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Title: A Hole in Texas: A Novel by Herman Wouk ISBN: 0-316-52590-1 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: 14 April, 2004 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.91 (11 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: ALMOST great
Comment: The premise was intriguing, and the first few pages sucked me in immediately. It is nice to read something upbeat with decent, nondisfunctional characters and a happy ending for a change. And there were some good points made about our political processes. I put it down with a smile.
That being said, the middle dragged,and the characters, except for the late-appearing female Chinese scientist, were appealing but not really interesting.
As a science fan, I was very disappointed that the book was not better. If it had achieved its potential, perhaps there would be hope to revive the SSC after all....
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent characters make good literature!
Comment: A Hole in Texas his first book in a long time, and it is apparent that Mr. Wouk was motivated by/consulting with his scientist son.
As expected from an author of his stature, there is a hefty helping of unusual words and references to literature. But this book also blends in mystery, national security, Hollywood extravagance, politics, and cross-society naiveté.
His theme is that the Chinese have succeeded in finding the theoretical Higgs Particle while the US was "sleeping." The unifying plot element involved placing blame for "killing" the Superconducting Supercollider and the resultant ceding of US dominance in Particle Physics (although there is no guarantee that the Superconducting Supercollider in Texas would have actually "discovered" the Higgs Particle).
What is really done well is the attention to detail that Mr. Wouk gives his characters. For instance, a corporate jet is made available to the lead character and he has to look around the rest room to find the "hidden" toilet. Heck, most literature does not even mention characters visiting the rest room.
Most readers will not have a good set of pre-arranged expectations for a particle physicist, and the book is not terribly long, so the author wisely falls back on middleclass family life as the basic relationship between his main character and the reader. His characters are truly 3-Dimensional -- and several are "retro" (like an aging CongressWoman who converses with her dead husband... and a wife who slouches into a "SuperMom," juggling career and family because she does not believe that her husband can cope with these details). The characters have plenty of realistic flaws but, as in real life, they mostly stumble ahead in spite of themselves.
Mr. Wouk takes it upon himself to educate readers on cutting edge science, mostly using traditional two person dialog (S. Holmes and Dr. Watson style) but mixing in letters and e-mails for added precision. He also finds time to chastise the US Congress for shortsightedness and lack of collective memory. A Hole in Texas is not written to be an action movie and -- I am glad to report -- in the end, most characters emerge happier.
Liberal Americans will read this book if they like to be entertained while improving their vocabulary and getting a better understanding of their world. Conservative Americans will read this book if they like to be entertained while gaining a better idea of the power structure in the Congress as it relates to Science funding. Non-Americans will read this book if they like to be entertained while identifying some peculiar American quirks and seeing how Big American Science relates to science in the rest of the world. Literature buffs should probably re-read The Caine Mutiny.
For the record, the existance of the Higgs Particle is still merely theoretical. Physicists are still pondering whether such a contrived mathematical device might actually exist, and the energy required to "create" it in a laboratory is probably out of our reach for the near future. The approach used by the Chinese in this book (Atmospheric monitoring for Cosmic Ray interactions) is probably our best bet near-term for science to detect any ultra-massive particles like the Higgs and/or microscopic Black Holes, either of which would inform science tremendously as to the role of gravitation among the other 3 known forces of nature.
Rating: 4
Summary: Wouk Has Done it Again!
Comment: Herman Wouk continues to amaze. For decades he has been getting the relationship between men and women exactly right. It was not the clever plot that intrigued me nearly as much as the wonderful scenes between husband and wife...and the cats were pretty true to life too!
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Title: Avenger by Frederick Forsyth ISBN: 0312319517 Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books Pub. Date: 30 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Absolute Friends by John le Carre ISBN: 0316000647 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: 12 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: A Death in Vienna by Daniel Silva ISBN: 0399151435 Publisher: Putnam Pub Group Pub. Date: 23 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Reckless Abandon by Stuart Woods ISBN: 0399151516 Publisher: Penguin USA Pub. Date: 12 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow ISBN: 1594200092 Publisher: The Penguin Press Pub. Date: 26 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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