Un bel libro creato dalle lezioni di fisica tenute da Feynman al Caltech. Si evince fin da subito lo stile di Feynman nel raccontare fatti e cose. Il che è interessante all'inizio ma alla lunga secondo me annoia! Gli ultimi capitoli, pur essendo i più interessanti, sono stati anche i più lenti da leggere. Nel complesso un libro che consiglio a tutti i fan della letteratura scientifica.

"Suhteellisen helppoa - seitsemän lukua fysiikkaa" on suomennos luennoista, jotka laadittiin teoreettisen fysiikan professorin ja nobelistin Richard Feynmanin California Institute of Technologyssa vuosina 1961-1963 pitämästä maailmankuulusta fysiikan alkeiskurssista. Vaikka kurssista on tullut fysiikan klassikko, niin omasta mielestään Feynman ei onnistunut opetuksessaan erityisen hyvin. Kun hänelle huomautettiin, että sentään noin 20 oppilasta kurssin 180 oppilaasta oli ymmärtänyt melkein kaiken luennoilla käsitellyn, hän totesi kuuluisaa historioitsijaa Edward Gibbonia lainaten, että "opetuksen voima tehoaa harvoin lukuun ottamatta onnellisia poikkeuksia, joiden kohdalla se on miltei tarpeetonta".

Feynman oli tunnetusti loistava ja pidetty opettaja, jonka läsnäolo sähköisti opetustilanteen. Kirjan esipuheessa professori Kari Enqvist mainitsee, että eräs hänen haastattelemansa Feynmanin oppilas oli todennut, että Feynmanin saapuessa tuntui kuin Kristus olisi tullut paikalle.

Kirjasta ilmenee hyvin Feynmanin laaja-alaisuus ja valtava tietomäärä. Hänen yksinkertaistuksensa ja pelkistyksensä fysiikan ilmiöistä ja teorioista ovat yksinkertaisesti loistavia. Mieleen jäivät erityisesti kappaleiden liikettä ja avaruudellista kaarevuutta koskevien ilmiöiden havainnolliset tarkastelut. Fysiikan lainalaisuuksien matemaattinen esittely ja niiden kaavojen johtaminen oli kyllä selkeää, mutta siinä määrin vaativaa, että harvalla lukijalla on niiden omaksumiseen riittäviä taustatietoja.

Merkittävä osuus kirjassa omistetaan Einsteinin suhteellisuusteorian ja sen merkityksen tarkastelulle. Vuodelta 1905 peräisin olevasta suppeasta suhteellisuusteoriasta Feynman toteaa, että siinä kumotaan yli 200 vuotta menestyksellisesti sovellettu Newtonin liikelaki, jossa mm. oletetaan liikkuvan kappaleen massan pysyvän vakiona. Feynmanin mukaan Einstein osoitti, että nopeuden kasvaessa massa ei pysykään vakiona vaan kasvaa. Feynmanin muotoilu liikkuvan kappaleen massan muuttumisesta on vähintäänkin kyseenalainen tai ainakin huonosti onnistunut.

Lopuksi: kirjan lukijalle selviää Feynmanin käsitys siitä, mikä on koko ihmiskunnan tärkein yksittäinen lause. Se on itse asiassa hyvinkin lähellä samaa ajatusta, jonka jo kreikkalaiset filosofit olivat esittäneet maailmankaikkeudesta noin 2500 vuotta aiemmin.

Had a last minute switch to doing a degree in Physics after reading this, beautiful concepts

Before starting this book I thought I understood relativity but wanted to increase my understanding. Half way through "Not so easy pieces" I realised I'd completely misunderstood relativity and Einstein's contribution. The beauty of this book is that Feynman doesn't over complicate or over simplify the mind-bending subjects but takes you through step by step. The mathematics in the book is not hard and serves to illustrate the ideas - though some prior familiarity with the Lorentz transformation would be useful. By the end of the book, I can grasp the ideas of space-time curvature and both the theory and the experiments that have demonstrated it. This is a rewarding and enlightening book which gives you a flavour of how lucky Feynman's students were. That said, "not-so-easy" is not an exaggeration.

