5 comments about The Secret of Light.

1. ... I am very right brained and find this book too challenging
   to keep...(I flunked statistics 3 times, and barely survived
   algebra). Its simply over my head. I sent it to my brother
   who was a self-taught physicist and he found it quite interesting.
   Being honest here. For the right person, its a very unique
   book...not the usual recycled scientific information, I am told.
   Walter Russell I feel "channeled" this information from the next
   dimension and those who have open minds and willingness to see
   things from new points of view would probably like this book.
   He has a lot of diagrams. For example No. 38 shows the "four
   rivers of light". Some chapter titles include: Knowledge vs.
   Thinking, "Unconsciousness-Sleep and Pain", "Electrical Awareness", "Sex-Conditioned Opposites", "Light", "The Law of
   Balance", "Electricity Defined"....you get the drift!



2. An excellent and illuminating read authored by a genuine genius who was lightyears ahead of his time! Look into his UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY by searching his name on the web



3. Walter Russell accessed an extensive amount of knowledge and insights during his mystical awakening. He wrote extensively about his understandings and related scientific, philosophical, and metaphysical subjects. In this book, he talks about the nature of creation, light, life, polarity, balance, electricity, gravity, radiation, waves & vibration, and the imagination and thought projections of the Creator. These are truly some weighty topics, but Walter's text is clear and informative, even when he gets into technical topics. This book is quite enlightening and actually better than some more popular metaphysical texts. The electric universe concept is truly brilliant, and Walter Russell's understanding of creation greatly exceeded most of what scientists erroneously believe, based upon their perceptions colored by persistent illusion. The "new" physics is just catching up with Russsell's ideas.



4. This is an incredible book which should be read over and over. Walter Russell was an illuminated Master who wrote from his Heart. One of the greatest artists and scientists to have walked on Mother Earth, he writes about Truth and the Infinite. The Secret of Light will illuminate You!!!



5. Like Russells other books, 'The Secret of Light' seeks to outline the laws that govern our universe in a language that inquiring minds are able to grasp and understand.
   
   And like in Russells other works, he provides some of the most accurate, succint and enlightening descriptions of what the universe is and who we are.
   
   This book is thick and dense with profound meaning.
   Any reader will be amply rewarded for contemplating its meaning and message.
   
   Read the book, put it down, pick it up and read it again.

1 comments about Photovoltaics for Professionals: Solar Electric Systems Marketing, Design and Installation.

1. Excellent book for someone who is interested in up to date information and learning more about becoming professionally involved with solar energy.

5 comments about Principles of Optics: Electromagnetic Theory of Propagation, Interference and Diffraction of Light (7th Edition).

1. This book is a classic with all problems associated. Half of the reference quoted have been written before the WWII. Very useful if you like to quote original papers. This book cover most topics of the classical optics but hardy cover modern topics.

   However, it is hard to read and use a weird notation. Certainly not useful for rapid referencing. Like the bible, use it only when you have serious problem to deal with.




2. It is just a rare book on physical optics based on Maxwell equations. Rarely a book states the assumptions,the validity of the equations, the principles and how the equations arrived. Certainly, it is a great book for postgraduates and researchers in physical optics not so for undergraduate students who don't want to go through all the mathematics.



3. I read this book in the late sixties, when some of my fellow engineers built and tested an acoustic lens for a developmental company. Born & Wolf were well-acquainted with antenna aperture theory, and were among the first to write that the human eye could resolve 5X better than aperture theory would predict. This they credited to involuntary eye movements called flicks and saccades, which when combined with the brain's ability to do signal processing, was able to produce much better resolution than would have been predicted by the diameter of the retinal rods. In many ways the book gives testimony to God's wonderful gift of vision with color, depth, clarity, and order.



4. 
   Amazing book. It's the bible of geometric optics. Have everything you might need.
   
   Needs a little previous knowledge, but which book doesn't?



5. Yes - all classical (linear) optical concepts are in here, and yes, it's the 'bible', but it's very dated in its content, style and references, generally, and not very practical to use.
   
