Status
Available
Publication
Perseus (1997), Edition: Reprint, 152 pages
Description
Six lectures, all regarding the most revolutionary discovery in twentieth-century physics: Einstein's Theory of Relativity. No one--not even Einstein himself--explained these difficult, anti-intuitive concepts more clearly, or with more verve and gusto, than Feynman.
User reviews
LibraryThing member TadAD
First of all, despite the title, viewing this as a sequel to Feynman's Six Easy Pieces may lead to a bit of disappointment. While both books are drawn from his monumental Lectures on Physics, they have a different target audience in mind. The first book aimed more at the lay reader, carefully
This book, while still intending to educate the newcomer, is farther down the track, assuming elementary algebra, calculus and physics. In this case, elementary means elementary college level, not typical high school classes.
Do you have to have this to get through the chapters? No. However, without it, much of the content will be meaningless...in the sense that you'll just have to assume he's not talking baloney. You'd probably be better off finding an overview article on these topics somewhere on the Web and reading it. This material is from actual undergraduate lectures given by Feynman and the approach is correspondingly rigorous.
Feynman has a marvelous gift for making the esoteric understandable and entertaining. It's hard to imagine anyone could do a better job of giving an introduction to relativity. Nonetheless, these are "not so easy" compared to the first book.
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choosing sections from the larger work that avoided mathematics and did not posit any prior understanding of physics.This book, while still intending to educate the newcomer, is farther down the track, assuming elementary algebra, calculus and physics. In this case, elementary means elementary college level, not typical high school classes.
Do you have to have this to get through the chapters? No. However, without it, much of the content will be meaningless...in the sense that you'll just have to assume he's not talking baloney. You'd probably be better off finding an overview article on these topics somewhere on the Web and reading it. This material is from actual undergraduate lectures given by Feynman and the approach is correspondingly rigorous.
Feynman has a marvelous gift for making the esoteric understandable and entertaining. It's hard to imagine anyone could do a better job of giving an introduction to relativity. Nonetheless, these are "not so easy" compared to the first book.
Show Less
LibraryThing member psiloiordinary
A selection of pieces from his series of lectures on Physics.
Accessible and inspirational. Maths required.
Accessible and inspirational. Maths required.
LibraryThing member TrgLlyLibrarian
I admit that I never read the entire thing. However, this book has totally saved my life twice now. It's a fascinating and relatively easy-to-understand explanation of relativity, perfect for math projects. :)