Featured Classic - Franklin

"Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults."  -Ben Franklin

Now and again I will feature texts authored by individuals whose past achievements can serve to inspire today's people and cultivate intellectual growth. Learning from history is a vital component of anyone's education. Avoiding past mistakes and building on past successes facilitate progress in both everyday life and modern science. With new communication technologies affecting our lives, it can be difficult to remember our heritage. It is increasingly easy to get swept up by social pressures and lose focus on the direction of one's life and the world at large. By staying cognizant of our roots we nurture personal growth and integrity. Works such as those featured here are part of mankind's intellectual heritage and are well worth anyone's study.

Today's featured classic is Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. America owes much to this prodigious man. His lightning rod has prevented countless fires and deaths. His theory of electricity was a crucial milestone in scientific progress. Other inventions have significantly benefited mankind immeasurably. Benjamin Franklin founded the United States' first public lending library and other valuable institutions. He was Ambassador to France, rallying support for the United States during the Revolutionary War. As a Founding Father, he helped start a nation that would stand for freedom, individualism, and humanitarianism. In his autobiography Ben Franklin narrates his astonishing life with humility. One of the best-known parts is his “moral perfection” project where he focused on thirteen virtues (temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, humility) with which to improve himself as a person. During his life he went from being a poor news printer to co-founding a nation. His values and accomplishments have helped shape the American Dream.

Ben Franklin's Autobiography (free download)

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (amazon.com)

FIRST-CLASS PHYSICS TEACHER

Physics classes can be daunting and boring to many people. It is often hard to fully appreciate the utility, ingenuity, and elegance of using mathematics to explain how the real world works. Teaching physics effectively can be very difficult, but Walter Lewin makes it look easy. Dr. Lewin is a professor emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Three courses taught by him have been recorded and made available online through MIT's OpenCourseWare project—much like Open Yale Courses. Anyone can access this university material for free, but do not expect college credit for watching the lectures. Dr. Lewin employs his comedic wit and dazzling demonstrations to clarify physics concepts and applications for his students. The first course is about “classical mechanics”, the second is about “electricity and magnetism”, and the third is about “vibrations and waves”. All three courses are intended for students who are experienced with calculus. Even if you do not plan on becoming a scientist, you will probably find the classes entertaining and thought-provoking.

The classical mechanics course includes the following topics: units, kinematics, vectors, circular motion, Newton's laws, friction, work, energy, forces, collisions, momentum, rotating bodies, stars, torque, oscillations, gravity, planetary orbits, gyroscopes, precession, fluid mechanics, buoyancy, harmonics, resonance, heat, thermodynamics, and astrophysics.

The electricity and magnetism course includes the following topics: historical background, fields, Gauss' law, flux, voltage, currents, EMF, circuits, electric motors, solenoids, induction, inductance, Faraday's law, eddy currents, levitation, material properties, electromagnets, Maxwell's equations, electromagnetic waves, light, refraction, polarization, scattering, rainbows, interference, Doppler effect, and cosmology.

The vibrations and waves course includes the following topics: oscillations, waves, damping, resonance, coupling, pendulum, sound, Fourier analysis, electromagnetic waves, polarization, Doppler effect, stars, radiation, reflection, standing waves, refraction, interference, double-slit experiment, thin films, diffraction, and rainbows.

Classical Mechanics (MIT)

Electricity & Magnetism (MIT)

Vibrations & Waves (MIT)

Featured Quote

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

-Thomas Edison

PSYCHOLOGY AT YALE

A lot of people get interested in psychology at some time or another in their lives. Why? Well, that is a psychological question. Studying how people think and analyzing the causes for their behaviors can be beneficial and fascinating. Understanding oneself is a key factor for personal growth. Understanding others can facilitate peace and prosperity. In much the same way that knowing how your body functions can empower you to take better care of it, studying the workings of the mind can help you maintain good mental health.

Yale University offers a free online course in psychology, taught by Professor Paul Bloom. “Introduction to Psychology” is just one of the various courses available at Open Yale Courses. OYC gives free access to recorded classes actually taught at Yale. You do not have to be registered at the university—just have a fast internet connection. The lectures can be heard as MP3s, watched as videos, and you can read the transcripts and presentation slides. While this course is genuinely taught at Yale, online viewers cannot get any university credit for watching the videos. If you want a degree, then you need to enroll at Yale.

This course includes the following topics: the teachings of Freud and Skinner, communication, emotions, morality, mysteries in psychology, mental illness, and happiness.

Introduction to Psychology (OYC)

 This is the first lecture of the course.

FREE HIGH SCHOOL MATH & SCIENCE TEXTBOOKS

Here are some more free textbooks. The Free High School Science Texts (FHSST) are a collaborative project mainly intended to improve education in South Africa, however, the project is open to anyone in the world who has an internet connection. There are three math textbooks and three science textbooks designated for grades 10, 11, and 12.

The math textbooks include the following topics: types of numbers, exponents, financial applications, algebra, functions, graphing, geometry, trigonometry, statistics, probability, logarithms, series, and differential calculus.

The science textbooks include the following topics: SI units, rounding, scientific notation, significant figures, chemistry, organic chemistry, atoms, chemical reactions, chemical equations, natural cycles, physics, Newtonian dynamics and laws of motion, energy, waves, optics, electricity, magnetism, forces, and radiation.

Free High School Math & Science Texts

FREE PHYSICS TEXTBOOK

University education is highly valued in industrialized countries; it is both prestigious and expensive. Under current economic conditions people are finding more difficulty in paying for post-secondary education. Even if you manage to pay for tuition, college textbook prices are often unmanageably high. For those of us who want to acquire college level knowledge but cannot afford it, there are free textbooks available whose authors think education should be more affordable and less exclusive.

Today I present “Simple Nature”, a physics textbook by Benjamin Crowell. Dr. Crowell teaches physics at Fullerton College in California. This textbook can be downloaded as a PDF file so it is very accessible. It is intended as “an introduction to physics for engineering and physical science students.” The topics covered include: conservation laws, thermodynamics, waves, relativity, electromagnetism, circuits, optics, and quantum mechanics. Readers should already be familiar with calculus before reading this book. Enjoy.

Simple Nature

Featured Quote

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction.” 

-Albert Einstein