   I wish Hecht - or someone like him - would re-write this classic as a more advanced version of his book.

2 comments about Handbook of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering.

1. I used to sell solar electric PV systems as an ARCO Solar dealer back in the early 1980's. At the time no one could pronounce the name of the technology, and most thought is was angel dust. Solar powered calculators were just coming in, same with watches. Solar powered emergencyy freeway phones were 15 years away, unheard of at the time.
   This technology is the most fascinating and yet due to cost, the most frustrating of all the renewable energy technologies. It is not widely used in mainstream electrical production, yet will fill vital niches in the renewable energy portfolio of any advanced economy.
   
   The big energy companies have spent big bucks on research and have patents in all directions, yet the most widely sold solar cell modules use twenty year old technology.
   
   Now that Germany has finally taken the plunge in supporting solar in a big way, other countries are taking a second look. California's governor tells the German chancellor that "we will do it even better." So the interest in the technology is growing.
   This book is a bridge between the Popular Science or Scientific American articles and the chaotic science papers so much in vogue among academics trying to publish-not-perish. It is readable, for an educated individual who has some high school science.
   Once you are over the rahrah and want to know "How does it actually work? or Could I get into manufacturing? this book will help. Trying to get answers to these questions is tough. No way will the marketing staff at BP Solar or Sharp or Shell tell you how they manufacture solar cells and assemble them into modules. So you wander in a sea of science papers, some in expensive collections like the IEEE proceedings or the obscure conference papers. Perhaps you stumble across the US DOE ENREL web site, or the patent information. But without the foundational knowlege, it is all hard to evaluate. So now comes the Wiley Handbook of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering. Take the time to use the "look inside" feature to see the table of contents. The writing style varies, each chapter is written by a different author. What unifies the presentation is that it is understandable. You will read some paragraphs three times but hey, this isn't Jules Verne. Yes it will take some effort, and you definitely need to know at least high school chemistry and physics, but when you really want to know something, you will find a way. So how to justify the cost? Well it comes out to 4 cents a page. And based on the used book prices, you can resell it later if you care to. The down side? Most of the research that is digested here is 2002 or earlier, but hey, some of the basic physics is over 100 years old, so there is quite a bit of catching up to do. I have not found another intermediate to advanced level book with the understandable detail this one offers. And something that gets you up to speed with state of the art 2002 does provide a good foundation for the field.
   
   Now if I could only find a solar cell manufacturing cookbook... lets see-- 99 parts silicon, two parts boron one part phosphorous, heat the oven to 1150 degrees and stir ever so slowly.. pull the taffy out with a crystal and let it cool for eight hours, slice with diamond dust and sprinkle with silver and tin. Wrap in tedlar,place under glass. Serves millions, should not spoil even in full sun for 25 years...yup it is angel dust.



2. This Handbook is a collection of writings by many authors with expertise and experience in the field of solar photovoltaics. It brings the reader an excellent brief review of the history of PV, exposes the reader to just the right amount of theoretical foundation behind the workings of PV, and doles out to the reader fair amount of practical advice in the makings of PV products that eventually provide clean - and green - electricity to the humankind. It covers different types of photovoltaic products, from crystalline to amorphous based on the Group IV semiconducting elements and their various compound forms. In addition, this Handbook also offers insights into the economics of photovoltaics in an increasingly environment-aware society.
   
   If there is a place where this Handbook could be improved, I think the editor could find more industrial practitioners of photovoltaic products to offer more hands-on advice about how to make a better - more efficient - solar cell.
   
   Overall, this is an excellent handbook and could serve as a good reference to anyone who's interested in solar PV.

5 comments about Schaum's Outline of Optics.

