Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

As the proud owner of the original editions of the Lectures, I'm glad to see a new hardcover edition. (My copies still have the original prices--10.95, 10.50, and 11.50--stamped in them. But that was thirty years ago! I even recall Leighton having a shelf in his office with various translations of the Lectures lined up.) It is sometimes claimed that the original lectures were a failure. In the April 2005 issue of Physics Today, Matthew Sands writes about the project that resulted in the Feynman Lectures. He disputes the claim that the undergraduates drifted away from Feynman's lectures in large numbers, and explains how Feynman's preface came about, and why he (Sands) finds it unduly negative. It has always been widely agreed that the Lectures are insufficient as a standalone textbook, and best used as supplemental reading. Feynman's approach appeals to many readers, but falls flat with others. This is not surprising, as different people respond to different ways of explaining physics. As an historical aside, Feynman and Schwinger took such different approaches to developing quantum electrodynamics theory that it wasn't immediately clear that their formulations were even equivalent. Most physicists find Feynman's approach easier to learn, but others find it unsatisfying. People are different. Physicists are different. Even physics students are different. There is not, and will never be, one book that is the best for every reader. The Feynman Lectures are great because they have been so enlightening to so many people, not because they meet the impossible standard of being clear to every reader.