A Hole in Texas

infobox Book |
name = A Hole in Texas
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Herman Wouk
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Fiction
publisher = Little, Brown and Company
release_date = April 14, 2004
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardcover)
pages = 288 pages
isbn = ISBN 0-316-52590-1

"A Hole In Texas" is a novel by Herman Wouk. Published in 2004, the book describes the adventures of a high-energy physicist following the surprise announcement that a Chinese physicist (with whom he had a long-ago romance) had discovered the long-sought Higgs boson.

Parts of the plot are based on the aborted Superconducting Super Collider project.

Published by Little, Brown and Company, ISBN 0-316-52590-1.

Literary significance and reception

Kirkus Reviews said that "A Hole In Texas" was "Ingenious. Absolutely ingenious."cite journal|date=February 15, 2004|title=A HOLE IN TEXAS (Book)|journal=Kirkus Reviews|volume=Vol. 72|issue=Issue 4|pages=p154|issn=00426598] Publishers Weekly called it "Occasionally corny but also playful, thoughtful and passionate". cite journal|date=March 22, 2004|title=A HOLE IN TEXAS (Book)|journal=Publishers Weekly|volume=Vol. 251|issue=Issue 12|pages=p60|issn=00000019] The journal Science said that Wouk "accurately depicts science as an often interactive and collegial enterprise", and that the novel offers a "refreshing contrast with the treatments of mad scientists that are so abundant in literature and popular culture."cite journal|last=Pasachoff|first=Jay M|date=OCtober 22, 2004|title=Of Politics and Particle Physics|journal=Science|volume=Vol. 306|issue=Issue 5696|pages=p615|issn=00368075] The review in Nature had some criticism saying that the "scientific explanations are pat and usuallycome in the form of long e-mails that bog down the plot", the discussion of the Chinese people "verge on racism" and the books ending "falls flat".cite journal|last=Brumfiel|first=Geoff|date=June 24, 2004|title=Requiem for a supercollider|journal=Nature|volume=Vol. 429|issue=Issue 6994|pages=p808-809|issn=00280836]

Notes