As a former Engineering major, I'm ashamed to admit my mechanics are super rusty. Feynman's explanations help shed light on a lot of slippery concepts. Recommended.

I knew about but I didn't understand space-time at all, not curved space, nor space curved by gravity before I read this, but now I can begin to get it. That's very exciting.

(I couldn't follow the equations with the computer only reading me the text, however I think that's fine since I'm not a physicist. I was able to look at most of the diagrams.)

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All of our ideas in physics require a certain amount of common sense in their application; they are not purely mathematical or abstract ideas.

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It is difficult to review these books, as their titles are so descriptive. This book, as well as its companion, Six Easy Pieces, is a book that can judged by its cover. But this is a book reviewing site, after all, so review them I must.
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As you probably know, this book, like its predecessor, consists of excerpts from Feynman’s legendary Caltech lectures. The first book is aimed at the layperson; this book is aimed at the mathematically inclined layperson. Because the books originated in a serious physics course, but have been selected for accessibility, they fall into that vague territory that lies between popular science and science proper. Owing to their short length and numerous omissions, they are not meant to give the reader a rigorous introduction to the subject; nor are they, on the other hand, mere titillating anecdotes or strained analogies. The best way to think of them are as Feynman samplers; you will not be able to eat your fill, but the books leave a pleasant taste in your mouth.
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I don’t mean to suggest that you won’t learn anything from this book; far from it. Feynman is a wonderful teacher. He has no patience for formalisms or conventions; he is anything but pedantic. His mind leaps past all of the inessentials and arrives right to the core of topic; he doesn’t so much simplify, as clarify. Perhaps the best example of this is his explanation of simple machines in the first volume; he jumps past all the rules we learn in grade school, and explains it all in terms of conservation of energy. But even though he often relies on such abstract things as conservation or symmetry laws, he manages to be thoroughly concrete in his explanations. He gives you the general principle, and then walks you through an example. With Feynman, you can always literally ‘see’ the point.
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Feynman is also quite a showman. He has a keen sense for the dramatic, and will unveil a physical principle like a magician pulling a dove from a hat. But, unlike the magician, as soon as Feynman reveals the dove, he explains exactly how and why the dove was in the hat in the first place—and he’ll explain it in such a way that it will seem like the most obvious and commonsensical thing in the world that the dove was in the hat. This is beautifully illustrated in this little volume. In just shy of two hundred pages, none of which is particularly hard to read, Feynman will make relativity—one of the oddest theories we’ve ever come up with—seem as plain as the nose on your face. You will by no means be given a rigorous understanding of relativity from this book; but Feynman does, in his inimitable way, give you a “feel” for it. If you know a bit of calculus, and you know what a vector is, then I can’t think of a better place to start learning relativity.
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As a parting thought, I’d also like to add that it’s people like Feynman who make me occasionally proud my country. Sure, we produce a lot of duds; but occasionally someone like Feynman will come along that makes it seem all worthwhile. Some American qualities do, it seems, run deep. I can’t help but compare Richard Feynman with two other American greats: William James and Ernest Hemingway. Like those two, Feynman manages to be brilliant in three syllables or less. He is a populist in the best sense of the word, in that he thinks, not that we ought to dumb down our subject to reach as many people as possible, but that people will be interested and understanding if only we stopped putting on airs and spoke clearly. I look forward to spending some more time with him.

I listened to the audio, and it was very enjoyable. I'm ordering the paperback so I can go through it again.

tt"The thing is reality itself is fascinating..!!"

Feynman presents Einstein’s theories on Relativity; Symmetry; Space-Time; and Gravity with a clarity, beauty and style unmatched by any other I have seen. This book is a work of Art, and of Science!

Yes not so easy pieces indeed!

Excellent book, though to be honest, I skipped reading it at this point. I didn't realize that is is simply 6 chapters from Feynman's famous Lectures on Physics, which I have lined up to read later (in a few weeks). So, as to not repeat myself, and to make sure I read the material in it's proper setting, I simply marked this as READ.