Subatomic Physics

This review is an edit. I would change the 5 stars to 3 stars, if there were this option. I adopted Subatomic Physics 3rd ed. by Henley and Garcia for my physics course at Illinois for the spring, 2008 semester. The 3rd ed. is an update to the 2nd ed. by Frauenfelder and Henley. The new material accounts for 30 out of some 600 pages. The figures are redrawn, there are now some color photos, but the equations and problems are all from the 2nd edition. The sections on experimental techniques, symmetries and conservation laws, and models are adequate. The section on interactions (1/3 of the text) has major problems. The theoretical treatment is on very shaky ground. Basic quantum mechanics is violated, because advanced quantum mechanics is beyond the scope of the book. For my taste, not a good compromise. Other problems are references useful only to experts, no appendices with constants and particle properties, and no online errata for the all too many typos. Paul T. Debevec

I used this book in an undergraduate nuclear physics course. We studied under a working theoretical physicist who uses quantum field theory pretty much everyday, I suppose. I thought the book was pretty good, and had good physical insights. The math derivations always seemed to be pretty transparent so as not to obscure the physics behind it. The problems seemed a little terse, so the instructor expanded some and added some of his own on the assignments. The book assumes a level of competency in quantum mechanics which may not be there for all readers. Also, I thought that the authors didn't highlight the most important points sufficiently. Nevertheless, I think the book is very good, and is a nice introduction to the subject.