For the Love of Physics

From the End of the Rainbow to the Edge of Time - A Journey Through the Wonders of Physics

By: Walter Lewin, Warren Goldstein

Narrated by: Kent Cassella

Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

"You have changed my life" is a common refrain in the emails Walter Lewin receives daily from fans who have been enthralled by his world-famous video lectures about the wonders of physics. "I walk with a new spring in my step and I look at life through physics-colored eyes," wrote one such fan. When Lewin's lectures were made available online, he became an instant YouTube celebrity, and the New York Times declared, "Walter Lewin delivers his lectures with the panache of Julia Child bringing French cooking to amateurs and the zany theatricality of YouTube's greatest hits."

For more than 30 years as a beloved professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lewin honed his singular craft of making physics not only accessible but truly fun, whether putting his head in the path of a wrecking ball, supercharging himself with 300,000 volts of electricity, or demonstrating why the sky is blue and why clouds are white.

Now, as Carl Sagan did for astronomy and Brian Green did for cosmology, Lewin takes listeners on a marvelous journey in For the Love of Physics, opening our eyes as never before to the amazing beauty and power with which physics can reveal the hidden workings of the world all around us. "I introduce people to their own world," writes Lewin, "the world they live in and are familiar with but don't approach like a physicist - yet."

Could it be true that we are shorter standing up than lying down? Why can we snorkel no deeper than about one foot below the surface? Why are the colors of a rainbow always in the same order, and would it be possible to put our hand out and touch one? Whether introducing why the air smells so fresh after a lightning storm, why we briefly lose (and gain) weight when we ride in an elevator, or what the Big Bang would have sounded like had anyone existed to hear it, Lewin never ceases to surprise and delight with the extraordinary ability of physics to answer even the most elusive questions.

©2011 Walter Lewin and Warren Goldstein (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"As joyful as Richard Feynman's Lectures in Physics (but without the math), this text (written with the aid of University of Hartford historian Goldstein) glows with energy and should please a wide range of readers." ( Publishers Weekly)

Can't wait to watch the videos online!

Can't wait to see the lectures online! Should be super fun to watch after learning the physics behind them.

Eyeopener!

A pure delight for the layman who wants to know how the engine of the universe works. A must read.

Good relatively broad intro

Too much astrophysics. Wish I had known table of contents prior to purchasing the book.

Stay on Topic Please

A very useful book. I do not pretend to understand all these science books I keep reading (!), but I am getting more and more inside my head. Lewin is very good at making things interesting, particularly when he draws upon our real life experiences as examples. So why 3 stars? I am not anti- Semitic...nor anti American... nor anti anything like that but please...please Mr. Lewin...why the heck should I Iisten to long monologues on your father and the holocaust? There are books on that subject, I have read several, and their authors did not digress into physics. They left you to do that...rather well. In other words, hijacking my interest to provide a soapbox for your inner, irrelevant thoughts is offensive to me.

What's the rush?

This is book has interesting stories and I love physics, but .... the reader is rushing through the material, not even pausing between chapters. It's all strung together in one long torrent of words. Pretty tough to follow. And even tougher to understand the physics. Sometimes you need time to absorb some of the more difficult facts, but the reader never lets up. Too bad.

If you are a science teacher - read this book

Walter Levin is clearly an excellent teacher who loves physics. Every science teacher in America should read this book and think about what Levin does to be so effective. I love physics and respect and value great science teachers like Levin but I found this book a little boring. The stories and recollections are nice and demonstrate what Levin does that is so extraordinary but this book is not as compelling as those of Feynman or Green. I really hate giving this book less than 5 stars.

2 books in one book - strange concept

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

First part teaching basic physics and than ... wow ... jump into x-ray astronomy. I do not understand the concept of this book.

Would you be willing to try another book from Walter Lewin and Warren Goldstein ? Why or why not?

?

Would you listen to another book narrated by Kent Cassella?

Yes

Do you think For the Love of Physics needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Aboslutely not. I do not believe it has many fans.

physics is not boring

this is a great book. it will make you look at the world and universe with renewed fascination you will not be disappointed get this book

Definitely the book for science lovers

Definitely the book for science lovers.
Lot of interesting new information
I love it
Thanks

unbelievable insight into physics.

unbelievable insight into physics and an absolute must have for any stem student. no matter who you are you will never look at your world the same way.