Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher
Original price was: $16.99.$13.11Current price is: $13.11.
Related Products
It was Richard Feynman’s outrageous and scintillating method of teaching that earned him legendary status among students and professors of physics. From 1961 to 1963, Feynman delivered a series of lectures at the California Institute of Technology that revolutionized the teaching of physics around the world. Six Easy Pieces, taken from these famous Lectures on Physics, represent the most accessible material from the series.
In these classic lessons, Feynman introduces the general reader to the following topics: atoms, basic physics, energy, gravitation, quantum mechanics, and the relationship of physics to other topics. With his dazzling and inimitable wit, Feynman presents each discussion with a minimum of jargon. Filled with wonderful examples and clever illustrations, Six Easy Pieces is the ideal introduction to the fundamentals of physics by one of the most admired and accessible physicists of modern times.
From the Publisher
Add to Cart
Add to Cart
Add to Cart
Add to Cart
Add to Cart
Customer Reviews
4.7 out of 5 stars 1,251
4.5 out of 5 stars 556
4.6 out of 5 stars 937
4.7 out of 5 stars 351
4.6 out of 5 stars 188
Price
$10.79$10.79 $10.34$10.34 $10.17$10.17 $14.15$14.15 $13.39$13.39
Lessons in Physics (and Life) from the Field’s Greatest Teacher
Learn about Einstein’s theory of relativity from a physics Nobel laureate and “one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century” (New York Review of Books) in six memorable lessons. Learn about the inherent conflict between science and religion, people’s distrust of politicians, and our universal fascination with flying saucers, faith healing, and mental telepathy. This collection from scientist and Nobel Peace Prize winner highlights the achievements of a man whose career reshaped the world’s understanding of quantum electrodynamics. This is a delightful collection of Richard P. Feynman’s insights to provide students, teachers, and enthusiasts alike an opportunity to learn physics from some of its greatest teachers. In this book, Feynman covers a dazzling array of topics and themes, scientific developments, and personal histories.
ASIN : 0465025277
Publisher : Basic Books
Publication date : March 22, 2011
Edition : 4th
Language : English
Print length : 176 pages
ISBN-10 : 9780465025275
ISBN-13 : 978-0465025275
Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
Reading age : 13 years and up
Dimensions : 5.38 x 0.5 x 8.25 inches
Grade level : 11 and up
Best Sellers Rank: #13,092 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #4 in Relativity Physics (Books)
Customer Reviews: 4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars (4,586) var dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction; P.when(‘A’, ‘ready’).execute(function(A) { if (dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction !== true) { dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction = true; A.declarative( ‘acrLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault”: true }, function (event) { if (window.ue) { ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } } ); } }); P.when(‘A’, ‘cf’).execute(function(A) { A.declarative(‘acrStarsLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault” : true }, function(event){ if(window.ue) { ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } }); });
11 reviews for Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher
Add a review
Original price was: $16.99.$13.11Current price is: $13.11.
Brian S. –
A delightful master class in physics
Six Easy Pieces is a delightful read–even for readers who aren’t scientifically inclined!For anyone who’s not familiar with Richard Feynman, he was a phenomenal character and a Nobel Prize-winning physicist. While at Caltech, Feynman taught an introductory course in physics to a group of undergraduate students. The lectures covered two years (the students’ freshman and sophomore years). Six Easy Pieces are six of the relatively “nontechnical” lessons that might have appeal to a broad audience.The book is simply marvelous. Feynman had a knack for explaining topics (including complicated ones) in a simple, straightforward, and entertaining manner. The result is a book that’s fun, interesting, informative, and extraordinarily readable.
Kenneth James Michael MacLean –
Concepts in Physics
This book explains some basic concepts in physics so well that even someone who doesn’t like physics might enjoy it! ‘Six Easy Pieces’ are 6 lectures from Feynman’s complete ‘Lectures on Physics’, chosen for their accessibility to the general public.Feynman, like all great teachers, understands his subject so well that he is able to explain the concepts behind it in clear, simple terms.There are 6 chapters in the book, all of them generalized lectures on topics in physics. Feynman explains the structure of the atom and there is a very excellent description of charge and how atoms attract each other.I really enjoyed the chapter on the relationship of physics to the other sciences, especially chemistry and biology. There is even a section on the relationship of physics to psychology.Chapter 5 is on gravity and there is a great explanation of Kepler’s laws of planetary motion and Newtons law of gravitation. These ideas are explained so understandably, I felt like I received a clear conceptual picture of what is happening.But the highlight of the book for me is Chapter 6 on quantum behavior. Feynman explains the wave-particle duality and the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle so well that I really felt I understood the basic ideas. I am just a layman but I found I could really get what he was saying.Another thing I liked about the book is its honesty. If there is something physics does not understand, Feyman admits it, outlining the parameters of knowledge but acknowledging deficiencies.The author doesn’t come across as a know-it-all, and doesn’t ‘talk down’ to the reader, something which I find refreshing in a science book.Like any book by Richard Feynman, this one is a delight to read. Informative, honest and with that unique Feynman ability to make even the most complex ideas understandable to the intelligent layman.
Metallurgist –
Good, but perhaps a bit too easy and a bit unfocused.
