QED

Rating:
Summary: not in perfect condition but was better than the book
Review: perhaps it is because i am not a native speaker of english. but reading something that was not originally intended to be read (if you know what i mean) is sometimes painful. the book, qed, is not a transcript of this new zealand lecture. well, the title of these lectures is not even the ``qed''. it's ``today's answers to newton's queries''; but i am sure, judging from the qed book, it very closely approximates the ucla lecture. the quality of video recording is not nearly perfect. each videotape halts at some point with the caption ``picture resumes shortly''.

however, what makes these videotapes definitely better than the book is the ``questions'' sections. there, you can see feynman's unique position in interpreting quantum mechanics.

Rating:
Summary: could work better for math-literates
Review: i do not intended to contribute my bit to the feynman legacy. feynman is already well-known in the physics circle to be a brilliant teacher ``provided'' that you have good background knowledge. as he emphasizes in the first chapter, even feynman himself does not understand how it works. he only knows how to calculate and get experimentally agreeable results. so let the readers beware--if you have expected to ``learn'' how light (photon) and matter (electron) interact, this is not a book to consult.

on the other hand, you cannot miss this book if you could see his ``experimental proof'' of the light going everywhere is in fact what we have learned in the highschool physics as ``diffraction''. the diffraction is such an interesting phenomenon and huygen's principle is not an answer to it. you will see why this is so if you have patience to read through.

Rating:
Summary: Feynman the entertainer
Review: I should say from the outset that I am biased due to the fact that I'm a physics student - I've come across a lot of the material Feynman covers in these lecturers before. However never have I heard QED described in such an engaging and simply entertaining style. Feynman was truly one of the greatest communicators of physics this century, and he's extraordinarily funny. The lectures are aimed at people with a very rudimentary knowledge of physics and maths (they were public lectures in New Zealand after all!) and if you're willing to suspend disbelief for some of the more unusual aspects of QED it will all make sense.

The biggest flaw with the videos, however, is the poor quality of the video and audio. Sometimes Feynman's mic drops out completely (dealt with humerously by Feyman of course) and the picture is rather poor. This is why I think the videos only receive four stars (while Feynman himself would receive about ten). Nevertheless, I'd put up with a lot more to see Feynman lecture on QED. I just hope that in the future these videos will be cleaned up and re-released as DVDs!

Rating:
Summary: QED is masterfully written by an American Genius
Review: QED is your guide to the theory of Quantum Electro Dynamics which explains the interaction of light and matter. It is about a 1/4" thick and feels like it was written for the layperson to absorb without being over taxing. It isn't just another "popular science" type book because it provides an accurate explanation of the theory without being watered down by inaccurate metaphors and analogies meant to soften some difficult physics for the uninitiated. The text is a series of lectures Feynman prepared for an english teach friend of his who wanted to know about his theories but was afraid to ask (so to speak).

This book is fun to read and I highly recommend it for the scientist or (most importantly) the non-scientist on your gift list. Fear not, Feynman is the greatest teacher of science America has ever had to offer (imho). You will enjoy this and quite likely a few of his other books such as, "Surely, Your'e Joking Mr. Feynman".

Rating:
Summary: Quantum Physics Less All the Math
Review: Richard Feynman stands out from other physicists in his witty ability to explain physical phenomenons in a simplistic way. Quantum physics (or quantum theory) is by far the most fascinating yet the most perplexing subject ever studied in recent-to-present history. I was lucky to have come acorss Feynman's "QED" while I was taking undergraduate quantum physics. Feynman adroitly explains the path of an electron without discussing vectoral analysis. He clearly conveys the ideas behind quantum theory by translating the obscure mathematical notations and manipulations into plain language understood by readers who are not in the science field.

Rating:
Summary: QED for the layperson
Review: These are the popular lectures that Dr. Richard P. Feynman gave in New Zealand in 1979. Feynman's legendary teaching ability and wit are in full force here. These lectures are meant to give a general audience a taste of the most successful theory in physics, quantum electrodynamics, or QED for short, that he developed independently of two others (Schwinger and Tomonaga), who all shared the Nobel Prize in 1965. Feynman builds up the theory using very simple ideas such as "all we do is draw little arrows on a piece of paper and we get all these answers." We see how light can be reflected from the center of a mirror, but that it really reflects from all points on a mirror. How can that be, you say? Answer: watch these videos! Feynman moves from light, to electrons, to their interactions in the first three lectures. We even get to see the legendary "Feynman Diagrams" drawn by the master, himself! In the fourth lecture Feynman discusses the problems or difficulties with the theory (always honest, he never quite believed that the theory was completely perfect, even though it gave the right answers. In fact, he said in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech that "... we might just be sweeping the difficulties under the rug.") as well as discussing some of the current (in 1979) theories such as quarks and gluons. These tapes are invaluable for the interested amatuer who wants to learn the basics of the theory which describes all of everyday experience except for gravity, or for the physics student to find out what it is that you are really calculating with those messy equations, and how it really goes.

