Product Description

The Feynman Lectures on Physics: Commemorative Issue, Three Volume Set.

• Feynman's effective classroom style remains intact in these volumes, a valuable work by a remarkable educator.
• The volumes are an edited version of Richard Feynman's lectures, taped and transcribed specifically for the books.
• The three volume commemorative issue is either available hardbound and packaged in a specially designed slipcase, or in a paperbound edition.

This three volume work was originally designed for a two-year introductory physics course given at the California Institute of Technology — a course designed to take advantage of readers' increasing mathematical prowess and to provide a more comprehensive view of modern-day physics. It is a rigorous undertaking that resulted in a classic reference work for anyone interested in physics.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20716 in Books
• Published on: 1970-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 3
• Binding: Paperback
• 1552 pages

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Customer Reviews

Memory of a Lifetime
When I took my sophomore-level physics class in college in the mid-60's, my professor put these Feynman books on reserve in the library. Eventually, looking for anything that could help me with a difficult course, I went into the library to see what Mr. Feynman (of whom I had never heard) had to say.

I was spellbound. It was unimaginable to me that a subject so full of technical detail, formulas and equations, could be brought to life so brilliantly and vividly.

I soon changed my major to math, and I never heard or thought of Richard Feynman again until the Challenger disaster about 20 years later. When President Reagan appointed Feynman to the investigating panel, I said, "Hey! That's the guy who wrote those wonderful Physics books!"

Since then I have learned a lot more about Richard Feynman, and I guess I could say that if I have a hero, he's it. I have also gone back to look at these incomparable physics books again, and they are at least as magnificent as I thought they were in 1966. After decades of reading math and science books, I still believe this set of three books is head and shoulders above ANY textbook that I have seen in ANY subject. (Although, as others have said, it isn't really a textbook. On the other hand, after reading these books, you are likely to ask, "Who the hell needs a texbook?")

Feynman manages to cover the technical and mechanical details of his subject while at the same time conveying a deep and philosophical understanding of the way the physical world works. He shines a dazzling and penetrating floodlight on a subject which is murky to all but the most talented among us.

No praise is too high or too exaggerated for this work. It is one of the great achievements in the history of scientific writing.

One size doesn't fit all
First, on the question of whether the original lectures were a failure. In the April 2005 issue of Physics Today, Matthew Sands writes about the project that resulted in the Feynman Lectures. He disputes the claim that the undergraduates drifted away from Feynman's lectures in large numbers, and explains how Feynman's preface came about, and why he (Sands) finds it unduly negative.

It has always been widely agreed that the Lectures are insufficient as a standalone textbook, and best used as supplemental reading. As can be seen from the reviews here, Feynman's approach appeals to many readers, but falls flat with others. This is not surprising, as different people respond to different ways of explaining physics. As an historical aside, Feynman and Schwinger took such different approaches to developing quantum electrodynamics theory that it wasn't immediately clear that their formulations were even equivalent. Most physicists find Feynman's approach easier to learn, but others find it unsatisfying. People are different. Physicists are different. Even physics students are different. There is not, and will never be, one book that is the best for every reader. The Feynman Lectures are great because they have been so enlightening to so many people, not because they meet the impossible standard of being clear to every reader.

The best science teacher ever?
I hold the opinion that Richard Feynman was the best physics teacher of all times. I keep his three red volumes always at the main position of my bookshelves, aside Dirac's "Principles of Quantum Mechanics" and the Landau-Lifshitz collection. What is it that puts them in a class apart from every other introductory text? A Nobel-prize winner, Giaever, I think, said that he seldom had to reach for other book of physics than Feynman's. On the other hand, the very respected mathematician Gian Carlo Rota gave it a bad review, orienting students to go instead to Halliday-Resnick for help. Perhaps these opposite opinions give us a clue: Feynman's "Lectures" are the sole book to present basic physics as a living subject, as real physics, that thing that researchers slowly build in their day-to-day toil.For the author, as always, strived to rebuild everything almost from scratch, sometimes with great originality. This explains why we never grow tired of it. It explains too why it "lacks" the organization of a text designed solely by pedagogical purposes. It's an asset, rather than a liability. If you are a beginner, use both (Feynman and Halliday-Resnick). In Feynman you'll see the magic and understand the beauty of a career in physics, as in nowhere else.