Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Free Press (2012), Edition: 2/14/12, 320 pages
Description
Largely autobiographical account of the author's life as one who fell in love first with physics and then with teaching physics to students.
User reviews
LibraryThing member StephenBarkley
Like a lot of people, I was introduced to Walter Lewin through his compelling physics lectures from MIT, which are freely available online. During my last trip to Chapters, I noticed he had written a book as well. His lectures were so fascinating, I picked the book up immediately.
The book is a
Lewin's trademark humor and passion for teaching shines through clearly here. He often describes his classroom antics—along with the student's reaction—in a way that makes you feel like you're in the front row. Add to this a dash of Vonnegutesque interjections and you have one memorable physics primer.
This book would have been even better had I not already listened to the lectures. I felt an odd sense of déjà vu a number of times when the book and lectures overlapped. Still, with my porous memory, I'm sure the repetition helped things to stick.
For the Love of Physics is what you get when a talented teacher has loads of enthusiasm for the subject.
The book is a
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combination of memoir and physics (without the mathematical tedium). To be more specific, the introduction to physics is sandwiched between autobiographical information at the start and end of the book. Both parts of the book are interesting, but they don't seem to gel that well together as one work.Lewin's trademark humor and passion for teaching shines through clearly here. He often describes his classroom antics—along with the student's reaction—in a way that makes you feel like you're in the front row. Add to this a dash of Vonnegutesque interjections and you have one memorable physics primer.
This book would have been even better had I not already listened to the lectures. I felt an odd sense of déjà vu a number of times when the book and lectures overlapped. Still, with my porous memory, I'm sure the repetition helped things to stick.
For the Love of Physics is what you get when a talented teacher has loads of enthusiasm for the subject.
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LibraryThing member fpagan
Popular-level explanations of many physics topics, replete with references to demonstrations viewable on the Internet or performed by Lewin in his first-year undergraduate courses at MIT. Also quite a lot on Lewin's area of research, X-ray astronomy. A strong attempt to rescue people turned off by
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their exposure to physics in high school. Show Less
LibraryThing member GlennBell
The initial discussion is a combination of high school physics and a few advanced discussions. The information on rainbows was beyond what I had ever heard before. Walter ends the book by discussing x-ray astrophysics. This was his area of research. Overall a good read.
LibraryThing member MartyBriggs
Engaging, short chapters on the physics of various everyday phenomena. Could assign just one chapter, or a set of several for a book-length assignment.
LibraryThing member LaPhenix
Though I didn't quite gain the understanding that I'd expected, I love Lewin's passion and perspective, and he opened my eyes to a lot of gems we overlook in everyday life.
LibraryThing member aront
I have no doubt Lewin is a fantastic teacher. The anecdotes about his life were quite interesting as were the stories of how he teaches. But he covers way too much ground in this short book so the explanations are rushed and often unclear. If I knew nothing about physics, I dont think I would be
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able to follow at all. I think I’ll watch his online classes because I didn’t come away Learning a lot of new stuff from this book. Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2011-05
Physical description
320 p.; 8.44 inches
ISBN
145160713X / 9781451607130