Quantum Mechanics and Path Integrals: Emended Edition (Dover Books on Physics)

It is wonderful to see this extraordinary work back in print, especially in this attractive low cost Dover edition. As an added bonus, the myriad misprints that plagued the original 1965 printing (and caused me such grief when I first read it in high school) have been corrected.The path integral approach, so clearly explained in this volume, derived from Feynman's graduate research at Princeton where he applied variational principles to quantum mechanics. This, in turn, was motivated by a seminal 1932 paper of Dirac.At the time, the formalism appeared to provide only an elegant means of deriving the wave equation without achieving any new results. But elegant mathematics always seems to have a way of finding application in physics. Just look at how formerly "obscure" topics like Lie algebras and differential geometry have become part of the essential language of particle physics. And path integral methods have proved useful in fields ranging from quantum electrodynamics to acoustic propagation.Like all of Feynman's works, this text combines sound, if unconventional, mathematics with remarkable physical insight. There is still no better introduction to the topics treated here. This book is required reading for anyone wishing to understand quantum mechanics (at least in so far as anyone can understand quantum mechanics) and who intends to pursue more advanced topics.Heartily recommended!

I like attitude that quantum mechanics is a method of counting rather than a formalism.Unfortunately I am too stupid to understand quantum mechanics even after studying subject for fifty years.My favorite book on this subject is Pauli's Wave Mechanics.

So far, so ok.The first probability example is confusing.Feynman is measuring the probability of a particle going through a hole. And then measuring the probability of the particle arriving at a subsequent screen.My lack of understanding is- the number of outcomes pre screen is enormous. So the chance of success (getting through the hole) is a small percentage. However measuring the probability of hitting the screen is a certainty. Unless a particle, post hole 🕳️ , is no longer a particle. Maybe that’s the point.Anyway, I just started reading. It can be read (it’s not in pig Latin ).I think the cover size should be larger. That way I can carry it around on my hip in a trade up NYC department store and maybe meet an interesting lady 🤷‍♂️.Thanks, now for the joke: I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. It's impossible to put down.Jim 🚶🏼Or James 🚶🏼

Most Feynman books are excellent; this one is no exception. The content and delivery are both very well done. In his typical fashion, Feynman gives the reader a feel for the physical intuition behind path integrals in QM as well as alternate ways to deriving the same result.But I dont think this should be one's primary text on the subject. For many sections of this book, I would recommend (for myself at least) a more vanilla companion text along with this book to familiarize oneself with the underlying math and more routine 'techniques'. This text, in my opinion, serves two great needs: 1) give beginners in the path integral approach an intuitive understanding of the topic, so that he 'understands' what he's doing while solving equations; and 2) give the experienced reader insights into the physical interpretations of the math.It would also be more convenient to have this text on the Kindle, in a more modern typeset, but that doesnt seem likely..

In the early 1940s Richard Feynman was presented with a comment made by an older physicist P.A.M. Dirac. In response to that comment Feynman asked, "What is the use of that?" Feynman answered his own question in a way that ultimately led to him being universally considered as the greatest physicist of the second half of the 20th century. Quantum Mechanics and Path Integrals expands on that answer he gave and discusses the core of his work leading ultimately to his Nobel Prize in physics in 1965. This book is a classic that could only be written by the master himself. So what is the use of this book? It introduces the reader to a substantial portion of modern physics.

extraordinary book, I wish I have read it in 1965, I would have found numerous approaches in QM that took me half a century to find out...theory, observation, experimental verification, along with strong mathematical formalization, in a clear, friendly and attractive language, the way Feyman does it, is not a popular science fiction book, neither a dull academic paper, needs some knowledge on the subject and a lot of passion, but it is a treasure...I would also suggest the QED, of the same scientist, to facilitate understanding...

This book offers an alternative approach to quantum mechanics than the vast majority. Feynman and Hibbs not only develop quantum mechanics from scratch, but in doing so they also explain how path integrals work. This edition has been revised, so many errors that appeared before were corrected, and there is an appendix full of insightful notes. Totally worth your time and money.

Richard Feynman has the un-breakable record of being the most fun and most understandable Physics Nobel Prize winner ever. His book on Quantum Mechanics is typical Feynman. That means he explains complex subjects in a way that a typical human being can understand them. I don't know of any other Physics lecturer than can communicate in small digestible bites like him. This book is typical Richard Feynman good.