The Hunting of the Quark: A True Story of Modern Physics (Touchstone Book)

By Michael Riordan, previously coauthor of Solar Home Book and, as of 1987, affiliated with Stanford's Linear Accelerator Center. ISBN 0671648845. From Library Journal: "During the 1960s and 70s the "Standard Model" theory of elementary particles was developed and was supported by experimental findings; the theory involves quarks, entities at the sub-nuclear level which carry fractional electrical charges and which cannot be isolated from the complex of particles in which they exist. Riordan, an experimentalist involved in the quark "hunt," tells the story colorfully, with many brief sketches of the personalities involved. An excellent book to show lay readers the drama and the disappointments of life on a research frontier."