Contains the best explanation for the uncertainty principle I have come across. Still trying to wrap my mind around quantum mechanics though.

The ideas of Richard Feynman are brilliant and cuts right across the wordplay we have for ourselves. All of us seem to think if we know the name of something or if we have discovered a formula for something we 'know' it.

Feynman beautifully points out there is so much we have no clue about and while we may have learnt to use these ideas to our advantage, we actually do not understand all these amazing phenomena such as atoms, astronomy, conservation of energy, theory of gravitation, quantum behaviours in this series of lectures. All of us have read physics but honestly, none of us has actually understood it. It is both humbling and inspiring at the same time.

"The essence of physics and Feynman. No jargon, just ideas, excitement, and the straight dope. And real answers, like 'we don't know.'"
- Stephen Wolfram

If you have heard about the "weirdness" of quantum mechanics but don't know what the hype is all about, look no further than chapter six of this book. In chapter six, with his usual down-to-earth approach, Feynman describes one of the most famous experiments in physics (the double-slit experiment) and what it tells us about the way fundamental particles behave. He compares the behavior of "lumps" to the behavior of "waves" before moving on to the behavior of electrons... and the outcome might surprise you (it surprised early 20th-century physicists, too). This is a classic lesson in quantum mechanics taught by one of the classic teachers of physics. And there's no math required.

I only gave this book two stars because the other five lectures in this book aren't overly memorable and come nowhere near to being Feynman's greatest lessons. But chapter six alone makes this book worth picking up, especially if you want an introduction to wave-particle duality, the uncertainty principle, and the conundrum of quantum measurement that is accessible to the layperson but that also demands that you stretch your mind. It's a brief introduction that cuts to the essence of what is going on and, while giving you a decent grounding, will leave you ready to dig deeper and learn more.

Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher, Richard Feynman

Presents six of the easiest chapters from the Nobel Prize winner's celebrated text Lectures in Physics, originally published in 1963, which comprised the lectures he prepared for undergraduate students at Caltech in the early 1960's.

Addressing key topics in largely qualitative terms without formal mathematics, the six selections discuss atoms in motion, basic physics, the relation of physics to other sciences, conservation of energy, the theory of gravitation, and quantum behavior.

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: ماه نوامبر سال2009میلادی

عنوان: شش قطعهٔ آسان؛ نویسنده: ریچارد فاینمن؛ مترجم محمدرضا بهاری؛ تهران، هرمس، سال1387، در نه، در198ص؛ مصور؛ شابک9789643635558؛ موضوع نوشتارهای علمی از دانشمندان ایالات متحده آمریکا - مبانی فیزیک به روایت ریچارد فاینمن - سده20م

تصور غلط و رایجی هست، که علم مقوله ‌ای است فاقد جنبه‌ های شخصی، بی‌طرف و کاملاً واقع‌نگر است؛ فعالیت‌های انسانی‌ِ دیگر، بیشترشان متأثر از روندهای رایج، خواسته ها و اشخاص‌ هستند؛ اما فرض بر آن است که علم محدود به قواعد، و روش‌های پذیرفته‌ شده، و مقید به آزمون‌های بسیار دقیق‌ است؛ مهم نتایج هستند؛ نه کسانی که آنها را به دست می‌آورند

علم هم همچون همه‌ ی تلاش‌های انسان، فعالیتی است انگیخته‌ ی آدمیزاد، و به همین مناسبت تابع مد، و هوس است؛ در این مورد آنچه مُد را تعیین می‌کند، بیش از آنکه موضوع بحث باشد، جهان‌ بینی دانشمندان است؛ هر دورانی، به شیوه‌ ی ویژه ی خود، با مسائل علمی رودررو می‌شود، و این رویکرد معمولاً پس از آن برگزیده می‌شود، که شخصیت‌های علمی‌ِ پیشگام، و با نفوذ، دستور کار را تعیین، و بهترین روش‌های رسیدن به نتیجه را، شرح کرده‌ اند؛ گاهی دانشمندان آنقدر پرآوازه می‌شوند، که توجه‌ همگی مردمان را هم جلب می‌کنند، و اگر از موهبت استعداد شگرف هم بهره‌ مند باشند، ممکن است نماد تمامی جامعه‌ ی علمی شوند؛ «ریچارد فاینمن»، همچون «نیوتون»، و «آینشتین»، نماد فیزیک آخرین دهه‌ های سده ی بیستم میلادی شدند، و ایشان نخستین آمریکایی‌ هستند، که به این جایگاه رسیده اند؛