1. This Schaum's outline is better than the expensive textbook by the same author on the same subject in many ways, and in my opinion stands alone as a guide on optics. It gets to the meat of optics via solving problems that range from simple to difficult, which is particularly attractive to engineers learning or reviewing this subject. To me, the only chapters that seemed a bit confusing were the first two on wave motion and on electromagnetic waves and photons. For that material you may need to consult another source. From that point onward, however, the outline couldn't be any better. The outline even has a chapter that introduces Fourier optics. This outline would make an excellent review or supplement for someone taking a course in Photonics that uses Saleh's "Fundamentals of Photonics". That textbook has virtually no solved problems in it whatsoever, and the first third of the book follows the material covered in this outline nicely.



2. Its a good book to work problems in congunction with a regular text book. The practical side is limited for engineering purposes. Smith or Fischer is a better book.
   
   I am a practicing engineer, so I look at stuff from what works in real world. It would have been a very good book when I was in grad school (many moons ago:).



3. I used this book as a supplement for a course in Physical Optics, mainly to get practice in solving problems. I found the chapters on Polarization and Diffraction very useful. This book helped me get a better grade in this course. This book does not cover the topics like Jones and Coherence Matrix and Stokes vector. However these topics are covered well in the same author's Optics text. BTW, The Optics text is also very good. Solving problems in this book and then approaching the text gives a much better understanding of Optics. This book does not cover Poincare' sphere, which is also an important topic for which we cant find material anywhere except our Professor's lecture notes. Overall, this book is a must if you are taking any Optics course or the GRE physics text or if you just want to master the basics of Optics.



4. This is a great book for somebody who wants to learn basics and get a feeling about optics. Helped me with the exam too.



5. This schaum's outline is too old for this topic (same thing for Optics by Eugene Hecht ISBN: 0805385665). It is time for someone to write a new one even if physics has not changed! (I guess what you pay is what you get!)
   
   Pro: good summary for something you know
   con: not much detail like many old books from schaum's

5 comments about Introduction to Modern Optics.

1. I bought this book while taking an optics course using Hecht's Optics 4th ed. I found Fowler's book to be fairly useful, especially since I got to see optics from two different perspectives. The one really good thing about this book is it's price, and makes it a good reference book. The downside is that since it's quite short, it doesn't cover everything, moves fairly fast, and has no examples. For the price I paid, however, I am quite satisfied.



2. Great book to revise theory on Dual nature of light. Its like a nice handbook on optics. A full blown version would be very even nicer, with a math section to remind 'old' engineering like myself.
   
   One word of caution, I think some graduate school background in Physics and Math is needed for engineers. I am an engineer (
   I have a Phd, therefore it was easy for to me follow as I was reading), so I look at things slightly differently than Physicists.



3. This book is a little gem - and it costs next to nothing.
   
   It's a beautifully concise and remarkably clear introduction to the main principles of modern optics - the ones that you are going to need over and over again as you continue into the subject.
   
   This book gives you a great overview and set of basic foundations for every-day modern optics. I return to it often for little insights and reminders, even after 37 years in the business.



4. If you're studying optics in a college class using Hecht's classic text, or if you are an engineer who needs an overview of the subject, this is a good practical and economical introduction to the subject. However, be aware that this book is short on two components - details of derivations of mathematical formulas and illustrations. That is not to say they do not exist, it is just to say that at several points during the book I could have been aided in my comprehension by either an illustration or derivation that simply wasn't there.
   
   There are end of chapter exercises included, and there are solutions to selected odd problems in the back of the book. However, there are no details as to how those solutions were arrived at. If you are an engineer, the only way to really be sure that you understand a subject is to solve problems. Thus I suggest Schaum's Outline of Optics by Hecht for that task. Often the solutions to problems in that outline are the mathematical details that are missing in this book!
   
