Call number
Publication
New York : Norton, 1999, c1996.
Pages
191
Description
Rescued from obscurity, Feynman's Lost Lecture is a blessing for all Feynman followers. Most know Richard Feynman for the hilarious anecdotes and exploits in his best-selling books "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" and "What Do You Care What Other People Think?" But not always obvious in those stories was his brilliance as a pure scientist--one of the century's greatest physicists. With this book and CD, we hear the voice of the great Feynman in all his ingenuity, insight, and acumen for argument. This breathtaking lecture--"The Motion of the Planets Around the Sun"--uses nothing more advanced than high-school geometry to explain why the planets orbit the sun elliptically rather than in perfect circles, and conclusively demonstrates the astonishing fact that has mystified and intrigued thinkers since Newton: Nature obeys mathematics. David and Judith Goodstein give us a beautifully written short memoir of life with Feynman, provide meticulous commentary on the lecture itself, and relate the exciting story of their effort to chase down one of Feynman's most original and scintillating lectures.… (more)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1996
Physical description
191 p.; 8.5 inches
ISBN
0393319954 / 9780393319958
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User reviews
LibraryThing member WholeHouseLibrary
Richard Feynman will always be my favorite geek. I’ve read at least three of his books, but have never heard him speak anywhere, although he was the principle investigator of the Challenger disaster and there was much televised about that. The edition of this lecture was a CD that was available
I never studied Physics in school, but read a few books on the subject over the years, especially when my interest in Astronomy hit a fevered pitch around twenty-five years (or more) ago. Fortunately, I have a gift for all-things-mathematical, and was able to follow his lecture while driving at 70 mph up the highway. Planetary Motion explained in Plane Geometry – and done so eloquently! Then he follows that up with (if I recall correctly) an explanation of Rutherford’s Law (the scattering of subatomic particles) using PG again! When the lecture was over, the tape recorder was left running for another fifteen minutes as students came up to him and asked questions about various aspects of his lecture. He was generous to a fault with his time and his enthusiasm, and worked out the misunderstanding/answers with them.
Feynman speaks in the same style as he writes. Engaging would be a good word to start with. It was thrilling to hear him make comments to himself, give brief asides about a point he had just made, off-the-cuff remarks… The man was as brilliant as they come, and endlessly curious.
I can’t comment about the book because it is not available to me. So, suffice to say that if you have a half-way decent background in Math, you could probably learn from listening to the CD. If you have a nerdy side to you, you’ll probably like this more than you’d prefer to admit. I wish I had more professors with his level of enthusiasm when I went to college!
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from my local library, no book. Other than the poor quality of the original recording transferred from the tape, I found his talk to be excellent.I never studied Physics in school, but read a few books on the subject over the years, especially when my interest in Astronomy hit a fevered pitch around twenty-five years (or more) ago. Fortunately, I have a gift for all-things-mathematical, and was able to follow his lecture while driving at 70 mph up the highway. Planetary Motion explained in Plane Geometry – and done so eloquently! Then he follows that up with (if I recall correctly) an explanation of Rutherford’s Law (the scattering of subatomic particles) using PG again! When the lecture was over, the tape recorder was left running for another fifteen minutes as students came up to him and asked questions about various aspects of his lecture. He was generous to a fault with his time and his enthusiasm, and worked out the misunderstanding/answers with them.
Feynman speaks in the same style as he writes. Engaging would be a good word to start with. It was thrilling to hear him make comments to himself, give brief asides about a point he had just made, off-the-cuff remarks… The man was as brilliant as they come, and endlessly curious.
I can’t comment about the book because it is not available to me. So, suffice to say that if you have a half-way decent background in Math, you could probably learn from listening to the CD. If you have a nerdy side to you, you’ll probably like this more than you’d prefer to admit. I wish I had more professors with his level of enthusiasm when I went to college!
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LibraryThing member rickumali
This is a highly engaging lecture, but you have to work to 'get' the argument that Mr. Feymann makes regarding the elliptical orbit of our planets. This is a very rewarding book, which features a CD of Mr. Feymann 'proving' the shape of orbits using relatively simple math.
LibraryThing member AsYouKnow_Bob
Wow, this is brilliant. And it's pitched at a level that I can even follow.
