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."
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!
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.
I really like Egan's work, particularly earlier books like Diaspora and Permutation City, but find his later works unsatisfying due to poor characterisation and pace. Incandescence is a good example - I plodded through it and finished only by a real effort of will.
Does the Orthoganal trilogy work for you on that level? I'm looking for some good fiction to balance by non-fiction reading now that the nights are getting darker.
I found the Orthoganal trilogy brilliant as an experiment in character development, and extending "alternate realities" about as far as they can be extended, but they aren't as engaging as most of his other books (IMO).
I think this is more due to the fact that humans like reading about characters they can easily relate to, and Egan really pushes this boundary!
Still worth a read, and I'll almost certainly re-read them in the future.
Interesting that you mention that. I just now finished Permutation City and in my opinion it was pretty terrible ... as a work of fiction. Pace was off, characterization was horrid. I guess Incandescence wouldn't work out too well for me. Permutation City is the first Egan novel i've read though. I had no issues with his short stories though so I suppose I will stick with that format anytime I'm hunkering for some rigorous hard sci-fi.
Incidentally I read Permutation City right after Surely You are Joking Mr Feynman! While the Feynman book was an obvious page turner the Egan book was slow going. The difference to me was quite jarring and must have contributed in part to my disliking of the book.
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.