The intention of this review is to give the reader enough information to decide whether or not to read this book. That Feynman was perhaps the foremost physicist of the middle of the 20th century goes without saying. He was also a great educator and popularize of the most complex ideas of classical and modern physics. All well and good, but what about this book?In short — I enjoyed this book, but thought that it was a bit unfocused. This was due to the fact that the book was taken from his three-volume lecture series on physics, which was prepared from his lectures to undergraduates of Cal Tech in the early 60’s. The editors chose what they considered to be the six easiest lectures and put them in a single small volume, as contrasted to the three much larger volumes that make up the whole series of lectures. The lectures included in the book were not consecutive lectures from the whole series, so there was a bit of a continuity problem with the flow of the text. Also, because so much has been left out from the complete lecture series, the subjects that are covered are done so in a very fragmentary manner. Read this book to get a flavor for Feynman as a teacher, but not to get a complete picture of any of the subjects that are covered. While I liked the book, I liked Feynman’s “The Character of Physical Law” even more. It was also based on a series of lectures (covering some of the same material), but all of the lectures in that series were provided and as a result the book was more focused and self contained. I recommend both books, but if you only want to read one, I would recommend “The Character of Physical Law”. Both give a flavor of Feynman’s teaching style and they are making me consider buying the full three volume lecture series, even though the list price for the three books (plus a volume on problem solving) is almost $200.In more detail — The lectures covered in this small book are:— Atoms in motion – Very general overview of atoms, molecules and their relation to vapor pressure, melting and solidification. Very general and very elementary. Well suited for a high school student.— Basic Physics – Very general overview of the scientific method, classical and modern physics. Also very general and suitable for a high school student.— The Relation of Physics to Other Sciences – Here, in my opinion, Feynman digresses quite a bit, throwing in a bit of chemistry (including the Krebs cycle) and a bit of biology (including DNA). This chapter is suitable for an advanced high school student or undergraduate college student.— Conservation of Energy – These last three chapters start the meat of the book, focusing of basic physics topics. The conservation of energy is taught from a simple analogy of the conservation of children’s blocks. He follows the same approach he used to describe the first law of thermodynamics; using the concept of reversible machines being the most efficient possible to derive the law of conservation of energy. If one assumes the law of the conservation of energy one can prove that a reversible machine will be as efficient as possible, so both are statements of the same thing. I knew this approach from a study of thermodynamics and while not stated as such, Feynman allowed me to see that the concepts of reversibility and the conservation law are not only the same thing but that they are much more general than just applying to thermodynamics This alone was worth the price of the book. It illustrates the power of his teaching style.— The Theory of Gravitation – I was disappointed with this chapter. Instead of following Newton’s thinking he states Newton’s law of gravitation at the beginning of the chapter and then mentioned that it came directly for Keppler’s second and third law. I was hoping for more. This chapter illustrates the difficulty in choosing just a chapter from a larger work. These ideas are developed more completely in the complete lecture series (there is also a separate book containing Feynman’s lost lecture on this subject). On the plus side, there was an excellent discussion of why there are two tides pre day, not just one. Feynman, corrects the off stated idea that the second tide is due to the moon pulling on the earth. Again, in my opinion, this discussion is also worth the price of the book.— Quantum Behavior – This is taught from the standpoint of the two-slit interference experiment with photons and electrons. This touches the heart of quantum behavior, but just touches it. Again there is much, much more in the complete set of lectures.All in all — Some of the lectures were a bit too easy. The choice of only 6 easy lectures from a three-volume set of lectures made the text somewhat unfocused. Some of the lectures were very incomplete, but they are all pure Feynman. Feynman makes physics exciting (or at least interesting) and provides information to readers of all backgrounds. I recommend this book to high school students, first year college students and teachers. Those with a more advanced physics background may find this book a bit too basic, but they may see new ways of looking at things. I also recommend Feynman’s “The Character of Physical Law”, which covers some of the same material, but in a somewhat more focused manner. In fact I liked it more than this book. I gave it five stars and this book only four.
NS –
It’s great even if you know physics.
Loved it. The style of writing is amusing, together with clear explanations of simple physics. I knew most of it, but still enjoyed reading it and got the next as well (not so easy pieces), which was a lot of fun to read to.
Kristen –
Makes physics fun
Every person who has an interest in science, not just physics should own this book. Mildly intellectually challenging.
Charles Grazier –
Physics Review
This book is an amazing book. It taught me physics so that I don’t have to pay attention in class. I am not a theoretical physicist but now I am theatrically a physicist.
Amazon Customer –
The person I got it for loved it
mgongo88 –
Las míticas charlas de Mecánica Cuántica de Feynman
Bonnie Penton –
Any book about Richard Feynman is very entertaining and packed full of information.
Surajit Chaudhuri –
There cannot be a better and lucid description of Physics Principles and their links to each other. Such a marvelous book can only be written by the One and Only Dr. Feynman. A must read for non physics people. if you love science, read it.
Raghad –
اول شي النسخه اللي وصلتني مو نفس النسخه اللي بالصوره اللي جتني هي اللي غلافها ابيض (الكتاب نفسه لكن النسخه تختلف)ثانيا الكتاب وسخاان جدا ومن صفحاته كانو مستعمل وكان فيه بقايا صمغ للزقه على الكتاب من الخلفالكتاب نفسه لكن ما يحمس اقراه وادرس فيه ابدا على حالته ذي و خساره عليه فلوسي