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Feynman Lectures on Physics now free online

feynmanlectures.caltech.edu

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Re: Feynman Lectures on Physics now free online

#41

Post by crazysim »

ddandd wrote: post #14
hackerboos wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hopefully some talented soul will write a script to convert these HTML files into mobie, epub and PDF.

https://github.com/fmap/flp.mobi This repository previously included a toolchain to build a collection of eBooks, in ePub and MOBI formats, from Caltech's online edition of the Feynman Lectures. Those scripts have since been removed, in response to the suggestion that their continued availability might lead to a permanent discontinuation of HTML access.

If anybody was wondering and looking at the forks, these scripts don't work anymore. They have converted the links to simple Javascript functions to link to chapters which stop these scripts from running now.

Re: Feynman Lectures on Physics now free online

#42

Post by sabbatic13 »

gone35 wrote: post #35
rdxm wrote: post #24

every now and then i go into the library and read a chapter out of my hardcover set of these. my kids do the "geeez dad" thing when i make them sit with me and look at them. classics.. to be sure.... edit: i almost feel like these shouldn't be something that gets digitized.....this knowledge and its presentation belongs in a tactile medium...

The plural of anecdote is data, so FWIW I'm exactly the opposite: not just for textbooks, but even for hardcover literature books I have right there in my bookshelf, I often end up digging up some PDF or Google Books version regardless. I guess I miss the scrolling/zooming, plus all the meta-textual, cross-referencing stuff like having multiple copies of the book in different sections side by side, easy access to ref…

Socrates' ideas, or rather Plato's representations thereof, belong to a cultural context radically different from our own and have absolutely no relevance. Greece was undergoing a transition from orality to literacy at the time. It was also in the early stages of actual educational institutions. What the distribution of a few manuscripts in that context meant relates to nothing in our modern world.

Not to be a jerk about it, but the misuse of history is characteristic of very pernicious rhetoric.

Re: Feynman Lectures on Physics now free online

#43

Post by rwallace »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #28

Is this worth reading for someone without a particular need to understand physics in depth? What I mean is if I take the time to read these will I learn anything useful to someone not pursuing a career in physics or related field?

The honest answer is, unless your profession is in the physical sciences or hardware engineering, learning physics from this or other sources will probably not be useful.

Whether it's worthwhile is to at least some extent a value judgment, and also as I see it, depends to some extent on what else you would have done with the time. If you have a block of time allocated for work, and you're thinking of spending it reading about physics instead of reading documentation on something you do actually need, that's probably suboptimal. If you've finished work for the day, you have a block of time allocated for intellectual leisure and you're trying to decide between reading about physics versus, say, the latest Dungeons & Dragons rules, in my opinion the former is more worthwhile.

Re: Feynman Lectures on Physics now free online

#45

Post by nightpool »

sabbatic13 wrote: post #42
gone35 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The plural of anecdote is data, so FWIW I'm exactly the opposite: not just for textbooks, but even for hardcover literature books I have right there in my bookshelf, I often end up digging up some PDF or Google Books version regardless. I guess I miss the scrolling/zooming, plus all the meta-textual, cross-referencing stuff like having multiple copies of the book in different sections side by side, easy access to ref…

Socrates' ideas, or rather Plato's representations thereof, belong to a cultural context radically different from our own and have absolutely no relevance. Greece was undergoing a transition from orality to literacy at the time. It was also in the early stages of actual educational institutions. What the distribution of a few manuscripts in that context meant relates to nothing in our modern world. Not to be a jerk a…

Wow chalk one up on "completely missing the point." Gone35 was drawing a comparison between the Greek's transition from orality to literacy and our transition from literacy to a more digital communication media.

Re: Feynman Lectures on Physics now free online

#46

Post by Retric »

sabbatic13 wrote: post #42
gone35 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The plural of anecdote is data, so FWIW I'm exactly the opposite: not just for textbooks, but even for hardcover literature books I have right there in my bookshelf, I often end up digging up some PDF or Google Books version regardless. I guess I miss the scrolling/zooming, plus all the meta-textual, cross-referencing stuff like having multiple copies of the book in different sections side by side, easy access to ref…

Socrates' ideas, or rather Plato's representations thereof, belong to a cultural context radically different from our own and have absolutely no relevance. Greece was undergoing a transition from orality to literacy at the time. It was also in the early stages of actual educational institutions. What the distribution of a few manuscripts in that context meant relates to nothing in our modern world. Not to be a jerk a…

Books are clearly worse in virtually every context than one on one dialog with the author.

The advantage of contact with people separated in space or time seem less meaningful at the time. But, venerating books over one on one contact is a huge mistake.

Re: Feynman Lectures on Physics now free online

#47

Post by jasonkostempski »

danesparza wrote: post #12
ingenter wrote: post #8

Feynman lectures on QED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvl6TBGEoO0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjdbbnWsdis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF25Lwt73fg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtK6FdTg9HU

I have to disable safety mode to watch these? WTF?

Physics is a dangerous thing.

Re: Feynman Lectures on Physics now free online

#48

Post by thisjepisje »

nfoz wrote: post #40
bachmeier wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what I was wondering about. You'd be saving the lectures, not downloading them, if you did that. The license needs some clarity.

"Saving" vs. "Downloading" is not a duality we should entertain either. If it is downloaded, it is likely saved to a permanent storage, and maaaybe some process will eventually delete it. In any case this should not be the territory for law.

Why don't they want it anyway?

Re: Feynman Lectures on Physics now free online

#49

Post by jonahx »

Retric wrote: post #46
sabbatic13 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Socrates' ideas, or rather Plato's representations thereof, belong to a cultural context radically different from our own and have absolutely no relevance. Greece was undergoing a transition from orality to literacy at the time. It was also in the early stages of actual educational institutions. What the distribution of a few manuscripts in that context meant relates to nothing in our modern world. Not to be a jerk a…

Books are clearly worse in virtually every context than one on one dialog with the author. The advantage of contact with people separated in space or time seem less meaningful at the time. But, venerating books over one on one contact is a huge mistake.

> Books are clearly worse in virtually every context than one on one dialog with the author.

This is not the case with fiction or poetry, where what is communicated is often precisely what cannot be communicated socially or even explicitly. The experiences of both writing and reading are often in a different realm altogether than those of speaking and listening face to face -- one is not a watered down version of the other. They have different qualities.

And even in the case of scientific and mathematical exposition, where your statement is more often true, there are many exceptions. For example, I think of professors I've had who could write lucidly but were poor teachers, both in the classroom and in office hours. Either their social skills stood in the way of their communication, or their verbal skills were not as good as their written ones. They needed time and solitude to express their thoughts clearly.

Re: Feynman Lectures on Physics now free online

#50

Post by paulvs »

Just chapter 1 contains answers to many questions that I've had on the back of my mind.. Why does water ice expand when it melts? If water ice is a crystalline structure, how can it vary in temperature (e.g. -5 degrees to -10 degrees). A very good read.
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