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The Feynman Lectures on Physics are free online

247 points by alexholehouse 11y ago

webmaven 11y ago
Awesome! In not totally unrelated news, I just finished reading Greg Egan's 'Orthogonal' trilogy (alien (as in really alien, alternate-universe cosmology and physics) multi-generational epic). The Feynman-type diagrams in the last book helped make sense of the weird physics.
- darkmighty 11y ago
  Sounds interesting, is the physics in the book mathematically sound/consistent? (and interesting, hopefully)
  - sohkamyung 11y ago
    It is mathematically interesting and shows how physics behave if you change assumptions about the geometry of space-time. Egan has copious documents on the physics of the Orthogonal universe at his website [ http://www.gregegan.net/ORTHOGONAL/ORTHOGONAL.html http://www.gregegan.net/ORTHOGONAL/ORTHOGONAL.html ]
  - webmaven 11y ago
    AFAICT, it is mathematically sound and internally consistent, and very interesting.
- andyjohnson0 11y ago
  I really like Egan's work, particularly earlier books like Diaspora and Permutation City, but find his later works unsatisfying due to poor characterisation and pace. Incandescence is a good example - I plodded through it and finished only by a real effort of will. Does the Orthoganal trilogy work for you on that level? I'm looking for some good fiction to balance by non-fiction reading now that the nights are getting darker.
  - Intermernet 11y ago
    I found the Orthoganal trilogy brilliant as an experiment in character development, and extending "alternate realities" about as far as they can be extended, but they aren't as engaging as most of his other books (IMO). I think this is more due to the fact that humans like reading about characters they can easily relate to, and Egan really pushes this boundary! Still worth a read, and I'll almost certainly re-read them in the future.
  - stuxnet79 11y ago
    Interesting that you mention that. I just now finished Permutation City and in my opinion it was pretty terrible ... as a work of fiction. Pace was off, characterization was horrid. I guess Incandescence wouldn't work out too well for me. Permutation City is the first Egan novel i've read though. I had no issues with his short stories though so I suppose I will stick with that format anytime I'm hunkering for some rigorous hard sci-fi. Incidentally I read Permutation City right after Surely You are Joking Mr Feynman! While the Feynman book was an obvious page turner the Egan book was slow going. The difference to me was quite jarring and must have contributed in part to my disliking of the book.
hchenji 11y ago
Is this new or has it existed since some time?
- akiselev 11y ago
  According to [1] it has been available for free online since 2013. I bought the hardcover 3+1/2 volume box set at borders almost a decade ago. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feynman_Lectures_on_Physics https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feynman_Lectures_on_Phys...
- Synaesthesia 11y ago
  They've been working on a special web edition, and recently finished volume 3, it took quite a while.
jacobolus 11y ago
Several prior discussions: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=feynman%20lectures&dateRange=all https://hn.algolia.com/?query=feynman%20lectures&dateRange=a...
alexholehouse 11y ago
I should (sheepishly) say that I knew Vol. 1 and 2 were available but very recently discovered 3 was now also available. As it turns out, 3 was published a while ago, so while it was new to me, the full set being available was not, in fact, new to the world. That said, hopefully it's all new to [some] other people!
mhartl 11y ago
You're welcome. :-)
fletchowns 11y ago
If you haven't read "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" yet, do yourself a favor and order it right now!
rcurry 11y ago
One of Feynman's funniest lines, I thought, was during a talk where someone in the audience asked if we'd ever be able to develop an anti-gravity device. Feynman gestured at their chair and said something along the lines of "we already have, in fact you're sitting on one right now."
- amelius 11y ago
  Funny. Except that sitting on a chair will not make you feel weightless. Also, we can't replace space stations and parabolic flights by chairs.
  - teekert 11y ago
    The chair provides an equal but opposite force to gravity, that could be interpreted as anti-gravity :)
mironathetin 11y ago
If I wrote "A must read for every physics student" then it felt more like duty. But actually it is fun to read the Feynman lectures because they are so inspiring. One of those rare books that are written so well that it becomes fun to study - even such abstract things like physics. Few scientists have a talent to present abstract things as well as Feynman. Daniel Kahneman and Sigmund Freud, whose lectures are also a pleasure to read, come to mind. I couldn't read the Feynman lectures for my courses though (we followed the Berkeley physics series), but when ever I want to refresh my mind or find a nice way to explain things to students, these are a swell reference. I still prefer the printed version though because of its nice layout with images and drawings in the margins.
okasaki 11y ago
Some of the text does not render correctly if you set your own browser fonts.
guilhermeasg 11y ago
There's also a couple of interesting videos here: http://www.feynmanphysicslectures.com/ http://www.feynmanphysicslectures.com/

