Rating: 
Summary: A classic that I've turned to over and over
Review: This is -- by far -- the best physics text book I've ever read. I picked it a few months ago for work on my M.S. in Physics, and I have to say, I've never enjoyed a college book so much. It's well-written and incredibly precise. I wish all my textbooks were like this.
Rating:
Summary: absolute delight
Review: This is a book for the physics hobbyist. Read the set in high school after I took physics. Absolutely enchanting. Made physics a lifelong interest even though I didn't go into it. Read the three volumes in a more scattered way a couple more times over the years. The magic is still there. I would not say the material is difficult--this is undergraduate physics after all. However, Feynman's view is often different in a fundamental way. Reading the Notes is like reading special relativity for the first time--it is the splendid physical arguments that draws you. The mathematics used is basically simple algebra.
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Summary: AUDIO LECTURES OF Q.M. - NOT A REVIEW OF THE PRINTED BOOK!
Review: This is a review of the AUDIO BOOK ON TAPE - despite Amazon's placement of this review on the printed book web-page.
Here's what you get:
Six hours of Feynman lecturing (in his characteristic idiosyncratic demeanor) to freshman & sophomore undergraduate students at Caltech during the first few years of 1960. I was born about 30 miles away from the CALTECH campus in the same year he was giving some of these lectures.
It is decidedly pleasant to listen to the obvious delight this brilliant man has for teaching. For example, his voice rises and falls in tempo, volume and pitch whenever gets enthusiastic about the wonderful knowledge he knows he is passing on to you, the student. Once in a while he chuckles at his own occasional mistakes and inside jokes. Sometimes he takes great pains to apologize for the incomprehensibility of historically "Old School" conventions in scientific notation & units. This will lead you to believe in his sincere sympathy for being on the receiving side of this detailed, if not convoluted, sea of information. Once in a while he will make an admission that he doesn't know it all - a humble trait I find charming. Nonetheless, his enthusiasm is contagious and you will feel blessed to have heard his original approach to such literally wonderful subjects.
Back to what it is that you get in these recorded audio lectures. The audio volume contains six cassettes, each of which is one classroom hour long. There is absolutely no audio editing of the background noise however the publisher announces the date, lecture title, and where each chapter subsection begins. It is interesting to hear the background noise of the students when they file in and out of the lecture hall and towards the end of each lecture. You also hear bells in the hallway signaling the end of the class or possibly the lunch break. The students enthusiastically demonstrate their appreciation of Professor Feynman's efforts by applauding him at the end of each lecture. Of course Professor Feynman makes use of the chalkboard which you wont have the advantage of seeing but you could keep a copy of the printed lectures on hand to get whatever visuals you need from the transcribed illustrated diagrams which were published (I have done this and it's handy). Mostly I just listen to these tapes (I have a collection of over 60 taped lectures) on my one hour a day commute each day, over and over again. It's like I'm always in school with the great genius of Feynman every day!
Well anyhow, I thought that you'd like to see how these audio lectures correlate to the printed "Lectures on Physics" by audiocassette to volume & chapter in each book:Cassette 1 = Volume I Chapter 2 Basic Physics - Sept. 29, 1963 (this lecture can be found in "Six Easy Pieces")
Section 2.1. Introduction
Section 2.2. Physics before 1920
Section 2.3. Quantum Physics (this is an interesting section - one of my favorites)
Section 2.4. Nuclei and particles Cassette 2 = Volume III Chapter 1 Quantum Behavior - April 3, 1962 (this lecture can be found in "Six Easy Pieces" as well in Volume 10)
Section 1.1. Atomic mechanics
Section 1.2. An experiment with bullets
Section 1.3. An experiment with waves
Section 1.4. An experiment with electrons
Section 1.5. The interference of electrons waves
Section 1.6. Watching the electrons
Section 1.7. First principles in quantum mechanics
Section 1.8. The uncertainty principle Cassette 3 = Volume III Chapter 2 The Relation of Wave and Particle Viewpoints - April 6, 1962 (this lecture can be found in Volume 10 of this series)
Section 2.1. Probability and wave amplitudes
Section 2.2. Measurement of position and momentum
Section 2.3. Crystal diffraction
Section 2.4. The size of an atom
Section 2.5. Energy levels
Section 2.3. Philosophical implications Cassette 4 = Volume III Chapter 3 Probability Amplitudes - April 11, 1963
Section 3.1. The laws for combining amplitudes
Section 3.2. The two slit interference pattern
Section 3.3. Scattering from a crystal
Section 3.4. Identical particles Cassette 5 = Volume III Chapter 5 Spin One - April 18, 1963
Section 5.1. Filtering atoms with a Stern-Gerlach apparatus
Section 5.2. Experiments with filtered atoms
Section 5.3. Stern-Gerlach filters in series
Section 5.4. Base states
Section 5.5. Interfering amplitudes
Section 5.6. The machinery of quantum mechanics
Section 5.7. Transforming to a different base Cassette 6 = Volume III Chapter 6 Spin One-Half - April 22, 1963
Section 6.1. Transforming amplitudes
Section 6.2. Transforming to a rotated coordinate system
Section 6.3. Rotations about the z-axis
Section 6.4. Rotations of 180 and 90 degrees about y
Section 6.5. Rotations about x
Section 6.6. Arbitrary rotations Check out my 'Listmania Lists' and 'Shared Purchases' by clicking on the "IndiAndy (see more about me)" link above. I've put together a handy list of all audio (and some video) Feynman...
