The Character of Physical Law (Modern Library) | 
| Author: Richard Feynman
Publisher: Modern Library
Category: Book
List Price: $17.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 102943
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 4.8 x 0.9
ISBN: 0679601279
Dewey Decimal Number: 530
EAN: 9780679601272
ASIN: 0679601279
Publication Date: November 8, 1994
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Product Description
In these Messenger Lectures, originally delivered at Cornell University and recorded for television by the BBC, Richard Feynman offers an overview of selected physical laws and gathers their common features into one broad principle of invariance. He maintains at the outset that the importance of a physical law is not "how clever we are to have found it out, but . . . how clever nature is to pay attention to it," and tends his discussions toward a final exposition of the elegance and simplicity of all scientific laws. Rather than an essay on the most significant achievements in modern science, The Character of Physical Law is a statement of what is most remarkable in nature. Feynman's enlightened approach, his wit, and his enthusiasm make this a memorable exposition of the scientist's craft.
The Law of Gravitation is the author's principal example. Relating the details of its discovery and stressing its mathematical character, he uses it to demonstrate the essential interaction of mathematics and physics. He views mathematics as the key to any system of scientific laws, suggesting that if it were possible to fill out the structure of scientific theory completely, the result would be an integrated set of mathematical axioms. The principles of conservation, symmetry, and time-irreversibility are then considered in relation to developments in classical and modern physics, and in his final lecture Feynman develops his own analysis of the process and future of scientific discovery.
Like any set of oral reflections, The Character of Physical Law has special value as a demonstration of the mind in action. The reader is particularly lucky in Richard Feynman. One of the most eminent and imaginative modern physicists, he was Professor of Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology until his death in 1988. He is best known for his work on the quantum theory of the electromagnetic field, as well as for his later research in the field of low-temperature physics. In 1954 he received the Albert Einstein Award for his "outstanding contribution to knowledge in mathematical and physical sciences"; in 1965 he was appointed to Foreign Membership in the Royal Society and was awarded the Nobel Prize.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
 A Curate's Egg March 20, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Warning: I have published theory with the lowest impact factor, and I have written an unpublished book on the nature of theory.
This book is a transcript of seven extemporized lectures for the mathematically challenged. It is quite remarkable for perceptive interpretations of physics with a minimum of maths and as a bonus, the reader gets an insight into the mind of a truly leading theoretician. If you want an initial insight as to how physics works, excellent. Unfortunately, extemporization leads to "forgetfulness", e.g. "action" is stated to arise from and is fundamental to quantum mechanics, but is not mentioned in the discussion on quantum mechanics.
I believe the title is misleading. The book will not help or encourage an emerging theoretician. How to form a theory: Guess, compute, compare with observation. The rest of the book is argued to be no guidance, because any new theory will be quite different from the examples! Worse, we know all theory except at extreme energies or distances. (We could be wrong, but we aren't!)
I disagree. The book states on nuclear binding, apart from proton electrical repulsions, neutrons and protons interact with a constant energy. Theory is sound, but cannot be computed completely. Instead, suppose hadrons comprise up and down quarks, with different electric charge, that produce two types of interactions. Believe it or not, that, with consideration of that "action" is sufficient to produce relative stabilities for isotopes, and show why technetium has no stable isotope, and to indicate nuclear binding could come from electromagnetism. Wrong? Maybe, but isn't the fun of theory trying things out? Feynman offers no encouragement, little hope, and surprisingly, no insight on how he developed his theories. That is a pity.
 Everybody's physicist January 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Dr. Feynman's love of science is most evident when he does presentations for non-professionals. His descriptions are complete and clear, helping us truly understand without the overwhelming mathematics that is his stock in trade. I am a physicist myself, and I still learn something every time I read one of his books. Try "You Must Be Kidding" for another fun trip.
A great book by a great scientist. October 17, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
A great book by a great scientist.
Richard Feynman was a genius, a great scientist and a great teacher. This book is a testament to all three of these contentions. As the title states, this book is about physical laws: what they are, what they are not and why they require mathematics for their complete understanding. While the need to understand physical laws in terms of mathematics is stressed, this book uses almost no math, and none beyond basic high school math is required.
The book is based on 7 lectures, each of which is covered by an approximately 25-page chapter. These chapters cover: the law of gravitation, the relation of mathematics to physics, the great conservation principals, symmetry in physical law, distinction of past and future, probability and uncertainty, and seeking new laws. These chapters touch on classical physics, relativistic physics and quantum mechanics, all in a fluid and continuous manner. This book is not, however, a physics text because it does not discuss how to solve specific problems. It is, however, a great adjunct to those texts as it goes deeper into what physical laws really mean.
The stated audience for this book is people who are interested in science, but may have little or no background in this field. This is not to say that people who are well versed in the physical sciences would get nothing from this book. Quite the contrary, the more your scientific background the more you will get from the time spent with this book. Theoretical physicists may already understand all of what Professor Feynman is teaching, so this may be old hat to them. They may, however, still enjoy the presentation, so even they may get something from this book. As someone with an advanced degree in the physical sciences, but not in theoretical physics, I found this book to be mind expanding. Feynman gets to the heart of physical laws in ways that I had never considered. For instance, he provides one of the best descriptions of the first and second laws of thermodynamics that I have ever read, but never mentions them as laws per se, as he shows that they are manifestations of more fundamental laws. (Actually, he shows that there is no single set of fundamental laws, as many different ones could be used as the starting point to get to the same conclusions.) College physics students should love this book. It should be of immeasurable help in their more fully understanding what their texts may only hint at. Those with only a high school physics background should also get a lot from this book, but it may be a bit of a hard slog for them.
Review of "The Character of Physical Law" by Baldassarrini May 6, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have learnt a lot of things that I didn't know from this book and also new concepts and new ways of looking at physical matters, but have also found many passages difficult to understand and even controversial. The style is too "popularized" for my taste, despite the great admiration I - a simple civil engineer - have for a great physicist like Richard Feynman
What we really mean by mathematics is careful reasoning February 16, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
My title is one sentence from these lectures. I was a math major, and had never heard my subject decribed so well.
The 12yrold son of friend of mine watched the six hours of videotape from which this book was transcribed in a single sitting, utterly refusing to stop.
This is Feynman at his absolute best, sharing his unique insights into the most fascinating subjects of all.
I wish Amazon would offer every reviewer the opportunity to give one book six stars, meaning 'better than the best'. For me, this book would get the six.
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