from Hacker News

The Feynman Lectures on Physics are free online

by alexholehouse on 10/14/15, 11:33 PM with 20 comments

  • by rcurry on 10/15/15, 4:57 AM

    One of Feynman's funniest lines, I thought, was during a talk where someone in the audience asked if we'd ever be able to develop an anti-gravity device. Feynman gestured at their chair and said something along the lines of "we already have, in fact you're sitting on one right now."

  • by fletchowns on 10/15/15, 4:41 AM

    If you haven't read "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" yet, do yourself a favor and order it right now!

  • by alexholehouse on 10/15/15, 4:19 AM

    I should (sheepishly) say that I knew Vol. 1 and 2 were available but very recently discovered 3 was now also available. As it turns out, 3 was published a while ago, so while it was new to me, the full set being available was not, in fact, new to the world.

    That said, hopefully it's all new to [some] other people!

  • by webmaven on 10/15/15, 12:25 AM

    Awesome!

    In not totally unrelated news, I just finished reading Greg Egan's 'Orthogonal' trilogy (alien (as in really alien, alternate-universe cosmology and physics) multi-generational epic). The Feynman-type diagrams in the last book helped make sense of the weird physics.

  • by jacobolus on 10/15/15, 3:32 AM

  • by mironathetin on 10/15/15, 9:24 AM

    If I wrote "A must read for every physics student" then it felt more like duty. But actually it is fun to read the Feynman lectures because they are so inspiring. One of those rare books that are written so well that it becomes fun to study - even such abstract things like physics.

    Few scientists have a talent to present abstract things as well as Feynman. Daniel Kahneman and Sigmund Freud, whose lectures are also a pleasure to read, come to mind.

    I couldn't read the Feynman lectures for my courses though (we followed the Berkeley physics series), but when ever I want to refresh my mind or find a nice way to explain things to students, these are a swell reference.

    I still prefer the printed version though because of its nice layout with images and drawings in the margins.

  • by mhartl on 10/15/15, 4:36 AM

    You're welcome. :-)

  • by guilhermeasg on 10/15/15, 1:15 PM

    There's also a couple of interesting videos here: http://www.feynmanphysicslectures.com/

  • by okasaki on 10/15/15, 9:28 AM

    Some of the text does not render correctly if you set your own browser fonts.

  • by hchenji on 10/15/15, 3:08 AM

    Is this new or has it existed since some time?