نقل از متن پشت جلد: (...؛ اما مهم‌ترین کشف در کل نجوم این است، که ستاره‌ ها هم، از همان نوع اتم‌هایی که در زمین داریم، درست شده‌ اند؛ وای که در هر جمله‌ ی این داستان مختصر، چقدر مطلب هست...؛ شاعران گفته‌ اند که علم، زیبایی ستاره‌ ها را ضایع می‌کند، چون‌که آن‌ها را صرفاً کُره‌ هایی از اتم‌ها و مولکول‌های گاز می‌داند...؛ امّا من هم می‌توانم ستاره‌ ها را، در آسمان شبِ کویر ببینم، و شکوه و زیبایی‌شان را حس کنم...؛ شیفته و مبهوت این چرخ فلک، با چشم‌های کوچکم، می‌توانم نورهایی به قدمت یک میلیون سال را هم ببینم؛ چه نقش و نگار عظیم و پر ابهتی است، اینکه خود من هم جزئی از آنم؛ آنچه تنم را ساخته، شاید روزگاری شراره‌ ای بوده باشد، که از ستاره‌ ی فراموش شده‌ ای بیرون زده است؛ یا می‌توانم این چرخِ فلک را، با چشم‌ بزرگ تلسکوپ «پالومار» تماشا کنم و ببینم، که ستاره‌ ها دارند از همدیگر، از نقطه‌ ی آغازی که شاید زمانی سرچشمه‌ ی همه‌گی‌شان بوده‌ است، دور می‌شوند؛ این نقش چگونه است، معنی این حرکت‌ها چیست؟ جست‌وجو برای فهمیدن این چیزها، گمان نمی‌کنم لطمه‌ ای به رمز و راز و زیباییِ این چرخ فلک بزند؛ راستی شاعران امروزی، چرا حرفی از این چیزها نمی‌زنند؟ چه‌ جور مردمانی هستند این شاعران، که اگر «ژوپیتر» خدایی در هیئتِ انسان باشد، چه شعرها که برایش نمی‌سرایند، اما اگر در قالبِ کره‌ ی عظیم چرخانی از متان و آمونیاک باشد، سکوت می‌کنند)؛ پایان نقل از متن پشت جلد کتاب

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 10/12/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 03/12/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

1) Väga hea ja lihtne seletus esimesest kosmilisest kiirusest - kuku lihtsalt nii, et maapind kumerduks sinust eemale piisava kiirusega, et sinu ja Maa vaheline distants jääks samaks (7,9 km/s).

2) Kõik, mida näeme (ja ei näe) on lihtsalt kuhjunud aatomid. Mis aga ei tähenda, et see peaks olema morjendav uudis - vastupidi, see loob lõpmata hulgal võimalusi, ka sellise, mis meile peeglist vastu vaatab!

This must be my first physics book in over two decades and I wish I had a copy when I was younger and still believed science and engineering was my destiny. There are parts of book which I found hard to grasp - and ironically realised it is partly because of my own low attention span .

Grab this if you ever were fascinated by why things happen the way they do around you ! Now to attempt not so easy pieces .

Feynman özellikle kuantum davranışını ve belirsizlik ilkesini çok anlaşılır bir dille anlatmış.

