The Feynman Lectures on Physics (3 Volume Set) (Set v)
by Richard Phillips Feynman
Our Price: $675.00
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $100.00 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Richard Phillips FeynmanEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1970-01
ISBN: 0201021153
Number of pages: 1552
Publisher: Addison Wesley Longman
Book Reviews of The Feynman Lectures on Physics (3 Volume Set) (Set v)
Book Review: An original textbook about physics rooted in common sense
Summary: 5 Stars
Feynman's three-volume textbook should probably not be the only book about physics that you will ever read. But it is certainly among the highly recommended ones.
Feynman was an original thinker - his thinking was always "different". On the other hand, his thinking was also very ordinary, in a sense. He was a very good teacher. He could always understand what is the "natural" conclusion that most of people make about a question, and he could identify where this thinking goes wrong. This is where he focused his teaching energy.
This book contains less equations than most other technical textbooks about the subject. This feature may have some disadvantages, but it certainly has advantages, too. You really need words, not just equations, if you want to explain why some common interpretations of the formalism are misleading, and Feynman does so at many places.
Feynman uses the power of jokes - for example when he defines the concept of a velocity. (Well, the feminists are probably not too happy about this joke, but they are probably not among the readers of this book anyway.) The book also carries another message: about the very basic principles of science as such. What does it mean that a scientific theory is successful? He makes it clear that the physical description of our Universe is one of the main parts of the real culture of our era - and he also humiliates most philosophers.
Even though this was not the main textbook that taught me physics, I still remember several Feynman's points that were important for me - such as his explanations of resonance. But the most remarkable is Feynman's approach to quantum mechanics. Feynman himself is the originator of the "sum over histories" approach to quantum mechanics. But of course, it is not the (only) approach that he wants to explain in the book.
Nevertheless his approach to teaching quantum mechanics is unusual, too. He does not really start with the wavefunctions of a particle moving on the line, which is what a typical textbook does. Instead, he studies several systems with two-dimensional Hilbert spaces. It is an extremely useful approach for the reader to understand the interpretational issues of quantum mechanics.
What do I mean? The wavefunction is not a classical wave, even though it may look so. It is a mathematical object that encodes the probabilities, and the finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces make it more transparent. His examples also make it more obvious that different bases in the same Hilbert space (and different operators) can be equally important and natural, and should be treated democratically. Finally, he also explains the errors of the original reasoning of Einstein (and Podolsky and Rosen) when he suggested that quantum mechanics led to "paradoxes".
Other textbooks often lead the readers to believe that the position operator is special after all, and various deterministic interpretations of the wave function (such as de Broglie's and Bohm's theory of the pilot wave) can be valid - and it is exactly the position of the particle that should also have a "classical" value. Feynman was among those who understood quantum mechanics properly and he chose the right strategy to explain it.
The interpretation of quantum mechanics is not a subject that we teach too carefully, and the students (and not just students) sometimes do not know what is the "canonical" answer. Even though Feynman was a really original physicist, he leads the reader to understand the "orthodox" version of quantum mechanics.
Summary of The Feynman Lectures on Physics (3 Volume Set) (Set v)
The Feynman Lectures on Physics: Commemorative Issue, Three Volume Set.
- Feynman's effective classroom style remains intact in these volumes, a valuable work by a remarkable educator.
- The volumes are an edited version of Richard Feynman's lectures, taped and transcribed specifically for the books.
- The three volume commemorative issue is either available hardbound and packaged in a specially designed slipcase, or in a paperbound edition.
Physics Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Physics Books
Introduction to Quantum Mechanics (2nd Edition)by David J. Griffiths
Benjamin Cummings; Published: 2004-04-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $68.99
Price in other shops:
Physics, Second Editionby James S. Walker
Prentice Hall; Published: 2003-04-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $24.99
Price in other shops:
Physics: Principles with Applications Volume II (Ch. 16-33) (6th Edition)by Douglas C. Giancoli
Prentice Hall; Published: 2004-08-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $86.99
Price in other shops:
Mechanics of Materialsby R. C. Hibbeler
Prentice Hall College Div; Published: 1996-11-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $78.36
Price in other shops:
Molecular Spectroscopyby Jeanne L. McHale
Prentice Hall; Published: 1998-05-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $119.50
Price in other shops:
Build Your Own PC Recording Studioby John Chappell
McGraw-Hill Osborne Media; Published: 2003-04-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Illustrated Guide to Aerodynamicsby H. C. Smith, H. C. Skip Smith
Mcgraw-Hill; Published: 1992-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $155.42
An Introduction to Mechanics. Daniel Kleppner, Robert J. Kolenkowby Daniel Kleppner
McGraw-Hill; Published: 1973-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $95.00
College Physics, Vol. 1 (Fifth Edition)by Raymond A. Serway, Jerry S. Faughn
Saunders College Publishing; Published: 1998-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $50.00
Price in other shops:
Big Bang: The Origin of the Universeby Simon Singh
Harper; Published: 2005-01-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Quantum Mechanics and Path Integrals: Emended Edition (Dover Books on Physics)by Richard P. Feynman, Albert R. Hibbs
Dover Publications; Published: 2010-07-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.33
Price in other shops:
Lectures on Quantum Mechanicsby Paul A. M. Dirac, Physics
Dover Publications; Published: 2001-03-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.86
Price in other shops:
A Student's Guide to Maxwell's Equationsby Daniel Fleisch
Cambridge University Press; Published: 2008-01-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.95
Price in other shops:
Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics By Its Most Brilliant Teacherby Richard P. Feynman
Basic Books; Published: 2005-04-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops:
Thermodynamics (Dover Books on Physics)by Enrico Fermi, Physics
Dover Publications; Published: 1956-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.29
Price in other shops:
QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter (Princeton Science Library)by Richard P. Feynman
Princeton University Press; Published: 2006-04-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.60
Price in other shops:
Feynman's Tips on Physics: A Problem-Solving Supplement to the Feynman Lectures on Physicsby Richard P. Feynman, Michael A. Gottlieb, Ralph Leighton
Addison Wesley; Published: 2005-07-31; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $49.00
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character)by Richard P. Feynman, Ralph Leighton
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1997-04-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.82
Price in other shops:
The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol. I: The New Millennium Edition: Mainly Mechanics, Radiation, and Heatby Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton, Matthew Sands
Basic Books; Published: 2011-10-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $33.30
Price in other shops:
The Feynman Lectures on Physics, boxed set: The New Millennium Editionby Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton, Matthew Sands
Basic Books; Published: 2011-01-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $114.49
Price in other shops: