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colossal 's review for:
The Greatest Story Ever Told—So Far: Why Are We Here?
by Lawrence M. Krauss
I thoroughly enjoyed this look into the development of the Standard Model of particle physics that goes into both the history of the discoveries and what was discovered in enough detail that I was both educated and challenged. I felt the framing conceit detracted from the overall though. The bible is sometimes called "the Greatest Story Ever Told", and Krauss presents this one as both more interesting and relevant. I agree, but it comes off here as arrogant and needlessly offensive, and the frequent bible quotations begin to come across as grating once the science starts really getting underway.
All that being said, this is the most accessible and complete explanation of the Standard Model I've seen that's quite frank about what's still missing in our understanding. You probably want to be at least passingly familiar with some of these concepts before reading though: I felt the book skims over some fundamentals that the author takes for granted (relativistic theory for instance), but a good high school science education should be enough of a prerequisite.
All that being said, this is the most accessible and complete explanation of the Standard Model I've seen that's quite frank about what's still missing in our understanding. You probably want to be at least passingly familiar with some of these concepts before reading though: I felt the book skims over some fundamentals that the author takes for granted (relativistic theory for instance), but a good high school science education should be enough of a prerequisite.