A Hole in Texas

{{short description|Novel by Herman Wouk}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox book

| name = A Hole in Texas

| title_orig =

| translator =

| image = A Hole In Texas.jpg

| caption = First edition

| author = Herman Wouk

| illustrator =

| cover_artist =

| country = United States

| language = English

| series =

| genre =

| publisher = Little, Brown and Company

| release_date = April 14, 2004

| english_release_date =

| media_type = Print (hardcover)

| pages = 288 pages

| isbn = 0-316-52590-1

| dewey= 813/.54 22

| congress= PS3545.O98 H65 2004

| oclc= 53019565

}}

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= 72|issue= 4|pages=154|issn=0042-6598}} 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= 251|issue= 12|pages=60|issn=0000-0019}} 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 |doi=10.1126/science.1106083 |last=Pasachoff |first=Jay M |date=October 22, 2004 |title=Of Politics and Particle Physics |journal=Science |volume=306 |issue= 5696 |pages=615 |s2cid=118083077 |issn=0036-8075}} The review in Nature had some criticism, saying that the "scientific explanations are pat and usually come in the form of long e-mails that bog down the plot", that the discussions of the Chinese people "verge on racism", and that the book's ending "falls flat".{{cite journal| doi=10.1038/429808a |last=Brumfiel |first=Geoff|date=June 24, 2004 |title=Requiem for a supercollider |journal=Nature |volume= 429 |issue= 6994 |pages=808–809 |bibcode=2004Natur.429..808B |issn=0028-0836|doi-access=free }}

Notes