QED
the strange theory of light and matter
by Richard Phillips Feynman, A. Zee · first published 1985
77% recommend22% neutral1% critical
Why HN recommends it
Feynman explains quantum electrodynamics to laypeople with no math, using arrows and path sums to cover reflection, refraction and light's behavior. Clear and accurate, suited to curious non-physicists.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
light and matter
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2010–2022The Black Hole War
Leonard Susskind
Recommended by 6 · mentioned by 86 recommend · 8 mention6 recommend · 86 recommend
2017–2019Field Quantization
Walter Greiner, Joachim Reinhardt
Recommended by 2 · mentioned by 22 recommend · 2 mention2 recommend · 22 recommend
2008–2025The Character of Physical Law
Richard Phillips Feynman, Frank Wilczek, Sean Runnette
Recommended by 14 · mentioned by 2814 recommend · 28 mention14 recommend · 2814 recommend
2016–2021Why does e=mc2
Brian Cox
Recommended by 2 · mentioned by 32 recommend · 3 mention2 recommend · 32 recommend
2010–2026Introduction to Elementary Particles
David Jeffrey Griffiths
Recommended by 11 · mentioned by 1611 recommend · 16 mention11 recommend · 1611 recommend
2016–2025Quantum field theory for the gifted amateur
Tom Lancaster
Recommended by 8 · mentioned by 88 recommend · 8 mention8 recommend · 88 recommend
2009–2019Thermodynamics
Enrico Fermi
Recommended by 3 · mentioned by 43 recommend · 4 mention3 recommend · 43 recommend
2008–2026A treatise on electricity and magnetism
James Clerk Maxwell
Recommended by 1 · mentioned by 111 recommend · 11 mention1 recommend · 111 recommend
I highly recommend Richard Feynman's QED (quantum electrodynamics) lectures. You can find them by googling something like feynman qed lecture auckland. The quality of the videos is marginal, but the content is spectacular. I am not exaggerating…
on “Close to absolute zero, particles exhibit their quantum nature” ↗I read Feynman's QED back in high school and was fascinated by it, but always had a lingering question. Sure the math works out by summing all possible paths, and then most of them usually cancel each other out, and so you're…
on “Our Reality May Be a Sum of All Possible Realities” ↗…Evolutionary Biology: Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker Molecular Biology: David Clark, Molecular Biology Made Simple and Fun Physics: the canonical answer is "Feynman". I won't argue with that. His little books (QED and The Character of Physical Law) are quite nice.
on “5 Great Science Books to Expand Your Mind” ↗By far my favorite piece of writing from Feynman is QED: http://www.amazon.com/QED-Strange-Princeton-Science-Library/... Out of all his writings, this is the one that has always stuck with me. Feynman long held that one does not understand something if…
on “The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume I” ↗"QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter" by Richard Feynman: http://www.amazon.com/QED-Strange-Theory-Light-Matter/dp/069... I read this book in high-school and learned about as much as I did in 4 undergrad…
on “A wave of experiments is probing the root of quantum weirdness” ↗You're kind of there, but I think it's helpful to drop the notion of wave-particle duality you have since it's confusing you. Watch Feynman's videos about it (or just read his book called QED) if you want clarification, but I think it's best to for the most part think of the particles described in particle physics as particles with special rules and behaviors that wouldn't make sense if they…
on “Loophole-free Bell test ‘Spooky action at a distance’, no cheating” ↗Feynman's own QED book is a fantastic introduction to QED and his diagrams https://www.amazon.co.uk/QED-Strange-Theory-Penguin-Science/...
on “How Feynman Diagrams Revolutionized Physics” ↗…understanding electricity. Like, okay, the Bohr model doesn't match the reality of probability clouds and quantum effects, but how does this impact simple circuits? I found that the first half of Feynman's QED did a pretty good job of trying to explain quantum behavior in more abstract terms than the traditional approaches to light-as-wave-and-quanta. I'd also recommend looking at videos from 3blue1brown on…
on “Visualizing Electricity” ↗…to explain something to lay people indicates a deficiency in the scientist’s understanding. Feynman certainly thought so and he was probably the most publicly trusted scientist of his generation. His QED[1] is a shining example of explaining a very difficult subject to the lay audience. Edit: Einstein is another example of a publicly trusted scientist who made every effort to clearly and completely explain…
on “Trusting science leaves people vulnerable to believing pseudoscience” ↗Debt: The First 5000 Years It’s difficult for me to put in words the influence the book had and continues to have on me. QED by Richard Feynman is a close second. It pulled a veil off from my eyes, made me really understand what science is all about.
on “Ask HN: What book changed your life?” ↗Recommmended reading: Feynman's classic QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter. http://www.amazon.com/QED-Strange-Theory-Light-Matter/dp/069... If you don't really understand what this article is talking about, Feynman can help you.
on “It's confirmed: Matter is merely vacuum fluctuations” ↗Oh jeeze, I have to choose? Nonfiction: QED, by Feynman. It made a large portion of quantum physics "click" for me intuitively and dispelled a bunch of popular notions about quantum physics that are just wrong. Fiction: Probably the celebrated…
on “Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why” ↗Isbn 0-14-012505-1 QED The strange theory of ligt and matter by Richard P. Feynman It's his lectures and he was a good teacher.
on “Feynman diagrams by Edward Tufte” ↗…better writeup compared to the rather nebulous wiki page: http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=208 He has another good post on quantum computing here: http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=266 Feynman's QED is a good book for a general feel of quantum electrodynamics. This long sequence may help fix your intuition when it comes to quantum things: http://lesswrong.com/lw/r5/the_quantum_physics_sequence/…
on “'Unprecedented' discovery could propel quantum computers to reality” ↗…quantum quantifier is there to differentiate the superposition they mention from "classical" wave superposition. It's very complicated stuff but not "very, very complicated" stuff, you can read Feynman's QED book (http://www.amazon.com/QED-Strange-Theory-Light-Matter/dp/069..., <$9 used with shipping) and obtain a pretty good working knowledge of things.
on “Light completely stopped for a record-breaking minute” ↗