A must-have. That's all. ( )

Friday, May 18, 2012 6:40 AM
Folio Society Edition. The pieces of the title are lectures from the Feynman Lectures on Physics. The lectures were for an advanced introductory course at Caltech in 1960, and represent transcribed lectures, with editing by Feynman. The easy pieces are introductory surveys. In “Atoms in Motion” Feynman argues that the realization that matter is made of atoms is the fundamental idea of science. “Basic Physics” reviews the history of the evolution of physical thought from Newton to Einstein and quantum theory. “The Relation of Physics to Other Sciences” is an essay on that topic. “Conservation of Energy”, “Theory of Gravitation” and “Quantum Behavior” begin the discussion physical laws. The not-so-easy pieces take up more mathematical concepts, and relativity, in chapters on “Vectors”, “Symmetry in Physical Laws”, “The Special Theory of Relativity” (Lorentz transformations and Michelson-Morley experiment), “Relativistic Energy and Momentum” (E=mc2), “Space-Time” and “Curved Space”. The last chapters have some mathematics, challenging my memory for calculus and vector analysis, and some difficult concepts. Feynman is very discursive and has an easy style. Some of his references to modern experiments are dated, but nothing in the science is out of date ( )