Customer Reviews

QED: A Play

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

 

 

This play comes up short as a deep history (see Gleick's "Genius" for that), but does a great job of laying out in broad strokes the diverse and idiosyncratic nature of one of the recent histories' greatest minds. I wish I had been able to see Alan Alda perform this piece, because based on how it read I can imagine that he did Feynman great justice.

I only have the sample and was surprised by the unusual FONT style - fine lines that taper off with no serifs! I found it difficult to read at any (reasonable) size. I will probably buy it eventually but if you have any visual handicap, I strongly reccomend you sample it first yourself.

(...I once took a course at Stanford and its instructor had once worked at CalTech. I once mentioned my interest in Richard Feynman to her and this led to her recounting her real-life encounters with him. Notably, she english-teacherly entoned "he definitely had something." By meeting with this english professor, I in effect did touch the hand that shook the hand of Richard P. Feynman. )

This is superb treatment on how light and matter interact. Suprisingly, many of these concepts prove invaluable in semiconductors, but as far as I can tell, they are not usually discussed in undergrad solid-state courses. But these Richard Feynman type concepts could easily be taught and should be taught.

Back in school, I was interviewed by an Bell-Labs/Stanford EE Ph.D. grad as part of my program's ABET certification renewal process. When I pointed out this obvious weakness in the standard EE solid-state course, this guy became angry and hostile towards me. His body language, his tone, and the words that he used suggested that I didn't know what I was talking about and I remember him saying "Teaching Semiconductor Physics can never be easy," forcefully contradicting my assertion that teaching semiconductor physics could be much simpler (and in all likelihood even easy, at least to honestly interested students).

Anyway, if one is planning to take or have taken sophmore level EE solid-state physics, I recommend reading this book. It will provide a framework that will enhance one's understanding of many solid-state concepts very quickly. And to hell with Bell-Labs and Stanford's EE hidden curriculum.