The unique breed of particle physicists constitutes a community of sophisticated mythmakers—explicators of the nature of matter who forever alter our views of space and time. But who are these people? What is their world really like? Sharon Traweek, a bold and original observer of culture, opens the door to this unusual domain and offers us a glimpse into the inner sanctum.

"Traweek gets inside the heads of physicists… She shows their similarities and difference, how their careers are shaped, how they interact with their colleagues, how they do physics and how their ideas about time and space shape their social structure. Traweek has produced a revealing and intimate look at this exclusive world and its mores." - Los Angeles Times

"Every sensitive observer of contemporary science and technology will want to read this short, compelling description." - Science

"Traweek’s account successfully captures much of the flavour of the high-energy physicist’s way of life… They aspire to reveal the immutable, everlasting laws governing the evolution of the universe ‘outside human space and time’ yet the physicists themselves, only brief visitors to this world, are all too human, children of their cultures in their pride and frailties." - Times Higher Education Supplement

"A groundbreaking work about how modern science functions. As the only anthropologist studying high-energy physics, Traweek brings a unique and valuable perspective to the study of this curious and important modern community." - Technology Review