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Loading... Feynman lectures on computation (original 1996; edition 1996)by Richard Phillips Feynman
Work InformationFeynman Lectures on Computation by Richard Feynman (1996)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Somewhat of a mixed bag. The first half is very interesting, then kind of loses steam towards the end. It seems like some course lecture notes were somewhat quickly tossed together to make a book; this could have benefited from a more in-depth going over by Feynman to smooth out some rough edges. Overall worth reading for a unique physicist's view of computability, but don't expect it to be up to Feynman's usual standard of quality. no reviews | add a review
When, in 1984?86, Richard P. Feynman gave his famous course on computation at the California Institute of Technology, he asked Tony Hey to adapt his lecture notes into a book. Although led by Feynman, the course also featured, as occasional guest speakers, some of the most brilliant men in science at that time, including Marvin Minsky, Charles Bennett, and John Hopfield. Although the lectures are now thirteen years old, most of the material is timeless and presents a ?Feynmanesque? overview of many standard and some not-so-standard topics in computer science such as reversible logic gates and quantum computers. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)003Information Computing and Information Systems TheoryLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Feynman's working method, which he encourages others to adopt, was to work out as much as he can on his own first and look up what others had done afterwards. He would find that usually he had come up with no original results but quite often would have reached the same conclusions by an alternative route. Occasionally he proved something that was not known before. This technique is fabulous if one has both a wide knowledge (in memory) of physics and maths and a great facility with both, too. For lesser mortals it's completely useless.
The book oscillated from fascinating (reversible computing, quantum computers) to excruciatingly dull (logic circuit design, chip fabrication, semi-conductor device theory) depending on my personal level of interest. Even Feynman can't make engineering interesting to me! But that's not his fault; if you're into these topics it'll be great. If you're not, it's for Feynman completists only. ( )