As the subtitle indicates, this book covers some fairly broad scientific topics, including some discussion about the history of science and the importance of scientific thinking. A lot of it, however, is more specifically about particle physics and the Large Hadron Collider. It was written in 2011, though, so the discussions here about attempts to find the Higgs Boson (which did happen pretty much as predicted) and the possibility that LHC data could overturn or amend the currently reigning Standard Model of particle physics (which so far hasn't happened) are inevitably somewhat dated now.

Honestly, this book feels kind of all over the place. Sometimes it outlines things on what's intended to be a layman's level, although I think having a little bit of physics knowledge going in does help. In other places, it gets very technical, and, in my experience, going in with a little bit of physics knowledge helps very little in understanding concepts like the Higgs field. At least, it's certainly never helped me. I think no matter how clearly anyone tries to explain some of these things, it's just really not possible to entirely understand it without knowing the right kind of mathematics. I can't say that this is the best stab I've seen anyone take at it, either, or that Randall's prose is especially lucid. She's not bad or anything, but definitely not someone I'm going to hold up as a paragon of good, clear science writing.

She does have a few insightful things to say, and anyone who's especially interested in the specifics of how the LHC works is likely to find her detailed descriptions of its technology and operation useful. But, overall, this volume is kind of dense and unfocused and often not particularly good at getting the author's points across. I feel like there are much better books on these topics out there. ( )

A good explanation of current (as of the time of the book writing) particle physics and its relation to cosmology. I thought I understood this before reading the book, and I did at one level, but there was much new here.

The book does move a bit quick at times, not glossing over concepts or details, but perhaps not providing quite as much time as the intended audience might require. A few more illustrations would have helped also. ( )

An excellent book on scientific thinking in general and particle physics in particular. Much of it is about the LHC, what it is and what it does. The book was published about a year before the LHC announced the discover of the Higgs boson. ( )

A lucid discussion of very difficult scientific concepts. I really learned a lot about the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN and am incredibly impressed with it as a scientific and engineering achievement. ( )

A theoretical physicist explains the Higgs, the LHC, and various other aspects of the Standard Model, supersymmetry, strings, and so forth. The author writes well, but this book directed at lay people is going to be tough going for most lay people. It isn't full of equations, which is a plus for popularized science, but the technical descriptions are still more than most people are likely to want to slog through unless they have a very deepseated love of physics. Discussions of probability and other statistical analyses are good, but again, not likelly to be accessible to many readers. In short, this is a good book for a very limited audience. ( )