of recent news.
Recommended for the intended audience: people who know nothing about the Standard Model but are interested!
(As a follow-up, I think I might get one of these.)
dikmax's review against another edition
5.0
Interesting reading for anyone who wants to know more about the state of modern Physics. A bit outdated (Higgs particles wasn't confirmed at the time of writing), but still it shows a clear picture of how our world is functions. Also, the book provides short introductions into others competing and complementing theories like Strings Theory and Grand Unified Theory.
antidale's review against another edition
4.0
Lots and lots of physics, mostly particle and quantum stuff that I remember. When I was reading it, so very much of it made sense.
jerald's review against another edition
4.0
Overall, this book serves as a relatively good starting point for understanding the standard model of particle physics. The explanations are generally straightforward, and the author is a great guide into the world of the infinitesimally small. I especially liked his analogy describing special relativity; after reading it, I felt like I finally understood Einstein's theory for the first time. That's not to say this book doesn't have it's flaws. The author sometimes painstakingly points out very obvious things (like how a particular word is pronounced or the ways in which a sphere can be rotated) while simultaneously glossing over extremely difficult concepts at a brisk pace.
Twice in the book, the author makes a quip about a particular group of people. In the second instance, when explaining the fusion reactions taking place in our sun, he cautions the reader not to tell environmentalists about this, presumably because they might have concerns about nuclear power plants (nuclear fission) or might be against the development of nuclear fusion reactors here on Earth. Either way, these statements detract from the content of the book and might needlessly alienate readers.
Having finished the book, I have more questions than answers, which would be true of having completed any introduction into a complex scientific field. This is a great starting point for other, more complex treatments on the subject; I can't wait to read more!
Twice in the book, the author makes a quip about a particular group of people. In the second instance, when explaining the fusion reactions taking place in our sun, he cautions the reader not to tell environmentalists about this, presumably because they might have concerns about nuclear power plants (nuclear fission) or might be against the development of nuclear fusion reactors here on Earth. Either way, these statements detract from the content of the book and might needlessly alienate readers.
Having finished the book, I have more questions than answers, which would be true of having completed any introduction into a complex scientific field. This is a great starting point for other, more complex treatments on the subject; I can't wait to read more!
nutfreenerd's review against another edition
And to think I thought I was done with physics when I took it sophomore year... say hello to quantum mechanics and postmodern American fiction!
balhau's review against another edition
4.0
Well.. This is a very well written book. I decided begin to read this work of Oerter because I was very much interested in a very unkown (to me) part of the physics. It was a mixed surprise. Mr Oerter is a very lucid man, he write in a very straightforward and clear way. It is assertive and imaginative explaining the not so intuitive results. Writting style aside I must confess that the content was not so pleasant at all. The modern theories are very difficult to prove by recurring to evidence as a consequence of the nature of the study itself. Personally, a very interesting point, was to acknowledge the importance of some mathematical abstractions for the purpose of this kind of studies. Things such as mathematical groups, symmetries and so on were put in a very different context than I was used to, was refreshing.
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