The last few years have seen particular excitement in particle physics,
culminating in the experimental confirmation of the W and Z particles.
Ian Kenyon, who was involved in the UA1 experiment at CERN that searched
for the particles, provides an introduction to particle physics and
takes a refreshingly non-historical approach. The aim of the book has
been to concentrate on the 'standard model' and the gauge symmetries
because these form the core of the subject. Leptons, quarks and forces
are introduced at the beginning. After this introduction the gauge
theories are dealt with in order of increasing complexity. Attention is
then focussed on the hadrons - deep inelastic scattering of hadrons,
then hadron spectroscopy and finally hadron interactions. Current
developments beyond the standard model appear in the last chapter.