The particle hunters

the long version

This is one of the best books about nuclear and particle physics, by one of the scientists who helped develop these interesting, complex, and competitive fields of study. In it, he describes intimate details re the theory of "quarks" --- as well as (in the second edition) details regarding the search for the Higgs boson, which was still undiscovered when the second edition was published, and the then-recent discovery of the "top quark". Written for non-scientists as well as scientists.