Quantum Is Feynman's Statistical Mechanics Suitable for a First Introduction?

AI Thread Summary
"Statistical Mechanics; A Set of Lectures" by Feynman is recognized for its engaging style and depth, but it is not considered suitable as an introductory textbook for beginners. The content is described as terse and mathematical, differing significantly from more accessible undergraduate materials. While Feynman's lectures are enjoyable and colorful, they require a solid foundation in the subject to be fully appreciated. Therefore, readers without prior knowledge may find the book challenging, making it more appropriate for those who have already been introduced to the concepts of statistical mechanics.
ergospherical
Science Advisor
Homework Helper
Education Advisor
Insights Author
Messages
1,097
Reaction score
1,384
I found this little book titled “Statistical Mechanics; A set of lectures” by Feynman in the library. I’m not taking Stat Mech until Easter so I’d just be reading for interest at this stage, although the content looks fairly involved. Is it suitable for a first introduction?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
ergospherical said:
I found this little book titled “Statistical Mechanics; A set of lectures” by Feynman in the library. I’m not taking Stat Mech until Easter so I’d just be reading for interest at this stage, although the content looks fairly involved. Is it suitable for a first introduction?
I think that in general, Feynman is perspicuous if and only if you're adequately prepared. His lectures are fun to browse around in even if you're not very well-prepared, because his expositions are so colorful. But that's maybe rather like looking at an illustrated book written in a foreign language that you don't know.
 
Thanks, although I'm looking for focused comments specific to this text. Its style has little resemblance to the more well-known set of general undergraduate lectures (it's far more terse and mathematical).
 
It's a marvelous book as all of Feynman's textbooks (I mean the real textbooks, not so much the popular-science books), but it's definitely not for use as an introductory textbook.
 
  • Like
Likes sysprog and ergospherical
The book is fascinating. If your education includes a typical math degree curriculum, with Lebesgue integration, functional analysis, etc, it teaches QFT with only a passing acquaintance of ordinary QM you would get at HS. However, I would read Lenny Susskind's book on QM first. Purchased a copy straight away, but it will not arrive until the end of December; however, Scribd has a PDF I am now studying. The first part introduces distribution theory (and other related concepts), which...
I've gone through the Standard turbulence textbooks such as Pope's Turbulent Flows and Wilcox' Turbulent modelling for CFD which mostly Covers RANS and the closure models. I want to jump more into DNS but most of the work i've been able to come across is too "practical" and not much explanation of the theory behind it. I wonder if there is a book that takes a theoretical approach to Turbulence starting from the full Navier Stokes Equations and developing from there, instead of jumping from...

Similar threads

Replies
2
Views
2K
Replies
6
Views
4K
Replies
4
Views
4K
Replies
4
Views
8K
Replies
3
Views
4K
Replies
9
Views
5K
Back
Top