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tanyarobinson's review
Okay, I'm a wimp. I was so proud of my non-scientist self for tackling these lectures, feeling all smug that I was stretching my mind. Well, I found my mind didn't feel so much stretched as bored beyond desire for existence. I listened to 7 lectures before I gave up. I guess there's a reason why I remain a non-scientist...
mikusa's review
3.0
In the end this was informative, but I felt like the lecturer 'told' his audience how things are, but didn't 'explain' well how and why they are the way they are. He's super smart and spoke incredibly fast, and I think I needed him to slow down and show me why a particle is how it is before moving on to the next concept. It's also a little dated now (2000), so it wasn't able to include the important results of the large hadron collider and Higgs boson.
mattm's review against another edition
5.0
A terrific intro to 20th and 21st century physics (Einstein and later).
Despite having taken two years of honours high school physics and reading a number of books on the topic, there were a number of concepts about relativity and quantum mechanics I still grasped only loosely.
Professor Wolfson has a way of explaining difficult concepts simply and very visually that really "clicks" with my mind: time dilation, relativistic frames of reference, etc. I wish I'd had this background from the beginning.
Despite having taken two years of honours high school physics and reading a number of books on the topic, there were a number of concepts about relativity and quantum mechanics I still grasped only loosely.
Professor Wolfson has a way of explaining difficult concepts simply and very visually that really "clicks" with my mind: time dilation, relativistic frames of reference, etc. I wish I'd had this background from the beginning.
blackash13's review against another edition
4.0
This was a head to toe introduction to a breadth of topics in physics and relativity. After reading Neil degrasse Tyson's Astrophysics for People in a Hurry and feeling a little short changed, this definitely filled the void. Most topics were easy for me to grasp, some others were totally over my head. I definitely came away with a greater understanding of the space-time continuum and the flat universe theory.
The courses were all presented in an intriguing manner even though some of them were difficult for me to grasp. The courses on astrophysics definitely roused my desire to pursue additional knowledge I that area.
If you're interested in learning more about physics and the theory of relativity, this would be a great place to start.
The courses were all presented in an intriguing manner even though some of them were difficult for me to grasp. The courses on astrophysics definitely roused my desire to pursue additional knowledge I that area.
If you're interested in learning more about physics and the theory of relativity, this would be a great place to start.
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