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The author recommends some interesting popular books: 1. The Feynman Lectures on Physics 2. The Character of Physical Law by Richard Feynman 3. Deep Down Thi
by anonytrary 8y ago
The author recommends some interesting popular books:
1. The Feynman Lectures on Physics
2. The Character of Physical Law by Richard Feynman
3. Deep Down Things: The Breathtaking Beauty of Particle Physics by Bruce Schumm
4. The Particle Odyssey by Frank Close
5. Weinberg's The First Three Minutes
IMO someone who seriously wants to learn physics should read these books after they have gone through the typical undergraduate university books (classical, E&M, quantum, stat-mech, etc.) I would not recommend reading popular books until after you already understand the basic ideas of physics. Popular science books are like dessert.
- cygx 8y agoThe Feynman Lectures are not pop science, but a textbook series based on his undergraduate courses.
- kgwgk 8y agoI agree, they belong in the “Undergraduate Physics“ section.
- anonytrary 8y agoI didn't mean to imply that The Feynman Lectures in particular were "pop science". They are more akin to a very condensed overview of an undergraduate curriculum with interesting motivating examples hand picked by Feynman. They are not a substitute for undergraduate courses, and I'd advise most students to read them after they finish their core undergraduate courses.
- fjsolwmv 8y agoThe Feynman lectures were specially designed for creme de la creme undergrads who already did a course in physics in high school. They are a terrible way for a noob to try to learn. Also strange that the author warns against exotic topics and then 3/5 of these recommendations are exotic things 99.9% of readers will never encounter.
- anta40 8y agoMy major subject in highschool (2001-2004) was science. Now I work as a software developer. Yes I admit my physics knowledge is already rusty, and would like to refresh it. On a glance, The Feynman Lectures looks pretty doable...
- pge 8y agoI also recall hearing that as an undegrad curriculum, the lectures never worked well (even when feynman himself was teaching them). His way of understanding physics is beautiful but not intuitive for most people. I read them after getting a degree in physics and it was fascinating to see his approach precisely because it was so different (and elegant) than the way it is typically taught, but I could not have understood them nearly as well if I had not already learned the concepts in a more traditional way. All that is to say- The Feynman lectures are wonderful, but I would not recommend them as a first text.
- derangedHorse 8y agoI disagree. As someone who doesn't know much about Physics, certain things I read in the Feynman lectures today still stick with me. Like if you drop a heavy object onto the floor, its temperature rises by a minuscule amount lol.
- anonytrary 8y ago> Like if you drop a heavy object onto the floor, its temperature rises by a minuscule amount lol. Tidbits like this are not a substitute for a working knowledge of physics. The Feynman Lectures are not a substitute for undergraduate courses. You'll get more out of the Feynman Lectures after completing the main undergraduate courses.
- derangedHorse 8y agoI'm not sure what you define as a 'working' knowledge of Physics, but to get to a research level of physics requires more than a few introductory physics course also. I'm not saying the Feynman lectures is a substitute for learning any specific part of Physics, but it is useful for understanding basic concepts and also understanding how those concepts can fit in to our everyday lives. What I disagreed about in the post I replied to was the position that it wasn't "intuitive" or a good first text for beginners.