   The table of contents are not included in the product description, so I add that here:
   Chapter 1 The Propagation of Light
   1.1 Elementary Optical Phenomena and the Nature of Light
   1.2 Electrical Consants and the Speed of Light
   1.3 Plane Harmonic Waves. Phase Velocity
   1.4 Alternative Ways of Representing Harmonic Waves
   1.5 Group Velocity
   1.6 The Doppler Effect
   Chapter 2 The Vectorial Nature of Light
   2.1 General Remarks
   2.2 Energy Flow. The Poynting Vector
   2.3 Linear Polarization
   2.4 Circular and Elliptic Polarization
   2.5 Matrix Representation of Polarization. The Jones Calculus
   2.6 Reflection and Refraction at a Plane Boundary
   2.7 Amplitudes of Reflected and Refracted Waves. Fresnel's Equations
   2.8 The Brewster Angle
   2.9 The Evanescent Wave in Total Reflection
   2.10 Phase Changes in Total Internal Reflection
   2.11 Reflection Matrix
   Chapter 3 Coherence and Interference
   3.1 The Principle of Linear Superposition
   3.2 Young's Experiment
   3.3 The Michelson Interferometer
   3.4 Theory of Partial Coherence. Visibility of Fringes
   3.5 Coherence Time and Coherence Length
   3.6 Spectral Resolution of a Finite Wave Train. Coherence and Line Width
   3.7 Spatial Coherence
   3.8 Intensity Interferometry
   3.9 Fourier Transform Spectroscopy
   Chapter 4 Multiple-Beam Interference
   4.1 Interference with Multiple Beams
   4.2 The Fabry-Perot Interferometer
   4.3 Resolution of Fabry-Perot Instruments
   4.4 Theory of Multilayer Films
   Chapter 5 Diffraction
   5.1 General Description of Diffraction
   5.2 Fundamental Theory
   5.3 Fraunhofer and Fresnel Diffraction
   5.4 Fraunhofer Diffraction Patterns
   5.5 Fresnel Diffraction Patterns
   5.6 Applications of the Fourier Transform to Diffraction
   5.7 Reconstruction of the Wave Front by Diffraction. Holography
   Chapter 6 Optics of Solids
   6.1 General Remarks
   6.2 Macroscopic Fields and Maxwell's Equations
   6.3 The General Wave Equation
   6.4 Propagation of Light in Isotropic Dielectrics. Dispersion
   6.5 Propagation of Light in Conducting Media
   6.6 Reflection and Refraction at the Boundary of an Absorbing Medium
   6.7 Propagation of Light in Crystals
   6.8 Double Refraction at a Boundary
   6.9 Optical Activity
   6.10 Faraday Rotation in Solids
   6.11 Other Magneto-optic and Electro-optic Effects
   6.12 Nonlinear Optics
   Chapter 7 Thermal Radiation and Light Quanta
   7.1 Thermal Radiation
   7.2 Kirchoff's Law. Blackbody Radiation
   7.3 Modes of Electromagnetic Radiation in a Cavity
   7.4 Classical Theory of Blackbody Radiation. The Rayleigh-Jeans Fo
   7.5 Quantization of Cavity Radiation
   7.6 Photon Statistics. Planck's Formula
   7.7 The Photoelectric Effect and the Detection of Individual Photons
   7.8 Momentum of a Photon. Light Pressure
   7.9 Angular Momentum of a Photon
   7.10 Wavelength of a Material Particle. de Broglie's Hypothesis
   7.11 Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle
   Chapter 8 Optical Spectra
   8.1 General Remarks
   8.2 Elementary Theory of Atomic Spectra
   8.3 Quantum Mechanics
   8.4 The Schrödinger Equation
   8.5 Quantum Mechanics of the Hydrogen Atom
   8.6 Radiative Transitions and Selection Rules
   8.7 Fine Structure of Specturm Lines. Electron Spin
   8.8 Multiplicity in the Spectra of Many-Electron Atoms. Spectroscopic Notation
   8.9 Molecular Spectra
   8.10 Atomic-Energy Levels in Solids
   Chapter 9 Amplification of Light. Lasers
   9.1 Introduction
   9.2 Stimulated Emission and Thermal Radiation
   9.3 Amplification in a Medium
   9.4 Methods of Producing a Population Inversion
   9.5 Laser Oscillation
   9.6 Optical-Resonaor Theory
   9.7 Gas Lasers
   9.8 Optically Pumped Solid-State Lasers
   9.9 Dye Lasers
   9.10 Semiconductor Diode Lasers
   9.11 Q-Switching and Mode Locking
   9.12 The Ring Laser
   Chapter 10 Ray Optics
   10.1 Reflection and Refraction at a Spherical Surface
   10.2 Lenses
   10.3 Ray Equations
   10.4 Ray Matrices and Ray Vectors
   10.5 Periodic Lens Waveguides and Opical Resonators
   Appendix I Relativistic Optics
   1.1 The Michelson-Morley Experiment
   1.2 Einstein's Postulates of Special Relativity
   1.3 Relativistic Effects in Optics
   1.4 The Experiments of Sagnac and of Michelson and Gale to Detect Rotation
   References
   Answers to Selected Odd-Numbered Problems



