The Great Design

Robert K. Adair is Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics at Yale University. He is the author of Concepts in Physics and (with Earle C. Fowler) Strange Particles.

• Concepts of physics; Invariance and conservation laws; Covariance, scalars, vectors and tensors; The discrete in nature - the atoms of Demokritos; The continuum in nature - Faraday's fields; The nature of space and time - the special theory of relativity; The equivalence principle and the general theory of relativity; The electro-magnetic field - the first unified field theory; The problem of change - the second law of thermodynamics; Quantum mechanics - determinism to probablility; The atom - a quantum laboratory; Fundamental particles and forces - an introduction; Symmetries and conservation laws - CPT; The strong interactions; The weak interactions; Cosmology - the world's beginning and end; Gauge invariance - the unification of fields; To the ultimate theory - through a glass darkly.

' a straightforward, unfussy and well-ordered account of the core concepts of relativistic particle physics.' Nature ' Adair is a long-time outstanding researcher and teacher in the field of particle physics. He has digested many of the seemingly impossible-to-understand concepts for general readers, and has presented these concepts in the book...Excellent illustrations are used throughout. Highly recommended for all libraries.' Choice