Rating: 
Summary: Illuminating
Review: Get it? Illuminating. This book explains the interaction between light and matter, which is illuminating. If you understand the pun, then you have the brain capacity to understand this book. Richard Feynman possessed some kind of special brand of genius which enabled him to masquerade as a regular guy. He was able to cut to the quick of Nature's mysteries and explain in plain english what he saw there for the benefit of those of us lacking in genius. Feynman freed us from the need to relate to quantum physics by memorizing a set of arcane mathematical expressions, and delivered to us a way of understanding the probabilistic nature of quantum reality by drawing a bunch of little arrows pointing this way and that. His method, known as "Feynman diagrams", is so simple that it seems almost childlike, yet it works every time. The theory of Quantum ElectoDynamics is the most complete theory that science has in its arsenal. The theory explains 99% of everything we see at the classical level of reality. Feynman was never quite able to tie in the oddities observed in the interaction of nuclei or gravitrons, but reality as we observe it is more or less dictated by the interaction of electrons, and this theory describes that interplay perfectly. Feyman's "sum over histories" explains reality even better than Newton's seemingly incontrovertable laws of Nature, which in actuality, decribe only the end result of the sum over histories. Where Newton described one reality, the one observed by all of us, Feynman described every microscopic reality, each as real as the other, and all culminating in the one macroscopic reality as described by Newton. Feynman described particles moving faster than light, and even backwards in time - all of which is explained in his "strange theory of light and matter", and all of which is endlessly verifiable in the laboratory. For anyone willing to break out of the Newtonian mindset which humanity has been in for over 300 years, and which is still taught in today's high school science classrooms, this book is a must read. Treat yourself to 150 pages of plain english which will infuse you with wonder for the rest of your days.
Rating:
Summary: Easily understood intro to QED
Review: Richard Feynman, along with Schwinger and Tomonaga, won Nobel prizes in the 1960's for their development of quantum electrodynamics (QED). In this book, Feynman attempts to bring this esoteric field down to the layman's level and succeeds as usual. The chapters in the book are taken from lectures he presented to a largely nonscientific audience, but the material is not dumbed down. Of course, many of the details are left out since only years of study can provide a true understanding of the theory, but Feynman presents his lectures in such a way that only a reasonable amount of thought is needed to appreciate the basics of QED. "The Strange Theory of Light and Matter" is an entirely appropriate subtitle to a book that attempts to explain the theory behind phenomena that escape our everyday experience and intuition. QED is arguably the most successful scientific theory in existence. Its predictions have correlated extraordinarily well with experiment although "prediction" in the QED sense is not what we are generally used to. The quantum world is inherently probabilistic. There are certain things we just cannot "know." We cannot predict which photons will reflect of a glass surface, but with QED, we can at least accurately calculate the percentage of photons that do reflect. That's just one of the results of QED that Feynman attempts to explain, and he does so in a very straightforward fashion. Feynman never insults the intelligence of his audience by pretending that the basics of QED are beyond its grasp, but instead repeatedly insists that no one really understands QED, but that should not prevent anyone from appreciating some of its results. With this attitude, Feynman explains the basics of partial reflection, particle interactions, and the discoveries of new particles, and he does all this through numerous figures and analogies rather than mathematical equations. Richard Feynman was not your ordinary physicist. He was a physicist's physicist and a great teacher (read James Gleick's bio of Feynman called Genius). His teaching abilities are in full display in this book as he is able to bring an incredibly strange theory down to the average reader's level. I highly recommend this book. It will tax your thinking abilities but will never insult them.
Rating:
Summary: Read it
Review: This book is great! There isn't much to say here that hasn't already been said. If you have a desire to learn about quantum mechanics but you lack a science background, this book simply cannot be beat. This is the only book that gives you the real deal. A Brief History, Elegant Universe, etc. all gloss over the topic. But don't fool yourself. Even though Feynman is a great teacher, this is not easy stuff. If you hope to really grasp what Prof. Feynman is saying you are going to have to really think about it. I remember reading one page over and over again for an hour until I grasped one concept. But it is definitely worth it in the end. I believe that anyone of above average intelligence (which I believe most people who read this sort of book are) should be able to fully grasp the ideas presented in this book. Enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: Who needs hallucinatory drugs when we've got quantum physics
Review: This book will absolutely blow you away! If you're an armchair physicist and you thought you understood the universe, prepare to be blown away! The physical universe is NOTHING like you've ever imagined. If you thought Star Trek was way out there, you ain't seen nothin' yet! And the strangest part of all, is this branch of physics has stood up to scrutiny more than any other idea in the history of science! It's just plain freaky, but real! The only reason I don't give this book 5 stars is because the author committed a massive science flaw: He said, "There are no gears or pullies inside these things. Don't even look for them." Imagine that! A scientist telling you to do no more research for further answers! That cost him a full star in my review. Put this book on the top 10 reading list of all time! When you're done, search for information about faster than light transmission, quantum entanglement, and the real science of teleportation. Also, required reading: Alber Einstein's "Relativity, the Special and the General Theory" (or is it the General and the Special Theory?). You can't read one without the other. In my opinion, they make a complete set.
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