5. This is an easy 5 star. For those who gave it less, please think again:
   1) Title says: introduction. So don't imagine it covers every equation there is. Get Wolf's book if you like equations that much.
   2) Short but concise on key subjects. To do that, you have to skip a lot of intro/background or equations, that's why there are references and citations (and better bricks/bug killers).
   3) This is an intro book but also serves well as a refresher. This is intermediate level to advanced level for non-physicists, as it assumes good understanding of calculus.
   
   To be fair, the book is not without flaws. One obvious is the name implied recent advances (although different people use modern optics differently), while the book was last revised in 1975. Nonetheless, the key component of modern optics are mostly there, unless you are into cutting edge advances. It might be more appropriate to name it as "intro to physical optics", then again the author added a section of ray optics at the end of the book...

5 comments about Optics (4th Edition).

1. This is a fairly good textbook trapped in an inexcusably bad layout. I've worked my way through about half the textbook now and there are several sections which contain lots of helpful figures. However, there seems to have been almost no effort made to put the text on the same or facing page along with the figures, so you spend a lot of your time on these sections reading a paragraph, jumping ahead to find the figure, going back to read the next paragraph, again jumping ahead for that figure, and so on. It's bad enough when the figures are sparse, but when they are as dense as they are in some sections and as critical as they are to understanding the material, it's hard to stomach. As a result, I find that this book wastes a lot of my time. This is in the Third Edition, so you could hope things have changed, but I wouldn't bet a hundred bones on it.
   
   Also, to reiterate what another reviewer said, there are subjects like Fourier Optics which are spread out throughout the book more than is necessary. This makes it a fairly poor reference, since you sometimes have to dig up separate chunks of material in a piecemeal fashion.
   
   Still, for the level of the book, I am struggling to find something better. Born and Wolf is pretty good, but it's more of a graduate level text. Judging by the quality of the material available, textbook authorship must be harder than it seems.



2. As an introductory book teaching classical (and some modern) optics, this wonderful book is difficult to beat.
   
   It prepares you remarkably well for any direction in optics you then want to set off in. The explanations are mostly crystal-clear, crafted with great care. Lots of words and diagrams, not too much math, but enough math to facilitate useful calculations.
   
   An excellent under-graduate text, to my mind, the best available today.



3. An outstandingly good quality book, both in content and in the book itself. Very satisfied.



4. Of all the textbooks i have ever used at university (and as a fourth year student there have been quite a lot) this is simply the worst by far. Unlike the other physics textbooks i have used which were good at clarifying material, i found myself more confused after reading this book. Material i understood perfectly well at the lecture become suddenly incomprehendable when reading this awful book. Avoid it.
   Having shelled out money at the beginning of the semester for this book, i ended up using other optics books from the library all semester. Do NOT buy this book.



5. I recommend this as the first optics book you ever read. Emphasis on conceptual understanding, carried by excellent and profuse illustrations and description, allow the reader a deeper understanding of what's going on; mathematical descriptions stay shallow.

5 comments about The Story of Science: Newton at the Center.

1. I was sorely disappointed by the actual content- the text, the *words* which were supposed to communicate something of the glory and wonder of science to my children.
   
