Best coverage of Newtonian Gravity and Feynman is always readable

books:


	• The Character of Physical Law (Modern Library) Richard Feynman Modern Library, 1994 - 192 pages average customer review:based on 28 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Best coverage of Newtonian Gravity and Feynman is always readable

This is not one of the most popular Feynman books you can get but it is a short introduction to physics along with Feynman's way of helping people to learn about it. While I wouldn't have this on my list of first Feynman books to get (or physics books for that matter) if you do find it and have an interest in physics then by all means, pick it up.

The book is a collection of Lectures Feynman made. He deals with seven topics in fewer than 200 pages. The topics are.

1) Gravitation
2) Mathematics and physics
3) The conservation of energy
4) Symmetry
5) The arrow of time
6) Quantum mechanics
7) How to find new laws

Feynman brings a lot to the table in such a small space of time. His examples are usually quite good but some are hit and miss. It was written in 1965 and while most of it is still valid (it is missing over 50 years of physics!) you may find that you can learn about these topics better elsewhere... and that's really the catch. However, I would certainly say you can learn a lot here and the point of getting this book is to get Feynman's take on these subjects. He is still as good today as he was back then.

I wouldn't say that if this was your first time coming across physics that Feynman is too advanced, as this book and Feynman's lectures are designed for any audience with an interest in physics, but that is not to say that it is easy. In fact Feynman goes out of his way to explain that it is hard because it is so counterintuitive. I would say though that if you could get a modern book on cosmology that you will get a better introduction to these topics. In fact several books on cosmology would have you better prepared but in the end you are probably going to want to read Feynman. This may not be a bad place to go, but at the same time I feel there are probably much better Feynman books out there.

There are some illustrations in this book but most of them are hand drawn and apart from the images of galaxies are not always helpful. However notice that this still gets 4 stars for all its failings. Why? Because when it clicks you learn something you won't elsewhere. That is just how it is with physics books. They all have these accomplishments and failings to some degree. If you come away from a book with something new or a new way to look at physics, or have something explained to you in way you have never seen before, then it has already done its job. Within these 200 pages are some gems. I think his explanation of Newtonian Gravity is one of the best I have ever seen though. Also his overall explanation of how science works is nearly worth the price of this book alone.

Pros:
- Feynman's explanations
- Newtonian Gravity explained
- Short

Cons:
- 50 recent years of physics is not covered
- Can get very difficult even for experienced physics readers

for more information click here

A great book by a great scientist.

A great book by a great scientist.
Richard Feynman was a genius, a great scientist and a great teacher. This book is a testament to all three of these contentions. As the title states, this book is about physical laws: what they are, what they are not and why they require mathematics for their complete understanding. While the need to understand physical laws in terms of mathematics is stressed, this book uses almost no math, and none beyond basic high school math is required.

The book is based on 7 lectures, each of which is covered by an approximately 25-page chapter. These chapters cover: the law of gravitation, the relation of mathematics to physics, the great conservation principals, symmetry in physical law, distinction of past and future, probability and uncertainty, and seeking new laws. These chapters touch on classical physics, relativistic physics and quantum mechanics, all in a fluid and continuous manner. This book is not, however, a physics text because it does not discuss how to solve specific problems. It is, however, a great adjunct to those texts as it goes deeper into what physical laws really mean.

The stated audience for this book is people who are interested in science, but may have little or no background in this field. This is not to say that people who are well versed in the physical sciences would get nothing from this book. Quite the contrary, the more your scientific background the more you will get from the time spent with this book. Theoretical physicists may already understand all of what Professor Feynman is teaching, so this may be old hat to them. They may, however, still enjoy the presentation, so even they may get something from this book. As someone with an advanced degree in the physical sciences, but not in theoretical physics, I found this book to be mind expanding. Feynman gets to the heart of physical laws in ways that I had never considered. For instance, he provides one of the best descriptions of the first and second laws of thermodynamics that I have ever read, but never mentions them as laws per se, as he shows that they are manifestations of more fundamental laws. (Actually, he shows that there is no single set of fundamental laws, as many different ones could be used as the starting point to get to the same conclusions.) College physics students should love this book. It should be of immeasurable help in their more fully understanding what their texts may only hint at. Those with only a high school physics background should also get a lot from this book, but it may be a bit of a hard slog for them.

