The Character of Physical Law, with new foreword (The MIT Press)

An  introduction to modern physics and to Richard Feynman at his witty and  enthusiastic best, discussing gravitation, irreversibility, symmetry,  and the nature of scientific discovery.

Richard Feynman  was one of the most famous and important physicists of the second half  of the twentieth century. Awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1965,  celebrated for his spirited and engaging lectures, and briefly a star on  the evening news for his presence on the commission investigating the  explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, Feynman is best known for his  contributions to the field of quantum electrodynamics. The Character of Physical Law,  drawn from Feynman's famous 1964 series of Messenger Lectures at  Cornell, offers an introduction to modern physics—and to Feynman at his  witty and enthusiastic best.

In this classic book  (originally published in 1967), Feynman offers an overview of selected  physical laws and gathers their common features, arguing that the  importance of a physical law is not “how clever we are to have found it  out” but “how clever nature is to pay attention to it.” He discusses  such topics as the interaction of mathematics and physics, the principle  of conservation, the puzzle of symmetry, and the process of scientific  discovery. A foreword by 2004 Physics Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek  updates some of Feynman's observations—noting, however, “the need for  these particular updates enhances rather than detracts from the book.”  In The Character of Physical Law, Feynman chose to grapple with issues at the forefront of physics that seemed unresolved, important, and approachable.