   The book had promise- I was impressed with a my first glance in the bookstore. It's beautifully laid out- lovely pictures, interesting sidebars- but once I sat down and tried to read the text, those sidebars were horribly, awfully distracting. I don't know who chose the formatting, but it's guaranteed to interrupt any chain of thought a reader might have. At least one 'sidebar' interrupted the flow of a passage in midsentence, then the 'sidebar' continued on, taking up two entire pages before returning to the next word in the interrupted sentence!
   
   It's like a commercial or a video game- distracting to the utmost. I also thought the writing was choppy, a little bit condescending, and very much designed to foster a sort of vacuous, uninformed arrogance in the student.
   
   Ancient history, says a well educated homeschooling father I've read from time to time, should not be taught as 'how the peasants lived back then,' because we really aren't any smarter than those who went before us. We stand on their shoulders so we have more information at our fingertips, information they discovered, but we are not smarter than they. It is a natural tendency to think that we are 'it,' that nobody has thought the thoughts we have, figured out the things that we know, and that we have advanced beyond any society before us. This is a superficial understanding at best, and a broad study of history should go a long way toward correcting that. Unfortunately, Hakim's book encourages that attitude. She does seem to teach science history along the lines of 'how the peasants lived.'
   
   At the beginning of her book she hubristically tells her students that when they finish reading her book they will know more than Isaac Newton. Since he invented Calculus, that's just a bizarre thing to say. She's feeding her readers a false image of what it means to 'know' and what knowledge is, and just who Isaac Newton really was. They will, perhaps, have more facts at their disposal, assuming they remember everything.
   
   They will know more history, since much of what is in her book happened after Newton's death. But will they have more knowledge than Isaac Newton? That is highly doubtful, and it does not do students any favors to confuse knowledge with a handy list of data points.



2. Although I agree that the sidebars are distracting, the book is a delight--and not at all condescending or arrogant. My homeschool daughter and I tried skipping the sidebars and returning to them after we had finished the text proper. It didn't work because the sidebars give anecdotal information that works best when read with the text proper. I'm guessing Ms. Hakim went through the same thought process before deciding on the layout. I do question that the text is meant for middle school. Although Ms. Hakim does write "to" that age level, the subject matter may be more appropriate for high school and thus benefit from a less familiar (although still conversational) style. I hope that Ms. Hakim will provide workbooks to accompany the books eventually. And, we are all waiting for the world history via Hakim!



3. My daughter is homeschooled, and after reading the entire History of US Series, I knew this science series would be a must. Honestly, I learned so much about US history than I ever learned in all my years of schooling through Ms. Hakim's books. Same with the "Story of Science" Series. Some may find the sidebars distracting, but we kind of made them into a separate lesson and learned a great deal of little-known facts. And it isn't only history or science - the author weaves a little bit of everything into these books in these sidebars. I really can't recommend her books enough. So far, they have been THE favorite resource in our four years of homeschooling!



4. I notice that one negative review has been repeated on multiple Joy Hakim books verbatim.
   
   I LIKE the sidebars and pictures. There is a ton of ART history and beautiful graphic design work in the books. Perhaps it is because my husband, son and I are all artists, but we particularly enjoyed the layout of the books. I felt a fusion of science with art in the presentation.
   
   The history is sound, well presented, and detailed enough in scope to touch on mathmatical concepts supporting the science.
   
   I'd reccomend this book for lovers of science history and for older homeschoolers. It is a bit too serious for younger homeschoolers. To me, this is more a book for a older preteen or teen audience.



5. I can't sing Hakim's praises enough - from her History of US series to the The Story of Science, all three volumes so far. I've been an avid science fan my whole life, but not a hard science major, and I gasped all the way through these books as I learned things I never knew, but thought I'd known, or finally understood things I'd known about but that had puzzled me. Get over the "distracting" sidebars - they didn't bother me at all and they were full of great stuff. I ate these books up and I was only reading them to preview for my homeschooler who hates math and is bored by science, but loves history. Joy Hakim has a wonderful ability to take a huge subject (all of US history, for instance, and the development and progress of scientific thought in this case) and make it manageable, new and a fun read. My daughter is discovering that science and math really are amazing and play a critical, pivotal role in the unfolding of human history.

