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The Character of Physical Law (Penguin Press Science)
 
 

The Character of Physical Law (Penguin Press Science) [Kindle Edition]

Richard P. Feynman , Paul Davies
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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Review

"...Fascinating...an insight into the thought processes of a great physicist." Times Literary Supplement

Product Description

A series of classic lectures, delivered in 1960 and recorded for the BBC. This is Feynman's unique take on the problems and puzzles that lie at the heart of physical theory - with Newton's Law of Gravitation; on whether time can ever go backwards; on maths as the supreme language of nature. Demonstrates Feynman's knack of finding the right everyday illustration to bring out the essence of a complicated principle - eg brilliant analogy between the law of conservation energy and the problem of drying yourself with wet towels. 'Feynman's style inspired a generation of scientists. This volume remains the best record I know of his exhilarating vision' - Paul Davies

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 716 KB
  • Print Length: 192 pages
  • Publisher: ePenguin (6 Sep 2007)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language English
  • ASIN: B002ZJSUNI
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #49,851 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is basically transcripts of a series of lectures given by Feynman. As such they are informal in style, but also relaxed on things such as sentence structure an punctuation. I'm not just being picky because this led to me having trouble reading some of the passages, they're not impenetrable, just not to his usual high standard.

The content however is good. I have read a few of his books and I wouldn't rate this amongst his best work. Usually he puts a new slant on ideas, presenting them in a way which gives fresh insights, but that isn't so evident here. He did introduce a couple of new concepts to me, like the equivalence of the symmetries and conservation laws, and how orbits can be described by conservation. These were entirely new though, so it wasn't like the new understanding of general relativity I gained from 'Six Not-so-Easy Pieces'. The final chapter on 'Seeking New Laws' fails to strike the right note for me, falling short of it's aims to explain where innovation comes from.

This is a book which doesn't deal directly with the laws of physics, there's plenty of those around already, some from the same author. It deals instead with the general structure of these laws, and how it is possible to have these laws in the first place. As such it is an interesting read, and should be considered if you have tired of books on relativity and quantum mechanics.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am lucky enough to have seen a lot of Feynman on TV in the 70s and 80s on many BBC programmes. His style and light hearted delivery make him exciting to watch. I still have my first copy of TCPL from MIT press (1965); it is a transcript of the lectures now made available online by Bill Gates. The whole series can be viewed at [...]# or search for Project TUVA. The video presentation is a copy of the original recording of a "Messenger Lectures" series filmed live in 1964. It is still worth viewing today. RPF is a very likeable and entertaining character!

Regards.
Barry.
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21 of 27 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This is a book that I really enjoyed because of Richard Feynman's fine writing style. He combined his scientific knowledge with his wit and it came out perfectly. I have read several of Mr. Feynman's books, but I think that this one comes out top. It explains gravity perfectly and the Chapter on Probability and Uncertainty was most interesting. I couldn't ask for more in a book!
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Popular Highlights

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&quote;
There is also a rhythm and a pattern between the phenomena of nature which is not apparent to the eye, but only to the eye of analysis; and it is these rhythms and patterns which we call Physical Laws. &quote;
Highlighted by 4 Kindle users
&quote;
I really think that those two cultures separate people who have and people who have not had this experience of understanding mathematics well enough to appreciate nature once. &quote;
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&quote;
Einstein, which indicates that if anything is conserved  and in this case I apply it to charge  it must be conserved locally. &quote;
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