Cover
Contents
Preface
Prologue: The greatest monument and a road map for a quest
I. Our physical world
Preview of part I
1. Matter and the forces that move it
2. The rise of the classical field
3. Time unified with space
4. The geometry of spacetime
5. The rise and fall and rise of particles
Recap of part I
II. The road to quantum field theory
Preview of part II
1. Getting the best deal: from least time to extremal action
2. Global versus local
3. Enter the quantum
Recap of part II
III. Becoming a quantum field theorist

Preview of part III
1. How to become a quantum field theorist (almost) instantly
2. Origin of forces: range and exchange
3. Attraction or repulsion: a mysterious but all important sign
Recap of part III
IV. A universe of fields
Preview of part IV
1. Everybody is a field: Dirac set the electron free
2. Theoretical physics, like music, starts with harmony but then tries to move on
3. Quantum electrodynamics, perturbation theory, and cultural taboos
4. The road to gauge theory
Recap of part IV
A well-deserved rest

V. Quantum field theory and the four fundamental interactions
Preview of part V
1. Antimatter!
2. Too strong and too mean but ultimately free
3. The weak and the electroweak interactions
Addendum to chapter V.3
4. Grand unification
5. Gravity and curved spacetime
6. Quantum gravity: The Holy Grail of theoretical physics?
Recap of part V
VI. Quantum field theory is more intellectually complete than quantum mechanics
Preview of part VI
1. A question of identity
2. Exclusion, inclusion, and quantum statistics
3. Intellectual completeness
Recap of part VI

Parting comments and some unsolicited advice
Timeline
A short list of mathematical symbols
Bibliography
Index