The Character of Physical Law by Richard Feynman
Published 1965 · 184 pages · 50,000 words · about 3 hours at an average pace · Nonfiction, Philosophy, Science & Nature
How hard is The Character of Physical Law to read?
The Character of Physical Law scores 30 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it moderately challenging. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 32 out of 100
- Physics and philosophy of science vocabulary. More reflective than Six Easy Pieces.
- Sentence structure: 28 out of 100
- Abstraction: 48 out of 100
- Meta-level reflection on the nature of physical law. More abstract than specific physics.
- Information density: 50 out of 100
- Dense with physical examples and philosophical reflection compressed into seven lectures.
- Narrative indirection: 100 out of 100
- Lecture format. Each talk has a clear subject and builds to a point.
- Symbolic density: 22 out of 100
- Gravitation as exemplar of all physical law. Mathematics as the language of nature.
- Ironic distance: 12 out of 100
- Feynman's irreverent humor applied to deep philosophical questions.
- Resolution withholding: 15 out of 100
- Why the universe obeys mathematical laws remains an open mystery.
- Structural complexity: 22 out of 100
- Seven lectures, each independent but building a cumulative picture.
How The Character of Physical Law is regarded
The Character of Physical Law holds a literary regard score of 60 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.