Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding
Review: I purchased vol.2 in 1970 having had only high school physics. Since then I have purchased all 3 volumes. I have read them over and over. I have worn out one set and bought a new set. A great book like a great play or great movie never gets tiresome. When I want to calculate something I have many other "how to" books. When I really want to understand something I turn to Feynman. What more can be said?
Rating:
Summary: This is the best book in the Universe. Known and Unknown.
Review: There is not more to be said about the "Lectures". A must have for every science practicioner. And philosopher. And engineer. And...
Rating:
Summary: Feynman's typical excitement and enthusiasm are evident.
Review: In this collection of audio lectures on advanced quantum mechanics and related topics, Richard Feynman exhibits his typical excitement and enthusiasm for the subject he knew so well. These lectures are best listened to while viewing the text version of the Feynman Lectures, as the topics are complex and difficult to conceptualize without the printed page. The pages, however, really come to life when you actually hear Feynman give the lectures. A much fuller picture of quantum mechanics is obtained than by employing the text or the tape separately. These publications constitute a wonderful way to acquire an appreciation for and an increased knowledge of physics from one of its best teachers.
Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece work of Physics
Review: I really haven't met yet a book so interesting in Physics as this one. No other has such a profound treatment of the basic concepts and at the same time the large range of applications as this one. It begins with a general view of how humankind understands the Universe at the time the book was written (and very few things changed in these thirty five years) and explains very well the fundamental ideas of Physics, from classical to quantum mechanics. A book of reference for every physicist of any degree of knowledge, although it's aimed to freshmen undergraduates.
Rating:
Summary: The Perfect Introduction to Physics
Review: Excellent introduction to physics. The book was written after the recorded lectures of physics in Catlech given by this extraordinary physicist. Although the maths are, of course, taken into account, you will find that this is an easy book, clear and sincere. Sincerity is not common in high standing books because authors are more worried about the impact that the book will have on his/her peers than in teaching the subject to laymen or students. This is not the case with Feynman's book. Although it has been stated that the lectures were more popular among colleagues than among students I can assure you that even if you don't know a word of physics you will grasp the concepts, if not at first try at least after two or three readings. It also conveys the thought -so popular nowadays- that human knowledge can't be contemplated in absolute terms. We think we understand nature but if we analyze what we really know we get to the conclusion that this knowledge is useful but not radical. We may have good theories -useful for remembering, already mentioned by Giordano Bruno- but they don't add any deep or special knowledge about what we describe and the rules that look so powerful and exact and allow predictions are not so exact but only approximate and they don't give us any special insight of Nature. We may perform complicated calculations using well known formulae involving forces, inertia, velocity, etc but we don't really know what is inertia, time or space.
Rating:
Summary: The best, the most lucid physics text in the universe
Review: These are the volumes that got me started in physics several years ago and surprisingly they retain their charm even today when I am reading those passages for the n-th time. Like a great, majestic symphony, a timeless masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Best book to start physics
Review: I always have returned to these volumes to get something new everytime.
Rating:
Summary: best physics book I have ever seen
Review: Read these lectures if you want to UNDERSTAND physics instead of just using memorized formulas without knowing what you're doing. Richard Feynman was one of the few persons who are not only a great scientist but also a brilliant teacher.
Rating:
Summary: Schmommemorative Issue
Review: These "Commemorative Issues" are the closest thing to wasting money you can get when buying a Feynman book. It simply is not worth the extra twelve bucks or so you pay per volume.
Obviously the book is still worth the money---it is, after all, a Feynman Lecture! But you still get the not-quite-there 1960's formula typesetting and general layout, and the famous three (or was it five?) errors throughout. That is next to nothing in a work of this magnitude, but they stick out like an eyesore once you know the work.
As I don't believe in paying extra for three extra pages of not-so-enlightened introduction to the preface to the forward (or vice versa) of a very book---if I had to buy it again I'd go back to the previous edition/issue/whatever.
Having murdered this point, the Feynman Lectures in Physics remain one of *the* reference books in introductory physics for physicists. The style is awesome, the examples go right down to the point you had been thinking you knew, prove you wrong, then bring you back in a stretcher; the man feels as comfortable physics in a way that is entirely not unlike the way a 4-year-old kid doesn't.
The first time I read this book I was preparing for an exam. I cried. Now I love it.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Introductory Physics Book - Now and Forever!
Review: I was fortunate to use these as an undergraduate in
1964 when they first came out. My Physics professor,
Dr Carl Bailey, worked with Feynman on the Manhatten
project and had the forsight to use it in our class.
We were fortunate to have early access to this series
which is just as exciting and informative today as it
was in 1964. I often refer to these classics when
I really want to understand a concept. The index is
excellent! When you really want the "bottom line"
on a physical phenomenon, Feynman's index will lead you
through pages filled with gems of understanding you'll
soon find yourself sharing with your colleagues and
friends. I've read plenty of other Physics Books,
but none that go to the "next level" like
Feynman to relate concepts with examples that are
so fascinating you can't help but understand them
and want to share them with others. Feynman truly
lives on through his books and videos!
Dr. Olaf O. Storaasli, NASA Langley, Hampton, VA
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