Request both booklet and 700 page review. You might also request other items, such as their summary of experiments. Nuts and bolts numbers on detectors, statistics, kinematics, and of course quantum numbers, masses, and lifetimes of everything. Free!
Techniques for Nuclear and Particle Physics Experiments, W. R. Leo, pb 378p. Nice one-stop reference covering many topics (detectors to electronics to statistics) in an introductory fashion.
Detectors
- [*]Detectors for particle radiation, Konrad Kleinknecht, Cambridge, paperback 233p. Modern, compact. A bit light on calorimetery.
- Experimental Techniques in High-Energy Nuclear and Particle Physics, Ferbel, World Scientific. 700 p. See especially article by James on Monte Carlo, and Amaldi, Fabjan, and Wigmans articles on calorimetry
Statistics
- An Introduction to Error Analysis, J. Taylor, Univ Scientific. Pb 327p.
A good, gentle introduction.
- [*]
Statistics for nulcear and particle physicists, L. Lyons. Cambridge
Low mathematical level, light on theory. Good entry point. Pb, 222 p.
- Probability and statistics in Experimental Physics, B. Roe, Springer
Slightly more sophisticated mathematically. Very solid. Hb, 203 p.
- Statistical Data Analysis, Cowan, Oxford. Slightly broader view, including Bayesian techniques. Pb. 187 p. I've not used it as much as the others, but looks very good to me; probably best 2nd book after Lyons.
Programming
- [*]The Practice of Programming, Brian Kernigan, Rob Pike, AW Pb, 248p. Practical recommendations for programmers. Not much on design.
- Code Complete, Steve McConnell, Microsoft Pb, 807p More of a reference book (good one); includes more backup information on WHY some things recommended. Wordy, clearly.
- Brooks, The Mythical Man Month, pb. On software projects and their travails, and how practices help make them more predictable in outcome.
- The Art of Systems Architecting, Rechtin and Maier, CRC Hb 255p
Design of not just software, but systems including software. A broad view, often from perspective of managing projects.
Electronics
- [*]The Art of Electronics, Horowitz and Hill, Cambridge, 1100p hb. The place to start on almost any electronics topic from transistors to computer buses.
HEP books
Introductory
These are lower level books without full field-theory orientation. Have a look at somebody else's copy before buying--your tastes may have a lot to do with your choices.
- Quarks and leptons : an introductory course in modern particle physics. Francis Halzen, Alan D. Martin, Wiley, 396p. Nice introduction; mostly theoretical. A bit dated in its outlook (1984).
- Introduction to Elementary Particles, D. Griffiths, Wiley, 400p. Very well written introduction (1987). Gets you to doing simple calculations via Feynman diagrams. Not too dated since more theoretically oriented.
- Introduction to High Energy Physics, D. Perkins, AW 462p (1987). Written by an experimentalist, so you see actual data along with the theory. More advanced than Griffiths, but less aimed at theoretical calculation. Not much about hadron colliders in edition I have.
- Modern Elementary Particle Physics, G. Kane. AW, 352p. Modern theoretical outlook, no data or history, but introductory: goes deductively (like E+M from Maxwell eqn's) from Lagrangian to order of magnitude calculations via Feynman diagrams (sometimes with carefully chosen "approximations" so the answer comes out nicely!). (1993). Includes snippets of current topics.
More advanced
- Collider Physics, Barger and Phillips, AW. Pb 600p. Theory and data both--a collider user and practioner's guide written by phenomenologists. The standard reference for working at Fermilab's proton antiproton collider.
- Particle Kinematics, Byckling and Kajante, Books on Demand (Ann Arbor) 319p. $94 If you need full-bore kinematics, this is where you find it--but try the particle data book first.