247 points by alexholehouse 11y ago

Awesome! In not totally unrelated news, I just finished reading Greg Egan's 'Orthogonal' trilogy (alien (as in really alien, alternate-universe cosmology and physics) multi-generational epic). The Feynman-type diagrams in the last book helped make sense of the weird physics.

darkmighty 11y ago
Sounds interesting, is the physics in the book mathematically sound/consistent? (and interesting, hopefully)
- sohkamyung 11y ago
  It is mathematically interesting and shows how physics behave if you change assumptions about the geometry of space-time. Egan has copious documents on the physics of the Orthogonal universe at his website [ http://www.gregegan.net/ORTHOGONAL/ORTHOGONAL.html http://www.gregegan.net/ORTHOGONAL/ORTHOGONAL.html ]
- webmaven 11y ago
  AFAICT, it is mathematically sound and internally consistent, and very interesting.
andyjohnson0 11y ago
I really like Egan's work, particularly earlier books like Diaspora and Permutation City, but find his later works unsatisfying due to poor characterisation and pace. Incandescence is a good example - I plodded through it and finished only by a real effort of will. Does the Orthoganal trilogy work for you on that level? I'm looking for some good fiction to balance by non-fiction reading now that the nights are getting darker.
- Intermernet 11y ago
  I found the Orthoganal trilogy brilliant as an experiment in character development, and extending "alternate realities" about as far as they can be extended, but they aren't as engaging as most of his other books (IMO). I think this is more due to the fact that humans like reading about characters they can easily relate to, and Egan really pushes this boundary! Still worth a read, and I'll almost certainly re-read them in the future.
- stuxnet79 11y ago
  Interesting that you mention that. I just now finished Permutation City and in my opinion it was pretty terrible ... as a work of fiction. Pace was off, characterization was horrid. I guess Incandescence wouldn't work out too well for me. Permutation City is the first Egan novel i've read though. I had no issues with his short stories though so I suppose I will stick with that format anytime I'm hunkering for some rigorous hard sci-fi. Incidentally I read Permutation City right after Surely You are Joking Mr Feynman! While the Feynman book was an obvious page turner the Egan book was slow going. The difference to me was quite jarring and must have contributed in part to my disliking of the book.

hchenji 11y ago

Is this new or has it existed since some time?

akiselev 11y ago
According to [1] it has been available for free online since 2013. I bought the hardcover 3+1/2 volume box set at borders almost a decade ago. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feynman_Lectures_on_Physics https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feynman_Lectures_on_Phys...
Synaesthesia 11y ago
They've been working on a special web edition, and recently finished volume 3, it took quite a while.

jacobolus 11y ago

Several prior discussions: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=feynman%20lectures&dateRange=all https://hn.algolia.com/?query=feynman%20lectures&dateRange=a...

alexholehouse 11y ago

I should (sheepishly) say that I knew Vol. 1 and 2 were available but very recently discovered 3 was now also available. As it turns out, 3 was published a while ago, so while it was new to me, the full set being available was not, in fact, new to the world. That said, hopefully it's all new to [some] other people!

mhartl 11y ago

You're welcome. :-)

fletchowns 11y ago

If you haven't read "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" yet, do yourself a favor and order it right now!

rcurry 11y ago

One of Feynman's funniest lines, I thought, was during a talk where someone in the audience asked if we'd ever be able to develop an anti-gravity device. Feynman gestured at their chair and said something along the lines of "we already have, in fact you're sitting on one right now."

amelius 11y ago
Funny. Except that sitting on a chair will not make you feel weightless. Also, we can't replace space stations and parabolic flights by chairs.
- teekert 11y ago
  The chair provides an equal but opposite force to gravity, that could be interpreted as anti-gravity :)

mironathetin 11y ago

If I wrote "A must read for every physics student" then it felt more like duty. But actually it is fun to read the Feynman lectures because they are so inspiring. One of those rare books that are written so well that it becomes fun to study - even such abstract things like physics. Few scientists have a talent to present abstract things as well as Feynman. Daniel Kahneman and Sigmund Freud, whose lectures are also a pleasure to read, come to mind. I couldn't read the Feynman lectures for my courses though (we followed the Berkeley physics series), but when ever I want to refresh my mind or find a nice way to explain things to students, these are a swell reference. I still prefer the printed version though because of its nice layout with images and drawings in the margins.

okasaki 11y ago

Some of the text does not render correctly if you set your own browser fonts.

guilhermeasg 11y ago

There's also a couple of interesting videos here: http://www.feynmanphysicslectures.com/ http://www.feynmanphysicslectures.com/