Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics By Its Most Brilliant Teacher (Paperback)

by Richard P. Feynman (Author) "This two-year course in physics is presented from the point of view that you, the reader, are going to be a physicist..." (more)
Key Phrases: reversible machine, quantum behavior

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
This book reprints the six easiest chapters from Feynman's celebrated Lectures on Physics (LJ 12/15/63), which the Nobel Prize-winning scientist delivered from 1961 to 1963 at the California Institute of Technology. Intended for as wide an audience as possible, these chapters are primarily qualitative in nature, with a minimum of formal mathematics. They discuss atoms, basic physics, the relation of physics to other sciences, the conservation of energy, gravitation, and quantum behavior. While this informative work provides a relevant historical perspective on the essentials of physics, the result is somewhat superficial. Nonetheless, because Lectures on Physics is out of print and because the information is still relevant, reprinting these specific chapters was probably a realistic move. The material will be readily understood by scholars, physics students, and informed lay readers. Recommended for academic and public libraries. (Audio tape and CD packages are also available.)-Donald G. Frank, Harvard Univ. Lib., Cambridge, Mass.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher is a publishing first. This set couples a book containing the six easiest chapters from Richard P. Feynman’s landmark work, Lectures on Physics—specifically designed for the general, non-scientist reader—with the actual recordings of the late, great physicist delivering the lectures on which the chapters are based. Nobel Laureate Feynman gave these lectures just once, to a group of Caltech undergraduates in 1961 and 1962, and these newly released recordings allow you to experience one of the Twentieth Century’s greatest minds—as if you were right there in the classroom.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; New edition edition (April 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465023924
• ISBN-13: 978-0465023929
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #23,912 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Feynman as an excellent teacher, April 16, 2002

By	Charles Ashbacher "([e-mail])" (Marion, Iowa United States([e-mail])) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Six Easy Pieces: Essentials Of Physics By Its Most Brilliant Teacher (Helix Book) (Paperback)

From 1961 to 1963, Nobel laureate Richard Feynman delivered a set of lectures to classes in basic physics. By design, the contents of the lectures were transcribed, with the goal being the creation of a set of materials that could be used worldwide in the teaching of physics. Unlike so many abstract scientists, Feynman was an excellent teacher, able to explain the principles by using everyday analogies and without appeal to advanced mathematics. This book is a collection of six of those lectures, chosen for their appeal to the general reader.
The titles and topics of the lectures are:

i) Atoms In Motion - an examination of the atomic theory of matter and how atoms react with each other.
ii) Basic physics - the history of physics before and after the discovery of quantum mechanics.
iii) The Relation of Physics to Other Sciences - how physics can be used to explain chemical, biological, geological and astronomical phenomena.
iv) Conservation of energy - the fundamental principle of conservation of energy, and how energy can change form.
v) The Theory of Gravitation - the development of the theory of gravity from Kepler to Einstein.
vi) Quantum behavior - an explanation of some simple thought experiments demonstrating the weirdness of quantum behavior.

Feynman is also honest with his audience in saying that in many cases, the mechanism is not known.
Since the lectures were delivered forty years ago, many advances have been made. However, they still remain an excellent introduction to the basic principles of physics and can be read and understood by anyone interested in how the universe functions. They can also still be used as primer material in a basic physics course.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A few more tries like this and even I will begin to get it, February 27, 2001

By	Frederick L. Merritt Jr. (Louisville, KY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Six Easy Pieces: Essentials Of Physics By Its Most Brilliant Teacher (Helix Book) (Paperback)

If you have been reading the reviews of this book you might be beginning to suspect that this book is a great place to start. You're right. Feynman uses easy to understand examples and relates them very well to his subject matter.
After I saw the 10 year anniversary edition to "A Breif History of Time" I felt guilty and I read my 10 year old copy. I should have read this book first. I would have been much better prepared to read the other. Both books were great but Feynman did a better job of relating the scientific to the mundane.

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's True, This Isn't For Physicists (It's For Educators), July 23, 2002

By	Richard R. Carlton (Ada, MI United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher (boxed set: hardcover book + 6 CDs) (Hardcover)

As a college physics teacher, and like many other reviewers, I too found the content of this abridged version of Feynman's famous lectures not worth the price of the book, but as I listened to the tapes (and by the way, several are extremely poor quality), it occured to me that the brilliance that comes through is Feynman the Educator, not the Nobel Laureate, or physicist, or college professor......and from this standpoint this set is well worth both the cost and time to anyone who fancies themself as a teacher. I have degrees in education and get great reviews from my students on a regular basis, but that didn't stop me from learning a lot from Feynman about how to expand a student's perception, application, and analysis skills and for this addition to my own personal bag of skills, I thank him.