5 comments about QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter (Princeton Science Library).

1. When I was a senior in high school, I asked my physics teacher why light bent when it entered a lens. He responded with an analogy about soldiers marching on a field and entering a marsh. The first soldiers entering the marsh would slow down and "bend" the column until all the soldiers were in the marsh.
   
   The analogy made no sense to me because we were talking about light, not soldiers. He responded that light travels in waves and if I viewed the soldiers as a wave front, I could understand his analogy. I left the conversation feeling very stupid for not "getting it." and thinking the analogy had so many holes in it. For example, it didn't explain why the lens was a marsh as far as light goes.
   
   It wasn't until I read QED that I realized I didn't get the soldier analogy because my teacher was wrong - light doesn't travel in waves, it travels in discrete little packets called photons.
   
   In QED, Feynman opens his first chapter by saying a couple of things. First he tells you that the theory he's going to describe to you has been experimentally verified out to 10 decimal places so it's probably right. He then gives you a quick review of what matter is and then tells you "light comes in particles. Not waves, particles." No wavicles, just little bits of light. He tells you that photons go from place to place, an electron goes from place to place and the electron will sometimes either absorb or emit a photon. From that basis, the rest of the book shows how that model explains why light bends when it enters a lens, why mirrors reflect, why oil slicks show different colors, why peacock feathers iridesce along a with host of other phenomena. He also explains why light has wave-like properties despite the fact that light comes in packets.
   
   The first reviewer is right - there are questions left unanswered but that doesn't diminish the book. The framework Feynman develops in four chapters gives you a clear mental image of what's going on. Bohr and Pauli disliked Feynman's approach because it violated the Copenhagen approach of eschewing all models. In their view, only mathematics would suffice to understand quantum mechanics. I for one, am very glad Feynman ignored them, developed his approach and eventually gave the 4 lectures that are the basis of the book.
   
   If you think light travels in waves, read this book. It's truly wonderful. If you're as dumb as I am, you'll have to read it multiple times but it's definitely worth it.



2. Caveat - Be sure to read Professor Zee's introduction as well as Feynman's introduction before you read the rest of the book. More about this at the end of this review.
   
   In my opinion this is one of the best of Feynman's introductory physics books. He does close to the impossible by explaining the rudimentary ideas of Quantum Electro Dynamics (QED) in a manner that is reasonably accessible to those with some physics background. He explains Feynman diagrams and shows why light is partially reflected from a glass, how it is transmitted through the glass, how it interacts with the electrons in the glass and many more things. This is done via his arrows and the rules for their rotation, addition and multiplication.
   
   One reviewer has criticized this book because Feynman does not actually show how to determine the length of the arrows (the square of which is the probability of the action being considered occurring) and the how you determine their proper rotation. True, but as is stated in Feynman's introduction, this was never the intention of the book. If you want to learn how to create the arrows used in a Feynman diagram and use them to solve even the most rudimentary problem, you have to major in physics as an undergraduate, do well enough to get into a theoretical physics graduate program and then stick with the program until the second year, when you will take elementary QED. You will then have to take even more classes before you can solve harder problems. Clearly, it is not possible to do all this in a 150-page book aimed at a general audience. He does, however, give the reader a clear indication of what these calculations are like, even if you are not actually given enough information to perform one on your own. Feynman is fair enough not to hide the difficulties involved in actually computing things. He briefly discusses the process of renormalization (that he admits is not mathematically legitimate), which is required to get answers that agreed with experimental data and the difficulties in determining the coupling constants that are also required. In the end, he admits that there is no mathematically rigorous support for QED. Its virtue lies in the fact that it provides the correct answers, even if the approach to getting them involve a bit of hocus-pocus (again his words).
   
