You can read the first answer to this Physics SO question ( http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/29355/reading-the... ) to see how these lectures fare in light of later findings.
Physics SE
The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume I
101–110 of 117 posts
Re: The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume I
#102Have they finally updated the lectures to use SI units?
The lectures were given a long time ago. That would be like asking to have a 19th century math textbook rewritten to use modern vector notation.
Re: The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume I
#103I was the project lead on this, which involved converting the Feynman Lectures from LaTeX to HTML. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Update : Most of the questions center on cost. I've answered in more detail below, but the short version is simple: no off-the-shelf converter was remotely sufficient for our needs, so we had to write lots of custom software, and writing custom software is hard.
Thanks for doing this, Michael, it's awesome that this is now available! I notice the material is copyright Caltech. Any chance that they'd consider releasing it under an open license? A CC-BY license would enable this material to be repurposed and improved in all kinds of interesting ways.
Wow. CC-BY-ing the Feynman Lectures would have a meaningful impact on undergraduate education worldwide.
Where I'm sitting in our lab, I'm probably within 50m of at least ten copies.
CC-BY-ing just a few of the old stalwarts (I like the 1970 Sears and Zemansky, for example, and old editions of Thomas' Calculus are fine (probably better than present editions) ) would stop a lot of expensive silliness with the generation of open-source textbooks. Buying out the rights to the best textbooks is in our national interest.
Re: The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume I
#104By far my favorite piece of writing from Feynman is QED: http://www.amazon.com/QED-Strange-Princeton-Science-Library/... Out of all his writings, this is the one that has always stuck with me. Feynman long held that one does not understand something if one cannot explain it to someone who is not deeply steeped in the subject already. I regard this lecture as probably the culmination of that philosophy for Feynman. An…
The videos that were essentially transcribed into that book are legally available to watch online. http://vega.org.uk/video/subseries/8
I recommend the book over the video lecture because I think the book explains it better.
Re: The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume I
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
One obvious question: why not use crowd funding to pay for finishing converting volume II and III?
That's worth thinking about. One issue is that it's hard to tell how more more money is needed to finish it. Alas, custom software is rife with uncertainty. (Practically speaking, this means that, e.g., custom hack #37, needed to complete Chapter 17 in Volume I, might not work for Chapter 38 in Volume II, etc., etc. It's a long, hard slog.)
Ask for a million dollars. Its worth it to humanity.
Re: The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume I
#106Are the audio files available as well? I know there's the Silverlight version, but looking for audio I can play while I drive.
Audible has all the lectures available for download in good quality format. http://www.audible.com/search/ref=sr_1_18_asrch?searchAuthor...
You are then missing everything written on the blackboard. Even the order of presentation doesn't match the one in the books.
Re: The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume I
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for doing this, Michael, it's awesome that this is now available! I notice the material is copyright Caltech. Any chance that they'd consider releasing it under an open license? A CC-BY license would enable this material to be repurposed and improved in all kinds of interesting ways.
Thanks. The Feynman Lectures IP is a treacherous minefield, and it took a lot of effort even to get this far. I'd love to see a Creative Commons license, but I'd be surprised if it happens. I try to emphasize to the interested parties that, by doing things like giving away online content and using CC licenses, they stand to make more money (if they execute right), but it's a hard sell to people who don't live on the…
Maybe we could crowd-fund this?
Re: The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume I
#108I'm in the middle of reading "Surely you're joking, Mr. Fenyman!", and so far, it is a FANTASTIC read. He has so many interesting stories about fiddling with stuff as a kid, working on the manhattan project, picking locks, interactions with Oppenheimer, Einstein, etc. Even if you aren't at all interested in physics, math, or anything science related, I would still recommend this book. That said, I now have a lot more…
This book (Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman) is absolutely fantastic. The first time I read it, I opened it up in the middle and just started casually reading an excerpt. I ended up reading to the end in one sitting, going back to the beginning, and continuing to point where I started. It was that good.
I know how you feel! I started reading it on a plane, and I remember feeling cheated when the plane landed and I had to put the book away. Didn't the airline understand that reading Surely You're Joking is more important than their petty schedule?
Re: The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume I
#109I was the project lead on this, which involved converting the Feynman Lectures from LaTeX to HTML. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Update : Most of the questions center on cost. I've answered in more detail below, but the short version is simple: no off-the-shelf converter was remotely sufficient for our needs, so we had to write lots of custom software, and writing custom software is hard.
You've done a great job capturing the exquisite design of the paper edition. When I saw the title I was expecting jpg scans of the equations, or something worse, and I was surprised of finding something Tufte would be proud of. Thank you very much.
Re: The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume I
#110The courses are absolutely great! There is also an audio version of these lectures, you could hear his students laugh when he'd give one of those witty Feynmanian remarks.