Book review

[Alan]

In my limited exposure to the club I see you all are bright, curious, nerdy people and I'm glad to be associated. You like me might enjoy this tip instead of a crossword puzzle some lazy day. The book is "Feynman's Lost Lecture, The Motion of Planets Around the Sun". It is a recreation of a guest lecture given by Nobel prize winner Richard Feynman in 1964 to freshman physics students at Cal-Tech in print and an audio CD. An opportunity to learn a little about a great physicist and see how just for fun he proved the planetary orbits are ellipses using only Keplers three laws, Newton's three laws, and geometry. Basically recreating the thought processes of Newton himself before he invented calculus. Definately a fun little tour through the early history of astrophysics to where Einstein brought about the second revolution in the field. The book is available at Henn Cty Library, is an easy read, and will challenge you to remember some of that long lost geometry and basic physics as it walks you through the process. Like those proofs we all did back in class, this book leaves you with a "good" feeling when the light comes on and the simple elegance of the process is revealed. I hope someone else enjoys it, I did.
Alan