High Energy Physics would be fascinating even if it were not constantly in the news but even people with a smattering of Quantum Mechanics and strong quantitative backgrounds in general, such as engineers and applied mathematicians, find the subject impenetrable. The troubles begin upon opening any of the many painstakingly written texts on Quantum Field Theory. It all seems dreadfully contrived, especially the covariance of the formalism, and one can do all the exercises yet still be treading water when attempting to read the latest exciting news from Fermilab or CERN or...<br><br>Give this a try instead: read Griffiths once from cover to cover. Ignore all the excellent footnotes, references and exercises on your first reading.  Work through, line for line, Bjorken and Drell's 1964 "Relativistic Quantum Mechanics". It's readily accessible to the reader described in the first line of this review. You will then have covered a staggering amount of fantastic physics, and not a moment will have been wasted in your pursuit of a grasp of the latest screaming headlines about the Higgs and exotic hadrons. You will also have done a lot of the exquisite mathematical needlepoint that the real hep guys do 24/7.  Continue to graze in Griffiths. Over and over. Read every footnote, try some exercises, snoop around a few of the references. You may surprise yourself: you may even develop a critical streak.<br><br>The SM ? Bring it on.<br><br>Hint: a strange and noisy coffee shop is for me an easier place to concentrate than my quiet study at home.<br><br>Oh. Did I forget to say? This is such a good book.