The material is not very hard indeed, but not the easiest one as well. Nevertheless, it adds to the general understanding of the surrounding world, which is the main goal of physics.
Some parts of the book were more like stories than scientific chapters, which gives an opportunity to grasp a sense of a "storyteller" side of the Feynman.

Richard Feynman’s reputation as one of the 20th century’s great physicists is secure, and he was noted as one its foremost explainers and teachers. His reputation as a person, however, has taken some hits in recent years: misogyny, cruel practical jokes, and contemptuous dismissal of people he considered his intellectual inferiors. If you wish to hold his memory in high regard, you should avoid reading the things he says about women in his autobiography, and when he joined the committee investigating the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster the other members found him arrogant and difficult to work with (see: https://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/07/us...).

Nevertheless, his reputation rests on his physics work, and several generations of physicists have been inspired by his famous three volume Feynman Lectures on Physics from 1963. Six Easy Pieces collects six of those lectures, ones covering subjects that could be described mostly with analogies and anecdotes rather than relying on advanced math.

The first three chapters, Atoms in Motion, Basic Physics, and The Relation of Physics to Other Sciences, are excellent, informative, and make good use of examples. This is where Feynman makes one of his most famous analogies: “if an apple is magnified to the size of the earth, then the atoms in the apple are approximately the size of the original apple.” (p.5) But of course, atoms are mostly empty space, and later he explains that “If we had an atom and wished to see the nucleus, we would have to magnify it until the whole atom was the size of a large room, and then the nucleus would be a bare speck which you could just about make out with the eye, but very nearly all the weight of the atom is in that infinitesimal nucleus.” (p. 34)

Even people who have no interest at all in physics would enjoy these chapters for the insights they shed on the basic stuff of the universe, of everything that exists, including you and me.

The other three chapters, on the Conservation of Energy, the Theory of Gravitation, and Quantum Behavior, go a little deeper into the fundamentals of physics but are also illuminating, although I thought his discussion of the famous two-slit experiment got too far down in the weeds with its explanations of all the various permutations and the interference patterns.

The book is starting to show its age in some areas, and it is best when it sticks to timeless basic principles. Reading it made me think of Edward O. Wilson’s Consilience, which makes the point that today all science pivots on an understanding of basic physics: biology, chemistry, geology, cosmology and the others are incomprehensible without a thorough grounding in first principles. Feynman would have understood and endorsed this point, for he could see through surface appearances and down into the fundamental forces that bind the universe together.

I read this primarily to get some hints on effective communication of science—for which, Feynman is well known—and I was not disappointed.

The explanation which led to the virtual work principal very much fascinated me—I have never seen it explained that way and is a much simpler and intuitive explanation. However, the example leading to it—the one with reversible lifting machines—was a bit confusing: Had to re-read a couple of times and sketch them for myself to properly understand it.

Overall, great introduction to simple communication of physics.

Awesome introduction (or recap, depending on your background) of the most fundamental concepts in Physics. Expect the most relatable language possible for the depth and fidelity with which these topics deserve to be covered.

My favorite excerpt: "The whole universe is in a glass of wine." Sheer poetry created at the end of a lecture, rolling off the tongue of this amazing guy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0h_u...

I listened to the audible recording, which was great for being able to experience Feynman in all his pedagogical glory, but not the best for actually understanding the finer details of the subject matter (since I couldn't see the diagrams he was referring to). I would recommend listening to the audiobook, but going back to the text version for any serious learning needs.

That subtitle may seem overwrought, but it's true. Hawking and Greene have done much to popularize (and fetishize) physics, but Feynman will help the layperson really start to understand it at its most conceptual, basic form. And if you haven't the ability to sustain fifteen years of advanced mathematics, these lessons can still illuminate the marvels of the "mechanism."

To be fair, Hawking (astrophysics) and Greene (quantum mechanics) both do a lot for their respective fields as well, but they aren't Feynman.

Oh, by the way, I can't perform the most basic algebraic equations. That is so embarassing.