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shawnwhy's review against another edition
5.0
Fun series of lecture on physics, and whether to trust theory of experimental data.
avinsh10's review
5.0
It's part of our survival instinct to study patterns in nature. This particular trait has led us to ask these important questions and to pursue their answers. And tools such as science & math help us achieve these goals. But, Feynman is also making an interesting point here. He says that "Our main concentration will not be on how clever we are to have found it all out, but on how clever nature is to pay attention to it."
These lectures primarily focus on the characteristics of these laws and how nature follows them. Calling this book "fascinating" is an understatement because it's more like an epiphany.
Another point he emphasizes is how to "science". The scientific methodology asks us to make intuitive guesses & perform rigorous experiments to prove out the ideas. Thorough exercises in reason & logic provides us with a solid foundation, which could be used for improving our lives.
Curiosity sparks the deep yearning to understand oneself & the world. It doesn't always kill the cat.
Regards,
Vinay
P.S.
For those curious creatures out there. I would also recommend the following books.
1. "We Have No Idea: A Guide to the Unknown Universe" by Jorge Cham, Daniel Whiteson
2. "The Quantum Divide: Why Schrodinger's Cat Is Either Dead or Alive" by Christopher C. Gerry, Kimberley M. Bruno
Other recommendations:
1. PBS Spacetime on YouTube channel
2. Podcast: "Jorge and Daniel explain the universe"
3. Podcast "Infinite Monkey Cage"
These lectures primarily focus on the characteristics of these laws and how nature follows them. Calling this book "fascinating" is an understatement because it's more like an epiphany.
Another point he emphasizes is how to "science". The scientific methodology asks us to make intuitive guesses & perform rigorous experiments to prove out the ideas. Thorough exercises in reason & logic provides us with a solid foundation, which could be used for improving our lives.
Curiosity sparks the deep yearning to understand oneself & the world. It doesn't always kill the cat.
Regards,
Vinay
P.S.
For those curious creatures out there. I would also recommend the following books.
1. "We Have No Idea: A Guide to the Unknown Universe" by Jorge Cham, Daniel Whiteson
2. "The Quantum Divide: Why Schrodinger's Cat Is Either Dead or Alive" by Christopher C. Gerry, Kimberley M. Bruno
Other recommendations:
1. PBS Spacetime on YouTube channel
2. Podcast: "Jorge and Daniel explain the universe"
3. Podcast "Infinite Monkey Cage"
masyukun's review against another edition
4.0
Much better than other, more biographical works of his. Guess I never thought of Physics as such a scattershot patchwork of guesses before. He does a good job democratizing it, emphasizing that ideas can come from anywhere, and their value comes only from their agreement with experiment data.
clivemeister's review against another edition
2.0
This was a tough review for me: I mean, Richard Feynman?! The man is a god, really, plus the whole Nobel Prize thing, who am I to criticise? Unfortunately I think this book is showing its age, especially in the writing style. It's more or less a transcription of Feynman speaking his lectures, as captured by the BBC in the 1960s, and unfortunately that doesn't translate terribly well into a writing style.
It's also starting a bunch of physics from (nearly) the beginning, which means that for me, it didn't tell me anything terribly new.
On the other hand, it does give a very different perspective on things like Newton's theory of gravity, which you might not see in many other places. I enjoyed also his complete transparency about how physics, and science in general, is done: you make bold predictions about things in completely new spaces, you test them out, then if they fail you guess at the form of new laws that might explain them. And he's quite clear about the guessing part: great scientists are great guessers. Which makes Prof. Feynman a guesser of interstellar proportions, I think. A true polymath genius, that man. So I feel bad about the 2 stars, but I'm reviewing the book, not the man!
It's also starting a bunch of physics from (nearly) the beginning, which means that for me, it didn't tell me anything terribly new.
On the other hand, it does give a very different perspective on things like Newton's theory of gravity, which you might not see in many other places. I enjoyed also his complete transparency about how physics, and science in general, is done: you make bold predictions about things in completely new spaces, you test them out, then if they fail you guess at the form of new laws that might explain them. And he's quite clear about the guessing part: great scientists are great guessers. Which makes Prof. Feynman a guesser of interstellar proportions, I think. A true polymath genius, that man. So I feel bad about the 2 stars, but I'm reviewing the book, not the man!
twopoint718's review against another edition
5.0
I once had a friend that I was tutoring in physics explain to me that this was her intro physics "textbook". Amazingly, though I was studying physics, I hadn't really been introduced to Richard Feynman in any real way. That Saturday, I sat down with a cup of coffee in my small rooming house kitchen and started reading this book. Feynman is a magician of explanation. On every page I read, Feynman took some concept that I was familiar with and tugged it apart, then with a sly turn deftly snapped it back together in a new form. The explanation that he produced this way was simpler, better, and it was as if he'd dropped that concept to its ground state. A puff of needless complication floats away and he hands you back a pearl of an idea. That's what reading this is like.