The Character of Physical Law, with new foreword (Mit Press) Paperback – March 10, 2017

I've read this book about 10 times. I buy them used and give them to my physics students.. In some ways, the author has written a book that transcends the usual level of discussing modern physics. When he says the character of physical he is not exaggerating. Using the author's understanding you can literally intuit physical laws. A remarkable achievement. Some of the other teacher's ask me why I spend my own money for books that I give to students I may never see again. It is because I want to see the ideas this book inspires in those fresh minds. I also give copies. to some students, of Feynman's lectures on physics that he gave to all the incoming physics students a Cal Tech. I get feedback on that to the effect that those students then got straight 'A' grades at Cal Tech. An epic return on the investment. And when we see the ideas they come up with, well it just doesn't get any better than that.

As a practicing physicist, having read and enjoyed Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" and Weinberg's "Lake Views", this Richard Feynman lecture series on the "Character of Physical Law" is even more enjoyable. It reaffirms simple truths in science research that are often forgotten in an age of automated analysis, that for example one must dig into the details of an experiment or observation with as little bias as possible to uncover the next aha moment and what is worth pursuing next (in my experience, one always finds something worthwhile if one digs, even if it is just explaining what went wrong) that arriving at the same answer by using different sets of equations (working in energy vs force space is a favorite example of mine) is anything but a waste of time, as different calculational paths lead on to connections to different phenomena. Despite being almost 50 years old, this series of lectures remains fresh (contrasting with books on Information Technology where one can get bored reading about predictions in technology advancement that have come true already 10 years later (for example, Bill Gates' late 1990's "Business at the Speed of Thought").

This is yet another book that attempts to convey the essence of physics to common people. After explaining exactly why it can't be done, arguing that you'll never get it, Feynman goes right ahead and does it anyway.For each topic, you get a feel for his goal in covering a topic. He explains gravity, yes, to explain gravity, but also because by explaining it he can also convey what essential properties gravity has that other laws have.He also explains the difference between fundamental laws and the consequences of those laws. That the individual laws are reversible, but that probability is responsible for the arrow of time. He spends a lot of time showing the difficult relationship between the basic laws (which are reversible) and the irreversibility of events. Both are characteristics of the physical universe but the latter is not a fundamental law. The latter is a logical outcome of them.So there's a hierarchy, which goes; fundamental laws like gravity at the ground level, consequences of them like irreversibility and surface tension at one level up, organic chemistry further up, then eventually concepts like tree, frog, man, pain, beauty, good and evil - each at a higher level, but based upon the levels below them, and difficult to fully predict using only the laws of the lower levels. The levels can be extended up and down. Below gravity is the unification theory of everything. Above good and evil are love, politics, etc.And then he asks, of the extremes on this hierarchy, the fundamental laws and the most abstract concepts, which is closest to God? After asking for patience with his religious reference, he spends little time before revealing his belief that the question is flawed. To understand God is to understand how the levels interrelate; how the fundamental laws were "chosen" so that they would lead to the unfolding of all the beautiful complexity that we see around us.Is this what you want to learn? Why else do we read these books than to attempt to gain a bit more insight into the eternal questions. Most authors that tackle the nature of the universe have a theological axe to grind (the need for God or not) and can't hide it. This book did more on this topic, with fewer pages, while offending me the least because of any theological bias (either way), than anything I've read before.

This lecture series from Cornell are considered classics. Richard Feynman is "always on," even if his sometimes folksy 1960s language isn't.

I've been on a bit of a pop-physics bender recently and came across a few Feynman lectures on YouTube. I've tried reading a couple of other Feynman books (eg the 6 easy/not-so-easy pieces) and felt disappointed they weren't the complete series of lectures. This series on the character of physical law is a wonderfully clear description of how physics sat in the 1960s that still feels fresh today. That all of the lectures are present means that complex ideas can be developed properly and delivered over a few chapters. This is a great text for any science nerds who want a genius to clarify for them exactly what it is about science that is so entrancing, from the perspective of physics.

The product was delivered in impeccable condition. thank you!

As good as you can get with the exception of seeing the original lectures.This is a transcript.He did not write any lecture, but had notes. He did not like writing.I don't think a single book with him credited as author was actually written by him, but a transcript or someone quoting his words.And when you hear him tell of all these things you realize this guy truly knows what he is talking about. and the tiny errors he makes in the lecture actually make you realize how Intelligent he is, and how much he loves physics.

I used this as a text for a university course I taught years ago to liberal arts majors. This book reveals the elegant essence of physics to (even a non mathematical) reader, and would be especially beneficial as a precursor to anyone's first physics class.