Customer Reviews

Particle Physics for Non-physicists: a Tour of the Microcosmos (The Great Courses)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I just finished the DVD course of 24 lectures and found them excellent. I have a solid background (for a non-physicist) in physics but learned a number of new things. Dr. Pollock has an easy going and fun way of explaining the complex and making sense out of the seemingly nonsensical.

For the layman with an interest in science, I can't think of a better introduction to particle physics.

I thought this lecture series was a fantastic introduction to particle physics. Like the title reads, this book is intended for people who are NON-PHYSICISTS, i.e. people who aren't interested in buying a physics book, but would like to learn some foundational principles about the world of particle physics. For those people it is a wonderful introductory course. I love how Steven Pollock made particle physics easy to understand by starting at the very beginning and walking you through the evolution of the science. He goes in-depth into atom smashers, each of the individual subatomic particles, and the direction this field of study is moving towards today. He masterfully explains the concepts without dragging too much of the mathematics into it, which creates a learning experience that allows you to catch a glimpse of this complex science without getting overwhelmed by technical jargon. It's definitely a great course for the particle physics hobbyist.

I think the negative reviewers didn't want what this course deliberately is: a lecture course (not a TV show, not a book) about particle physics with the maths left out. I once knew most of this stuff with the maths, but it was a long long time ago and now I'm really enjoying watching this course with my young son, who has met hardly any of the material before and is also getting a surprising amount out of it, thanks, I'd say, to the excellence of the lecturer. He isn't showy, but his choices of what material to include when and how much repetition to use are spot on. You need some repetition in a lecture course precisely because it isn't a book - if you've forgotten what something means you can't conveniently flip back. The structure of the course, following the chronology of the various discoveries but modifying the sequence and updating enough to make it make sense, is also very well chosen. Summary: really well done, on its own terms, but be sure this is what you want.

Prof. Pollack goes over Particle Physics in a non-mathematical way. He does so WITHOUT talking down to you. I've read a bunch of books on the subject and never felt he was talking down to me. And while I knew about a lot of the subject matter, going over it again is instructive (it's a strange subject if you don't know the math) and I learned a bunch of nugget new things. Things about scientists I didn't read about even in biographies of other physicists. Nuggets about research history that was missed in books on the history of particle physics. and nuggets about facts of science, specifically connections that I hadn't read elsewhere.

So 5 stars to being able to go over what I've read a dozen times, and still hold my interest and teach me new things. BTW, reading is one thing, his actual lecture on it is quite better (the word cadence makes more sense, you won't read between the lines like the other commenter)

I bought this DVD course with transcript books from the Teaching Company. It was a waste of money. The other negative reviewers are correct.

It wasn't until I read the transcript that I realized how bad this course is. The professor repeats himself over and over, never really giving you much information, always talking about how great the standard model is, going off on tangents into the cosmology direction, and lots of hand waving. There are virtually no visuals on the DVD or transcript books.

Rather than wasting significant time listening to or reading this "course", you're better off spending $10-$20 on an actual Particle Physics book, which is what brought me here to Amazon today.

very disappointing because of the overuse of rhetorical flourishes, the inane contrasts between "science" and "philosophy," the talking down to the listener as if the lecturer is a nerd doing a poor job of trying to be one of the guys.....I have to admit that it picks up in the 3rd and 4th lectures, but it lacks clarity and fails completely to explain much of the material introduced.....disclaimer: I have only listened to the first 4 lectures, will probably watch the rest, but without enthusiasm, while looking for better material on this subject......and, the booklet accompanying the course does have useful bibliography after each lecture.