for more information click here

Review of "The Character of Physical Law" by Baldassarrini

I have learnt a lot of things that I didn't know from this book and also new concepts and new ways of looking at physical matters, but have also found many passages difficult to understand and even controversial. The style is too "popularized" for my taste, despite the great admiration I - a simple civil engineer - have for a great physicist like Richard Feynman

A Curate's Egg

Warning: I have published theory with the lowest impact factor, and I have written an unpublished book on the nature of theory.

This book is a transcript of seven extemporized lectures for the mathematically challenged. It is quite remarkable for perceptive interpretations of physics with a minimum of maths and as a bonus, the reader gets an insight into the mind of a truly leading theoretician. If you want an initial insight as to how physics works, excellent. Unfortunately, extemporization leads to "forgetfulness", e.g. "action" is stated to arise from and is fundamental to quantum mechanics, but is not mentioned in the discussion on quantum mechanics.

I believe the title is misleading. The book will not help or encourage an emerging theoretician. How to form a theory: Guess, compute, compare with observation. The rest of the book is argued to be no guidance, because any new theory will be quite different from the examples! Worse, we know all theory except at extreme energies or distances. (We could be wrong, but we aren't!)

I disagree. The book states on nuclear binding, apart from proton electrical repulsions, neutrons and protons interact with a constant energy. Theory is sound, but cannot be computed completely. Instead, suppose hadrons comprise up and down quarks, with different electric charge, that produce two types of interactions. Believe it or not, that, with consideration of that "action" is sufficient to produce relative stabilities for isotopes, and show why technetium has no stable isotope, and to indicate nuclear binding could come from electromagnetism. Wrong? Maybe, but isn't the fun of theory trying things out? Feynman offers no encouragement, little hope, and surprisingly, no insight on how he developed his theories. That is a pity.

for more information click here

Everybody's physicist

Dr. Feynman's love of science is most evident when he does presentations for non-professionals. His descriptions are complete and clear, helping us truly understand without the overwhelming mathematics that is his stock in trade. I am a physicist myself, and I still learn something every time I read one of his books. Try "You Must Be Kidding" for another fun trip.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

In these Messenger Lectures, originally delivered at Cornell University and recorded for television by the BBC, Richard Feynman offers an overview of selected physical laws and gathers their common features into one broad principle of invariance. He maintains at the outset that the importance of a physical law is not "how clever we are to have found it out, but . . . how clever nature is to pay attention to it," and tends his discussions toward a final exposition of the elegance and simplicity of all scientific laws. Rather than an essay on the most significant achievements in modern science, The Character of Physical Law is a statement of what is most remarkable in nature. Feynman's enlightened approach, his wit, and his enthusiasm make this a memorable exposition of the scientist's craft.

The Law of Gravitation is the author's principal example. Relating the details of its discovery and stressing its mathematical character, he uses it to demonstrate the essential interaction of mathematics and physics. He views mathematics as the key to any system of scientific laws, suggesting that if it were possible to fill out the structure of scientific theory completely, the result would be an integrated set of mathematical axioms. The principles of conservation, symmetry, and time-irreversibility are then considered in relation to developments in classical and modern physics, and in his final lecture Feynman develops his own analysis of the process and future of scientific discovery.

Like any set of oral reflections, The Character of Physical Law has special value as a demonstration of the mind in action. The reader is particularly lucky in Richard Feynman. One of the most eminent and imaginative modern physicists, he was Professor of Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology until his death in 1988. He is best known for his work on the quantum theory of the electromagnetic field, as well as for his later research in the field of low-temperature physics. In 1954 he received the Albert Einstein Award for his "outstanding contribution to knowledge in mathematical and physical sciences"; in 1965 he was appointed to Foreign Membership in the Royal Society and was awarded the Nobel Prize.

for more information click here

hot