The Perfect Wave: With Neutrinos at the Boundary of Space and Time

When something defies the laws of physics as we understand them, one of two possibilities plays out. Either that something is disproven through rigorous, repeatable experimentation, or the laws of physics are updated to accommodate this new discovery. I daresay very few discoveries have caused as much rewriting of scientific law as the neutrino, an elusive particle that raises more questions than it answers.

In The Perfect Wave, Professor Heinrich Pas undertakes a nigh-impossible challenge: making the science of the neutrino both digestible for the casual reader and palatable as well. The result is one of the most accessible, informative, and flat-out bridge-building science books I’ve read in years.

Undeniably well-versed in the subject, Pas pulls off one hell of a tightrope walk here by using pop culture, humor, and brilliantly concise explanation to give the reader a brief history of particle physics as a whole, before heading into the deeper, choppier waters of string theory, neutrinos, and the mindblowing experiments that compose modern particle physics.

The Perfect Wave is not always the easiest read, but it’s an incredibly worthwhile one. Pas not only brings the reader to the very brink of cutting edge science, but helps you enjoy the view.