[torbjorn]

Am I the only one left with a befuddled feeling of missing context when it comes to particle physics? Like what does it mean for dark matter to be axions? "What's a quark?", Etc.

I feel like I have a context for understanding electrons and protons. I have read A Brief History of Time. What do I read next in order to have this article not sound like mumbo jumbo?

[waterhouse]

The first four paragraphs of the Wikipedia page on quarks seem decent: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark

I hadn't heard of axions before, but https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axion and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peccei%E2%80%93Quinn_theory seem to be a starting point.

[vl]

I can’t recommend Feynman’s “QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter” highly enough. It gives description of Quantum Mechanics in simple terms (while math is oversimplified for my taste, still better than other books, where math is too hard).

https://www.amazon.com/QED-Strange-Princeton-Science-Library...

[zarmin]

Sean Carroll's Great Course on Particle Physics (and his other ones) is a really great introduction.

edit: Higgs Boson, Dark Matter/Energy, Time

https://www.thegreatcourses.com/professors/sean-carroll/