   The last 20 pages of the book show how the approaches used in QED, as strange as they are, were used to create an analogous approach for determining what goes on in the nucleus of an atom. This short section shows complexity of nuclear physics and the role that QED has played in trying to unify a baffling plethora of experimental data. Unfortunately, this last section is largely out of date and is hopelessly complicated. Fortunately, it is only 20 pages long.
   
   As mentioned in the beginning of this review, you should read Zee's introduction as well as Feynman's, before you get into the rest of the book. Zee puts QED into proper perspective. Along with wave and matrix mechanics, the Dirac-Feynman path integral method that is described in this book is another approach to quantum mechanics. Zee also points out that while it is a very powerful approach for many problems, it is unworkable for others that are easily solved by wave or matrix mechanics. Feynman's introduction is very important because he emphatically states that photons and electrons are particles and that the idea of their also being waves stems from the idea that many features of their behavior could be explained by assuming that they were waves. He shows that you can explain these effects using QED, without having to assume that they are waves. This eliminates the many paradoxes that are created when one assumes that photons and electrons exhibit dual, wave/particle behavior. QED is not, however, without its own complications. Some of this behavior depends upon the frequency of the photon or electron. Frequency is generally thought of as a wave property, but it can also be thought of a just a parameter that defined the energy of the photon or electron. This is a fundamental idea separating QED from wave based quantum theories. Feynman does not try to speculate why photons and electrons obey the rules of QED because he does not know why, nor does anyone else and we probably are incapable of knowing why. He is completely satisfied that his calculations agree with experimental data to a degree that is unsurpassed by any other theoretical physics calculation.
   
   I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in getting an idea of what QED is all about and to those who seek a deeper understanding of physical phenomena. You will learn how QED explains many things, some of which from the basis for the paradoxes discussed at length in books such as "In search of Schrodinger's cat". Reading this book is a good antidote for the head spinning paradoxes described in that book. Feynman believes that they stem from using a poor analogy (that of waves) to explain the behavior of particles. As far as the deeper questions of why photons and electrons obey the ruled of QED, he does not care, so long as he can get the right answer. This may therefore not be the book for you if you are interested in this deepest WHY, but it definitely is if you want to know more about Feynman's powerful approach to quantum mechanics.



3. Feynman QED lectures show how physics concepts need to be introducing to any people who are scared about science. Feynman was a great scientist and a better pedagogue. It is simple to read and simpler to understand. We need more Feynman's at schools.
   Next book that I am going to read Feynman's Physics Lectures.



4. It takes some slogging, but this is pretty good. If you don't have a lot of physics background, you'll need patience, but your patience will be rewarded.



5. I have given this book to several very talented HS students. It can be understood even without higher math.

5 comments about Solar Energy Projects for the Evil Genius.

1. I have been a solar electric and solar hot water installer for 3 years. I can design and install a system with ease and confidence, but the projects in this book increased my understanding to a whole new level. It was like learning about solar from the inside out. I always enjoy it when I can learn about something I know well from a different angle. Some of my friends bought the book for themselves after thumbing through my copy. I recommend this book for anyone who likes to have a hands on approach to solar in many different areas.



2. I purchased this Book as a gift for my father. He loves to build things, and I thought introducing him to the wave of the future in engineering through "Solar Energy Projects for the Evil Genius" would be a fun way to learn something new. I was right. He loved it. I skimmed through the book, and it has detailed instructions, pictures, and tons of really great and practical ideas and projects...combined with some slightly rebellious ones. It truly is an original book and alot of fun..Highly recommended for those that like to create and build.



3. There was some interesting info about solar power. But, the "Projects" were very weak. Instructions were incomplete.
   I have been thinking of putting some solar panels on my roof, as an introduction to what I hope will be a big part of thr future. This book did not get me any closer.



4. Excellent book. The only one that had exactly the information I was looking for.



5. According to another reviewer here: "Instructions were incomplete."
   
   He is being highly charitable.
   
   There will be no more "EVIL GENIUS" books for me. You've been warned.