Constraints on Construction

If the meanings of these terms are not clear, reading Andrew Pickering's Constructing Quarks: A Sociological History of Particle Physics will make them so. His book provides a lucid introduction to, and a thorough explanation of, the concepts of modern particle physics. But it is much more than that: it is an important, interesting, admirably documented, detailed history of the construction of the 'standard model' presently deployed in high-energy physics [HEP], written in a clear, unpretentious style piqued here and there with wry humour. Only someone with Pickering's technical background - a PhD in theoretical high-energy physics - could have carried out the task he undertook. The historical, sociological and physics components of Pickering's presentation will certainly impress the scientific community - but, as importantly, the book should also be accessible to the interested general reader who is equipped with a 'basic scientific education' and is willing to expend the effort to understand popular scientific writing at the level of the articles to be found in Scientific American. Pickering's exposition is rich in insights and reflects his command of the subject matter. Indicative of this mastery is the dearth of equations to be found in the book. Explanations are never verbal translations of equations. Rather, they depend on analogies and the development of intuitions based on readily visualizable examples. This impressive ability to expound arcane mathematical and physical concepts is but one of the book's achievements. Pickering has also succeeded in making clear the important progress that quarks, gauge theories, quantum chromodynamics (QCD), and grand unified theories (GUTs) represent. In his exposition, he has rightly emphasized how the