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Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher (Helix Book)

Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher (Helix Book)

List Price: $15.00
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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Six Easy Pieces
Review: As a first year physics student, going into reading this book I was not to thrilled and expected another boring physics book. However, Richard Feynman does an excellent job keeping his reader entertained with jokes, and the feel of the book is very much as though someone is talking to you. Of course with the little experience in physics that I have, some of it was hard to understand and follow, but for the most part it was much easier than text books.
Personally, I like how Feynman showed in section three how physics relates to other sciences. This was interesting to me because I am very interested in psychology and it was interesting to read a out his theorys on physics in relationship to psychology. Although some of his opinions were ones I had never considered, they were all interesting. For example Feynman refers to psychoanalysis as more like "witch doctoring" then anything else.
Towards the end of the book when Feynman starting talking about Quantum Behavior I began to get a bit lost. But the experiments he discusses helped me paint a picture in my mine so as to see the concept more clearly. For example on page 117 Feynman begins to discuss a rather interesting experiment he did with bullets in order to show quantum behavior.
All in all this was an interesting book for those who are studying physics or just have an interest.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An introduction to Physics and Feynman's wit
Review: Feynman has condensed the contents of his presentations to 1st year Physics students at CalTech. The information about the six topics is simply put and without a prerequisite deep mathematic understanding. These more advanced lessons are available in the Feynman Lectures on Physics. If you would like a basic Physics understanding and would like learning it from a teacher with wit and verve, this is a great resource. The six topics are about atoms, basic Physics, Physics relations to other sciences, energy, gravity, and Quantum Mechanics.

When read with "Surely you must be joking, Mr. Feynman", this book is far more interesting. It will highlight Feynman's wit and prepare you for its appearance in his lecture.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Six easy pieces
Review: Feynman is easy to understand even for the physically challenged. This book is a great place to start for those just getting into physics. Feynman applies this science to things in life that I, even as a first year physics student, began to get a grasp on as the book progressed. Other books I had started to read on this field were boring and it was easy to lose focus. I would find myself pages ahead but realizing I hadn't caught anything of what I just read. With this book it was interesting enough where if I didn't get something the first time I actually wanted to go back and double check. Six Easy Pieces really is pretty easy.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Master Delivery
Review: Feynman is one of my favorite American heros. It is hard not to admire any one aspect of his life. Above all, he was a great teacher obviously. The book is a collection of his lectures for introductory physics, may be a little too elementary for some. Note that, nowadays such topics are delivered to students at earlier ages since Feynman first started these lectures. Still, how he uses daily language and examples to explain and highlight the basic principles of physics is impressive. More importantly, he is very open and clear about exactly what is known and explainable and what we really do not know yet. This comes in very handy in the last chapter on quantum physics, which I enjoyed the most.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Introduction to Physics
Review: I love reading Feynman. I am not going to write a long review of this book. If you are interested enough in physics to be at this page, then reading this book is a no brainer. I will say that I read QED first, and that is Feynman's masterpiece. This work suffers by comparison only in that he is addressing underclassman and trying to get them interested in the big picture, whereas QED is the big picture. The great thing about this book is its conversational tone. You can almost imagine yourself in a classroom headed by the most brilliant physics teacher or our time. That's worth something, I'd say. Enjoy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good Job with Difficult Subject Matter
Review: I'm a high school physics teacher who is currently using this book to supplement my physics students' reading. Well, actually, there have been whole subject matters, such as Conservation of Energy and Law of Universal Gravitation which we have entirely taken from this book. My students are from diverse backgrounds, and Feynman has allowed them to really get their hands on these complicated ideas, which, frankly, a math-only-oriented program wouldn't let someone with high school math skills do. This book has convinced me to look for other appropriate texts by Feynman for my class.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It helps when you want to understand physics more
Review: In "Six Easy Pieces", a lot of physics concepts were addressed. Feynman explained physics in a language that I could understand. It was interesting when he wrote the book in a slightly humorous way to keep the reader interested.
I liked how he explained the atoms in motion, because in physics, it all boils down to atoms. I learned that atoms are not really connected, but they are attracted to each other and constantly moving, which is how we see solid things. If atoms didn't move, we couldn't be seen, and we could pass through walls. I thought this was fascinating, and it interested me to learn more about physics.
I liked how physics was started from astronomy, because astronomy is an interesting subject. You would think that physics came first, but astronomy did. Physics can also be combined with chemistry because chemistry is all about atomic compounds.
Overall, I think that this book helped me understand physics a little bit more, and I think that in the future when I get into college, I want to take a physics class. This book has inspired me to learn more.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Essential Work of Physics
Review: Richard Feynman cohesively and cocisely explains the basics of physics in this book, aptly earning him the title "physics' most brilliant teacher". The genius of Feynman's writing is his uncommon ability to explain effectively concepts of physics often not explained as well by textbooks or other sources. For example, I found his explanation of uniform circular motion (that an orbiting object is "falling around" that which it orbits) extremely helpful. That Feynman was able to unlock some of the more arcane aspects of physics to those who had been attempting to understand them conceptually for years is further testimony to his brilliance. The book is therefore requisite for both those who are troubled by the study of physics and those enthused by it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Six Easy Pieces from a high school student's standpoint
Review: Six Easy Pieces is a brief overview of various aspects of physics, taken from Feynman's book, Lectures on physics. The book covers basics of physics, atoms, physics compared to other areas of science, and later goes into a discussion of quantum physics. Throughout the book Feynman explains the concepts in a clear, concise manner, using examples to explain his points. This is physics explained in layman's terms. The book is very engaging, and the examples are usually quite entertaining. Feynman writes in a way that keeps the reader wanting to go on to the next example, the next concept.

As a high school senior in a physics class, I was forced to read this book. Upon first viewing it, I thought to myself "Wow, a physics book. Goody," rather sarcastically. After reading the introduction, which included a short biography of Richard Feynman, I became more interested in the book, and was looking forward to getting to the meat of the book. I was not disappointed. The book is a fun read, and is usually very easy to understand, although some of the vocabulary is a bit tough. Overall, it is a good book for anyone with even a passing interest in science, and will make the reader want to seek out other works by Feynman.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Proper Introduction To Physics For The Layman
Review: Six Easy Pieces is an excellent introduction to one of today's most intriguing scientific fields. Feynman presents physics in a series of easily understandable lectures that are appealing to the layman, in that it presents theories and concepts through simple example. Despite the age of his work, much of what is taught and discussed in the book is still relevant and accepted in physics today.

The book centers on the basic principles and operations of the following topics:
1 - Atoms In Motion
2 - Basic Physics
3 - The Relation of Physics to Other Sciences
4 - Conservation of Energy
5 - The Theory of Gravitation
6 - Quantum Behavior

Within each topic lesser subtopics are addressed, more specifically subtopics that are rooted to or based in one of the overall topics. The teaching style exhibited by Feynman is well thought out and should appeal to the majority of readers. However, Six Easy Pieces is meant as an introduction for the layman and is not suggested for those already experienced in the field.

In closing, Six Easy Pieces is an excellent introduction to the topic of physics, however it is just that - an introduction. Therefore, it is highly recommended for the layman, but not for the physicist.


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