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alabhyajindal's review against another edition
3.0
I am sure the lectures given by Feynman and this book which is based of it is extremely helpful to students of Physics. I picked up this book as a non-Physics student hoping to learn some basics. It seems my understanding of the target audience was skewed because entering the 3rd chapter I had no idea what is going on.
nitindangwal's review against another edition
4.0
Richard Feynman was on my to-read list for a long time. I have heard a lot about his teaching methods. His crystal-clear thought that made him teach the most difficult subjects in the most easiest of methods. Given this, I had a lot of expectations from this book. And I was not disappointed.
The book is a primer to anyone who wants to brush up their understanding of the basics in Physics. But unlike the books that we have studied, this book is not a bland narration of the concepts. Rather in your hand, this book is alive, with one of the best teachers of the physics speaking to you. Not one page of this short book is boring. And like a thriller, you turn page by page, trying to know what happens next.
Almost every chapter of this gem of a book is amazing. But if asked my favorite, it has to be the chapter on Quantum Physics, and the explanation of dual nature of matter and the inherent uncertainty of the quantum world.
I find Quantum Physics for one simple reason. It has confounded both physics and religious alike. So weird is the world of quantum that it makes sense to neither of them. For physicists Quantum Physics provide observation that throw everything they have learnt and beliefs down to gutter. For religious person, the quanta world is nothing short than work of devil, where the world has no order - something that they attribute to the god. And what can they so, so astonishingly is the world of quantum.
Particles behave likes waves. But when you take a light source to see what is happening, they start behaving like particles again. Nothing is 'is' there. It is always they could be 60% here, and 40% there. Nothing is certain. Everything is probabilistic.
Quantum world apart, I love the book majorly for one reason. It sews everything from the concept of heat to the concept of planetary motion in one single narrative. I think this is the major thing that the science education lacks in today's world. So much we have divided physics from chemistry that we don't realize they are the part of one whole story.
This book fills this gap.
Must read for a light and entertaining read about basic physics
The book is a primer to anyone who wants to brush up their understanding of the basics in Physics. But unlike the books that we have studied, this book is not a bland narration of the concepts. Rather in your hand, this book is alive, with one of the best teachers of the physics speaking to you. Not one page of this short book is boring. And like a thriller, you turn page by page, trying to know what happens next.
Almost every chapter of this gem of a book is amazing. But if asked my favorite, it has to be the chapter on Quantum Physics, and the explanation of dual nature of matter and the inherent uncertainty of the quantum world.
I find Quantum Physics for one simple reason. It has confounded both physics and religious alike. So weird is the world of quantum that it makes sense to neither of them. For physicists Quantum Physics provide observation that throw everything they have learnt and beliefs down to gutter. For religious person, the quanta world is nothing short than work of devil, where the world has no order - something that they attribute to the god. And what can they so, so astonishingly is the world of quantum.
Particles behave likes waves. But when you take a light source to see what is happening, they start behaving like particles again. Nothing is 'is' there. It is always they could be 60% here, and 40% there. Nothing is certain. Everything is probabilistic.
Quantum world apart, I love the book majorly for one reason. It sews everything from the concept of heat to the concept of planetary motion in one single narrative. I think this is the major thing that the science education lacks in today's world. So much we have divided physics from chemistry that we don't realize they are the part of one whole story.
This book fills this gap.
Must read for a light and entertaining read about basic physics
waynediane's review against another edition
5.0
Richard Feynman knows how to explain physics like no one else. His chapter on Quantum Behavior was still a bit confusing. However, unless you are a physics major it is just a difficult topic.
aliciae08's review
informative
slow-paced
3.0
It should be noted that I’m not part of Feynman’s target demographic, and my rating is reflective not of the content but on how engaged I was in reading this.
A friend gifted this to me saying that while it is a book in physics, there are some basic lessons in life that I might find useful. That being said, it was mostly physics.
Six Easy Pieces are the six most accessible lectures from Feynman’s CalTech lectures. You do not really need to have a background or any previous knowledge in physics order to read this, but an interest will probably help. There were a few snippets that sparked thoughts, but those snippets did not outweigh the fact i was consistently bored. I’m sure these lectures were much more engaging in person.
A friend gifted this to me saying that while it is a book in physics, there are some basic lessons in life that I might find useful. That being said, it was mostly physics.
Six Easy Pieces are the six most accessible lectures from Feynman’s CalTech lectures. You do not really need to have a background or any previous knowledge in physics order to read this, but an interest will probably help. There were a few snippets that sparked thoughts, but those snippets did not outweigh the fact i was consistently bored. I’m sure these lectures were much more engaging in person.