Rating: 
Summary: Review
Review: At the risk of deifying Feynman even more than the physics cummunity and lay press already have, I found that the book is the best source of "basic" physics I have encountered. I say "basic", but be prepared to be a physics PhD (which I am...but still found the book very challenging) or a VERY smart layman...either way, be prepared to slog your way through it with a focused mind and be rewarded. Especially, vol II on E&M I found to be the only source of that material which allowed me to truly understand some parts of E&M at a fundamental level.
Rating:
Summary: Review from an acient chinese poem
Review: I wanna write something on physics but do not know how to begin, I just know if I do not read Feynman my life will be void.
Rating:
Summary: My desert island read
Review: This is all I would take to my mythical desert island.The Feynman lectures in Physics have been referred to as "first year Physics for Physics professors". Certainly, despite the guarded use of equations, this is not easy reading. As history tells us, the original students slowly dropped out, but the course remained full as other, more advanced, participants took their place. Feynman's teaching philosophy is quoted in the special preface: "First figure out why you want the students to learn the subject and what you want them to know, and the method will result more or less by common sense." Of course the result is not common sense. It turns the conventional undergraduate physics on its head. To me, each lecture is a gem and changed the way I viewed that topic. I used to be a quantum mechanic, but I now earn my living as a management re-engineer. The Feynman lectures, which I do dip into periodically, are my link to the real, 'real world'.
Rating:
Summary: PHYSICS AS A WAY OF LIFE!
Review: Physics is often considered by many as obstruce blend of mathematics and observable facts leaving very less if not nothing to IMAGINATION which in fact is the very basis all great discoveries and inventions.Einstein says "Imagination is more important than Information because in imagination we encompass everything".Physics studies the observable universe acknowledging the fact that Nature is an immense treasure house of the unknown. The "Feynman Lectures on Physics" has all the spontanity of expression that evokes awe and wonder at the marvel of creation not just because of the fact that they were the lectures delivered at CALTECH ,it is more so primarily because of the fact that Prof.Feynman was a passionate Teacher and a devout seeker who looked at Nature with wonder and reverence.His explanations of even the most difficult concepts are lucid and clear because he gives lot of examples,analogies,smilies drawn from day to day life.This is the greatness of a true master: To see the subtle manifest in the gross and the gross visibly expressed in the subtle.These lectures are sprinkled with enough humour which is quite characterstic of Dr.Feynman.This makes the reading all the more enjoyable.the most striking feature of his lectures is the finishing touche he gives to every main area in Physics ;most of the lectures have a tail ender titled "Philosophical Implications" and this is how Prof.Feynman communicates more of his Insight than mere Information. I'm just reminded of these remarkable words from Prof.Feynman's biography: " I,an atom in the universe,..an universe of atoms".These words reflect the Philosopher in him.He demonstrates through his lectures the ART of teaching SCIENCE.
Rating:
Summary: "Principia" for our times
Review: Isaac Newton wrote "Principia" in the 1600's, and it was the definitive book on Physics, although it is basically unreadable. (Now, of course, it is also slightly outdated.) Feynman has done a better and much more complete job than Newton himself. Having said this, this is NOT a book for the layman. It appears simple: heavily conceptual, few equations, no homework problems at the end of each chapter. But this is deceiving. As an undergraduate physics student, I was completely lost. It was only as a graduate student in physics that I came to not only appreciate them, but love them. It turned out to not be just me: I later read that his undergraduate students at Cal Tech dropped the course in droves when he taught it; it was the graduate students and fellow physics faculty members that filled most of the seats in the lecture hall by the end of the course. Those of you with a physics background that have never read Feynman should definitely consider it. Those of you who majored in History, Law, or even Biology and want to gain some insight into all this physics stuff you have always heard about should probably look elsewhere. This is heavy stuff.
Rating: 
Summary: Exelent
Review: I have the spanish language version, but even after translation it is still one of the great general physics resources, specially for the first 3 years of the degree on physics.
Rating:
Summary: Still indispensable at the dawn of year 2000
Review: You have to disregard it all, Feynman used to say, to come to the subject with a fresh mind. Therefore, explaining the physics in a very personal fashion, Feynman does in his lectures the straight converse of what he thought was good to understand the physics: to never let somebody else tell you what it's all about, to create it by yourself. The best books for studying physics following Feynman's principles are really those with little material, full of equations without phenomenological explanations. What is the real value of these books is not the physics you can learn from them. They are not textbooks, but edited lectures. That's quite of a difference. The real value is a certain conception of how-to-do-the-physics, a daring impudence towards mathematics, put away as a tool, a try-and-see spirit, an exhortation to never mind what's the regular way, a philosophy to imagine and feel before to compute and understand, a humility to put nature first, man after. It's a book to cheer oneself's up, when the equations are all empty to you and you think you're a dope; then read a chapter or two from Feynman, he will tell you it's where all the fun is.
Rating:
Summary: Best undergraduate book on physics
Review: What can be said about this book that hasn't been said before? This book really taught me what physics is about. Other books give you the impression that physics is only heuristic reasoning and applied mathematics. Though I recommend this book to every science and engineering student, I must say that is not ideally the book for a main course on physics, that is you get to understand a LOT of physics, but due to its lack of problems and its very general approach it might seem that generally it doesn't fit in the usual physics courses. But that is not a problem because this is after all, an introductory book.
Rating:
Summary: Best university physics book I have ever read!
Review: I have a M.S. in Meteorology and am currently back in grad school on course for a M.S. in Physics. I wish Mr. Feynman was still alive so I could thank him for all the help these books have given me. I still refer to them even in my graduate study of physics. This series of books explains a lot of basic physics and some not so basic physics very clearly and in an entertaining way. By far the best aspect, however, and an amazing accomplishment for any physics book, is the explanation of the mathematics it contains. In previous physics classes and books I have managed to learn the mechanics of the mathematics, sometimes with difficulty. After I read these books I understood the math! I mean I knew what the equations meant and the implications of the theorems... I REALLY understood and it was easy to also understand why physics and mathematics are beautiful! Thank you, Mr. Feynman!
Rating:
Summary: Richard Feynman can really grow on you ...
Review: August 18, 1999 After spending a good part of the last month listening to Richard Feynman's Physics lectures 1,3 and 4 I would like to raise my rating for these tapes to 5 (the highest possible). Richard Feynman can really grow on you as you become part of his Physics class of 1961 - 1962. The audio level is well maintained throughout the series which was a problem in some of his earlier audio books. I look forward to the University of Berkley California extending this Physics series continuously into new exciting topics. For the Physics faculty who may be following these notes the tapes are used nightly for my 19 month old sons bedtime stories. Two hours a night, every night. If your going to listen to something you might as well learn something interesting. Thank you for creating this valuable series. Arnold D Veness
| 