I hope you enjoy your Feynman experience! Regards,
IndiAndy
Rating:
Summary: Volume 3 - From Crystal Structure to Magnetism
Review: recorded Nov 1962 to April 1963, Cal Tech
Cassette 1 - V2 Ch30 The Internal Geometry of Crystals
Cassette 2 - V2 Ch32 Refractive Index of Dense Materials
Cassette 3 - V2 Ch39 Elastic Materials
Cassette 4 - V2 Ch10 Dielectrics
Cassette 5 - V2 Ch11 Inside Dielectrics
Cassette 6 - V2 Ch34 The Magnetism of Matter
There is something magical about hearing Richard Feynman deliver a lecture on physics that goes beyond the content of the textbooks derived from these same lectures.
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Summary: Table of Contents
Review: Recorded April - Sept 1963, Cal Tech
Cassette 1 - V1 Ch2 Basic Physics
Cassette 2 - V3 Ch1 Quantum Behavior
Cassette 3 - V3 Ch2 The Relation of Wave and Particle Viewpoints
Cassette 4 - V3 Ch3 Probability Amplitudes
Cassette 5 - V5 Ch1 Spin One
Cassette 6 - V3 Ch6 Spin One-half There is something magical about listening to Richard Feynman deliver a lecture on physics.
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant collection for the less brilliant student
Review: I love physics, but I used to think that it was difficult. Most authors of physics books are too smart to explain it to other people. Feynman is one of the few who realized that not every student is brilliant and that some of us never paid attention during calculus classes - my observation is that people who really like physics don't like mathematics. He takes his time explaining calculus and he pays attention to the smaller steps that in other books are neglected since the author seems to think that readers can do these steps by themselves. We don't, we are stupid!
Rating:
Summary: The best physics book you will ever read.
Review: Dick Feynman is an eloquent speaker and is a master of explaining pretty much anything, especially physics. This set of books is a masterpiece and a reference to be passed down for generations. It is not light reading by any means. However, the good thing for the non-physicist is that there is a minimal number of equations. Instead you will find detailed verbal descriptions of the intricacies of physics.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Supplemental Material for Intro. Physics
Review: This is an excellent series of lectures that is great to supplement the standard introductory material dealing with these subjects. It isn't a textbook and it doesn't address any of the subjects contained within it as rigorously as texts that are devoted to the particular subjects. Still, the lectures contained hererin present material in new and enlightening ways. Even if you already know the material through a different text, Feynman will get you thinking about things you never thought about and might make things more conceptually clear. The lectures read quite well and often can be read out of order. One word of caution: there are a couple books out there, like "Six Easy Peices", that are just scaled down versions of this set of lectures. No need to buy those books if you own this.
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Summary: Atleast vol3 is a book which would be your pride possession
Review: Atleast, I personally liked only the third volume of Feynman's famous lectures. The first two volumes are a bit too introductory despite being too voluminous. Probably, I liked third volume because I was a new comer for Quantum Physics at that time. And definately I would like to strongly recommend third vol as the standard text book for a beginner. It is one of very few books which I feel proud to possess .....and obviously to have studied !! This book will make you feel that Quantum Physics is as BELIEVABLE as Newton's Classical physics. I would like to humbly comment, in general, about the Feynman's books. I feel there are two faces of science which attracts and fascinates bergeoning minds. First is that its ability to pridict ...... even after senselessly lenghthy looking mathematics one finds that still nature behaves the way science predicts. Second is the ELEGANCE that science, as distinct from other subjects, has. How beautifully science maintains the consistency ...... how beautifully it has been formulated ..... how severe are small assumptions ...... and how carefully each small assumption is mentioned in the formulations ...!!! This second phase is where Feynman lacks. Feynman's books failed to impress the new minds with the BRILIANT mathematical ELEGANCE of science !!! He fails to bring out the GRACE of CONSISTENCY !! The lengthy circular line integrals and surface integrals of electrodynamics, the elegant linear algebra quantum theory, the variations in Hamiltonian formultaions .......all these have an intrinsic beauty which Feynman fails to bring forth to new entrants into the field of science. There is a satge in one's educational growth till which one likes to understand how the nature behaves ....how science enables one to predict nature .....I mean things of general curiosity. But finally a stage comes when you want to study science with all its ELEGANCE. There is a stage when you want to admire the beautifull science ..... elegantly decorated and precisely dressed with mind boggling mathematics. Hence, all new comers should definately read vol3 of Feynman's Lecture .....but togather with that they should also read some formal treatment of science like those by Landau or Dirac to admire the science with its true colors. Best of Luck, Mukul Agrawal
Rating:
Summary: Great books
Review: Unlike my fellow reviewer above (below?) I *have* a PhD in physics, yet these books taught me more basic physics than I ever learnt in 4 years of undergrad. The quantum mechanics book is especially clear...I honestly wish my first 1st year phyics lecturer had of simply said 'read Feymnam'..I would have learnt so much more than I ever did in lectures/other texts. Give these books to a child starting science/maths and let them grow up using it and learning from it...there could be no better gift.
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