LibraryThing member MarkBeronte
Rescued from obscurity, Feynman's Lost Lecture is a blessing for all Feynman followers. Most know Richard Feynman for the hilarious anecdotes and exploits in his best-selling books Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! and What DoYou Care What Other People Think? But not always obvious in those
Show More
stories was his brilliance as a pure scientist—one of the century's greatest physicists. With this book and CD, we hear the voice of the great Feynman in all his ingenuity, insight, and acumen for argument. This breathtaking lecture—"The Motion of the Planets Around the Sun"—uses nothing more advanced than high-school geometry to explain why the planets orbit the sun elliptically rather than in perfect circles, and conclusively demonstrates the astonishing fact that has mystified and intrigued thinkers since Newton: Nature obeys mathematics. David and Judith Goodstein give us a beautifully written short memoir of life with Feynman, provide meticulous commentary on the lecture itself, and relate the exciting story of their effort to chase down one of Feynman's most original and scintillating lectures. Show Less
LibraryThing member mobill76
The title is irresistable. But, like most of my "reading Feynman" projects, it's more work than I thought it would be. He is, after all, a physicist.
But, it's not a bad lecture and it comes with a story about how it was reconstructed. So, it's another labor of love for a man who makes us proud to
It's approximately the same level of material that's in Six Easy Pieces. I think I would've liked it better if I'd heard it before SEP. As it is, it was a lot of money for "just one more lecture".
I'd say, "Get it if you're considering getting SEP". It's a taste of what you're getting yourself into.
But, it's not a bad lecture and it comes with a story about how it was reconstructed. So, it's another labor of love for a man who makes us proud to
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be human.It's approximately the same level of material that's in Six Easy Pieces. I think I would've liked it better if I'd heard it before SEP. As it is, it was a lot of money for "just one more lecture".
I'd say, "Get it if you're considering getting SEP". It's a taste of what you're getting yourself into.
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LibraryThing member themulhern
This book has four chapters and an epilogue. The first chapter is historical, about the emergence of a solid heliocentric theory. It's vague, I'm pretty sure it is inaccurate, as if written straight from the authors' memory, and it really doesn't add much. The second is about Feynman himself, and
Now for a discussion of chapter 3. The first part is just about the properties of ellipses. There are two allied facts:
* the old string and push-pins construction, which you can make a formula of
* a light at one focus will have all its rays reflected back to the other focus
Geometrical constructions relating these two facts are developed.
There is also one interesting corollary. Take a circle. Choose a point in the circle that is not the center. The circle and the choice of the second point define an ellipse constructed according to a particular formula. The illustration of this fact in the book, on page 79 is not quite right:
Draw a line through F and F' which intersects the ellipse and the circle. Call the intersection on the ellipse closest to F', E', and the intersection on the circle closest to F' C'. Then F'E' must equal E'C', but in the diagram they are noticeably different.
Nonetheless, the geometric relationships are worth pondering.
One statement of the theorem:
Let F, F' be the two foci of the ellipse. Let D be the distance from F to any point p on the ellipse to F'. By the definition of ellipses, D is a constant. Let t be the line tangent to the ellipse at some arbitrary point P on the ellipse. Then it must be the case that the angle between the tangent and FP is equal to the angle between the tangent and F'P.
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it's not that interesting either. Somebody wrote that Feynman lived his life so that he could write anecdotes about himself, and it seems to have worked for others, too. So much for Feynman. The third chapter is the real contribution; the explanation of Feynman's lecture. This is the longest chapter and I feel very sure I wouldn't understand Feynman's lecture without it. As I've read more and more about the history of science, I've become more and more uncertain about the actual meaning of Kepler's and Newton's work, and about what can really be said about the motion of the planets, and this lecture should answer some real questions I have. The fourth chapter is Feynman's lecture, which is _much_ shorter than the explanation and also available on audio. Then there is an epilogue, which I have yet to get to.Now for a discussion of chapter 3. The first part is just about the properties of ellipses. There are two allied facts:
* the old string and push-pins construction, which you can make a formula of
* a light at one focus will have all its rays reflected back to the other focus
Geometrical constructions relating these two facts are developed.
There is also one interesting corollary. Take a circle. Choose a point in the circle that is not the center. The circle and the choice of the second point define an ellipse constructed according to a particular formula. The illustration of this fact in the book, on page 79 is not quite right:
Draw a line through F and F' which intersects the ellipse and the circle. Call the intersection on the ellipse closest to F', E', and the intersection on the circle closest to F' C'. Then F'E' must equal E'C', but in the diagram they are noticeably different.
Nonetheless, the geometric relationships are worth pondering.
One statement of the theorem:
Let F, F' be the two foci of the ellipse. Let D be the distance from F to any point p on the ellipse to F'. By the definition of ellipses, D is a constant. Let t be the line tangent to the ellipse at some arbitrary point P on the ellipse. Then it must be the case that the angle between the tangent and FP is equal to the angle between the tangent and F'P.
Show Less