A Hole in Texas

A Novel

By: Herman Wouk

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

With this rollicking novel hailed equally for its satiric bite, its lightly borne scientific savvy, and its tender compassion for foible-prone humanity, one of America's preeminent storytellers returns to fiction.

Guy Carpenter is a regular guy, a family man, an obscure NASA scientist, when he is jolted out of his quiet life and summoned to the corridors of power in Washington, D.C. Through a turn of events as unlikely as it is inevitable, Guy finds himself compromised by scandal and romance, hounded by Hollywood, and agonizingly alone at the white-hot center of a firestorm ignited as three potent forces of American culture -- politics, big science, and the media -- spectacularly collide.

WOW - Wouk fills the hole with quite a tale

This is a great story about the super collider that was supposed to happen in TX. If you don't know about it, you should. If you remember it, you will find this story filled with classic Wouk tales of intrigue, passion and life.

Good book for young innovative pioneers

I have to respectfully disagree with the current reviewers. As a person interested in physics, and concerned about how projects of this nature are funded, I found this an interesting book that should appeal to young adults exiting the 9th grade level. It contained a good mixture of scientific language, political wrangling for funds, and a touch of playful romantic manipulation with a minor hint of a thriller. All theses are components of the real world that play heavily on the international and political stage. Shows that good ideas don't achieve maturity for a variety of reasons. It implies you can endure some setbacks and still move forward in pursuit of the ultimate goal. It gives a young person a hint as to why countries like USA fall behind and then have to play catchup. Good book, well written and narrated for the individuals destined to shape our future.

Outstanding in every way

Herman Wouk is a master of the English Language and his story about scientists and politicians and the Superconducting Supercollider rings completely true.

Reads like Wolfe, Franzen

A decidedly early-2000s novel, Wouk explores the repercussions of a greedy Congress stripping away our National Interests and the cruel empires that rise to power when we are caught sleeping on the Future of science and technology.

BOOOORING!

My wife and I are Wouk fans, so we were looking forward to listening to this for our long drive over Memorial Day weekend. We got about 2 1/2 hours into it before we gave up. If you want more excitement, go home and clean your miniblinds, or wash out your furnace filters. This book may be unsafe to listen to while driving down the road as we did--you might fall asleep and run over someone. If you're lucky, you might hit the book editor, or perhaps the person from Publisher's Weekly who inexplicably described the book as "Playful, thoughtful, and passionate". The idea for the book wasn't bad, but, like a luxury car with four flat tires, it never gets going anywhere.