Rating:
Summary: insights only a genius can provide
Review: As a 3rd year undergrad physics major at Caltech, I sometimes got lost in the forest of mathematical equations that the professors threw at me. This is the book that helped me understand it intuitively. Feynman makes it seem so easy, and says so much with those simple examples he gives. I've never read a science book that made a difficult subject like this seem so easy. Only Feynman does it like that. The reader doesn't even have to know how to square a number, and yet Feynman manages to explain how to use the method of stationary phase in path integrals. Yeow!

Rating:
Summary: Enigma - QED and Feynman are Outside Normal Experience
Review: Enigma - this term best describes QED, the notoriously non-intuitive basis of fundamental physics. But 'enigma" equally applies to this book, QED. Why is it so popular? Four lectures on quantum electrodynamics? Why would anyone, other than a physicist, rave about such a book?

Feynman cautions the audience that they may not understand what he will be saying. Not because of technical difficulty, but because they may be unable to believe it, unable to accept what he is saying. "The theory of quantum electrodynamics describes Nature as absurd from the point of view of common sense. And it fully agrees with experiment. So I hope you can accept Nature as She is - absurd."

I long had this problem. I wanted to understand why, in addition to how nature works. I wanted some philosophical understanding, some underlying meaning. I have come to accept that the fundamental laws (rules, behavior, whatever) of physics are not intuitive, but are incomprehensible in terms of common sense.

To appreciate Feynman's QED lectures, you must have patience, some commitment (its not really difficult), but more than anything else you need a willingness to set aside disbelief and simply listen to a physicist talk about quantum electrodynamics. A willingness to accept that nature refuses to be understood. Analyzed, dissected, mathematically described (in a probabilistic sense), but not fundamentally understood. QED.

I am largely unsatisfied by books for laymen on quantum physics, string theory, cosmology, and the like. My background includes some physics and I find that a bit of mathematics is more helpful than a great many analogies, no matter how cleverly constructed. QED should have been disappointing. But I gave it five stars.

Feynman did not rely on analogies. He talks physics and experiments. Feynman had a wonderful clarity of thought, an ability to explain advanced physics, and all with a sense of humor. No math symbols, no complex numbers, no matrices, no wave mechanics, no advanced probability analysis - just simple addition of little arrows that shrink and turn.

Feynman was unpredictable. He saw the world in unexpected ways. In a footnote he mentions that Heisenberg's uncertainty principle is really no longer a necessary construct. "If you can get rid of all the old-fashioned ideas and instead use the ideas that I am explaining in these lectures - adding arrows for all the ways an event can happen - there is no need for an uncertainty principle." Heisenberg relegated to a footnote!

The casual reader may find some short sections a bit strenuous, particularly some of the more involved manipulations of arrows, but stay with it. As Feynman points out in the preface, these lectures represent physics accurately without distortions for simplicity. Nothing would need to be unlearned if you later majored in physics. Think about it. QED may lead you down a path heretofore not taken.

Rating:
Summary: A classic in the physics community!
Review: QED. It's not Quod Erat Demonstrandum; no, it's not even Quickly Ends Dandruff. Then, what is it? Quantum ElectroDynamics. Now, if you're ignorant of physics, you're probably still thinking, "That says a whole lot. What is it?" By this rather formidable name, you might not be able to tell if you want to read the book or not, so I'll synopsize. Over three quarters (75%, if you prefer--ooh, I can do math!) of this book explains movements and interactions of electrons and photons expressed as probabilities. The last section discusses a variation of QED, quantum chromodynamics (i.e. quarks). Unlike some abstruse conjectures (most notably, string theory), quantum electrodynamics can be and has been experimentally verified. In fact, it is the most accurate theory ever devised! This does not mean that QED is totally compliant with common sense (fortunately; physics addicts often find common sense to be rather dull--and incorrect!). The reader learns to accept that light does not always travel in straight paths, that light reflects from all parts of a mirror, and that electrons can travel backward in time. Richard Feynman, who (along with Sin-Itiro Tomonaga and Julian Schwinger) was awarded the 1965 Nobel Prize for his work on this theory, elucidates QED so that even those who have never before studied physics can understand it. (To be more accurate, they can understand *how* QED works; Feynman admits that no one, himself included, truly understands *why* QED works.) If you already are familiar with the theory, you are likely to become bored with this book. On the other hand, I'm not sure that this book is the best for physics neophytes, since it is specific in explaining this one given area (even skipping the historical background present in most popular accounts of physics). You might want to first obtain more general knowledge of modern physics. If you find optics interesting, definitely read this book. For anyone who wants a deeper knowledge of modern physics or chemistry, an understanding of quantum electrodynamics is a sine qua non, and this book is probably the most explicit introduction on the market.

~pythia~

Rating:
Summary: Feynman Diagrams examined by their creator
Review: These tapes present a live delightful explanation of "Feynman Diagrams" in lay terms. A valued addition to any library but the audio is often atrocious with loud static, other times the audio fades in & out. One tape repeats several minutes.

It appears that the tape producers made ZERO effort to clean up the audio, which is criminal considering the raw value of the material they were entrusted with. While I don't regret my purchase, I strongly object to the absence of even a sophomoric attempt to edit the tapes to enhance their compromised quality.

Feynman gets his usual "A+" while the tape producers should be exiled to an obscure island absent food or water.