(p/b) supersymmetry and beyond // from the higgs boson to the new physics

The epic story of the quest to uncover a fully unified theory of physics, revised to reflect the possible discovery of the Higgs Boson. "Forget body-piercing, dot-coms and bare-naked navels. The next Really Big Thing is supersymmetry: the paradoxical theory that our fundamental understanding of nature can be made dramatically simpler by roughly doubling the number of particles in it and, um, maybe adding four more dimensions. Supersymmetry, or SUSY to adepts, embodies one of the most profound beliefs in the history of physical science: The closer we get to ultimate reality, the more the disparate objects and forces of nature will be revealed as manifestations of the same underlying Ur-principles. [...] by the time you finish this heady and enthusiastic volume, you may feel that your brain has been refolded into eight-dimensional origami. But if SUSY is right, it will patch some gaping holes in the Standard Model, the current consensus notion of how matter and energy work." [Washington Post Book World]