Customer Reviews

Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track

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Before reading this book, I had read both the classic "Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman", and its sequel, "What Do You Care What Other People Think?". In my opinion, all three books are well worth reading, but, interestingly, for different reasons each.

The first book contains several intriguing stories, mainly from Feynman's personal life, which are entertaining in their own right, but also provide insight into the personality of this unique individual. Highly recommended! The second book starts off in a similar spirit, but concludes with a more serious discussion of the Challenger accident investigation. Not as entertaining, but still interesting.

This book is simply a collection of letters to and from Feynman throughout his lifetime. As such, some of the letters, lacking background knowledge, can feel a bit out of place at times. However, having a general framework of reference from the other two books, I found this one much more revealing in details about Feynman's character than any of the two other books. However, I'm not sure how much I would have gotten out of it if this had been my first Feynman book. Thus, I would strongly recommend you read at least "Surely You're Joking" before you pick this one up.

Overall, the value of this book lies in bringing together different stories we have read about in the two other books, giving us a warm and fuzzy feeling of closure. Many of the letters describe the behind-the-scenes personal details missing from the somewhat neutral story descriptions in the first two books, thereby completing the picture of this "curious character".

My wife recently gave me the audio version of this book (on CD). I never had listened to an audio book before, but with my background in science (medicine), I gave it a try, having read the various short autobiographies by Feynman. First, though, I converted the CD files to MP3 files in my iTunes program, then listened to the entire book over several weeks in my car on the way to and from work. (All of the 8 CDs can be fitted onto a 2GB Nano iPod, thus minimizing the inconvenience of having to swap out discs while listening.)
I was very surprised. The book is voiced by Richard Poe (doing all of Feynman's words) and Johanna Parker, who plays the voices of various correspondents, male or female. Richard Poe comes across as no-nonsense, crusty, harrumphing sort of person, while Johanna Parker is alternately devotional (Feynman's first wife) or takes on various other personas (an Indian undergraduate science student, a grade school boy, a British correspondent), all inflected appropriately.
The book takes us through the years of Feynman's professional career, from graduate studies to his work for the Shuttle disaster commission in 1986, shortly before his death from an abdominal tumor. Unfortunately, there are large gaps in the collection, probably a result of the inability to locate crucial letters for various reasons, and there is virtually nothing from Feynman's last wife (and nothing from his second wife, from a brief marriage Feynman would have preferred to forget).
Aside from this, the recording was very compelling. One could hear the wisdom of this great (if pompous) scientist, who repeatedly argued for a rational approach to problem solving. It was like hearing a well-regarded counselor in my car, a father figure (who himself was a proud father). The words are not too difficult for people without science backgrounds. You hear his views on promoting women in science, raising children, Greek archeology. Sometimes his responses are all too terse, just one sentence, but these convey how much he wanted to get right to the point.
Both Poe and Parker are very engaging, and after several hours' listening, the story is over all too quickly. So, you play it again.
Well worth listening to for anyone who wants to be inspired to take the most direct and logical way to sort through life's problems.

This collection of Feynman's correspondence contains, among other things, the best description I have yet scene of his relationship with his first wife, Arline. Their relationship is limned through Feynman's careful correspondence with Arline's doctors, his own letters to his parents who were against the marriage, and his unwavering support for her. The section concludes with a haunting letter Feynman wrote to Arline after her death.

Juxtaposed with his nascent professional career and his work on the Manhattan project, this represents one of the most moving love stories of our time. (It's annoying how various Hollywood movie version of this story have trivialized it or turned into cliche).

There are many other interesting facets of the book, as for example the insight into life generally during the middle of the twentieth century at a time when scholarship generally and physics specifically were still warmly supported. Even the tales of Feynman's remarkably supportive high school teachers, who responded to his misbehavior in class by giving him advanced textbooks and free run of the laboratory, seem very much from another era.

This book does, however, make one want to read more of Feynman's correspondence. If nothing else, he was an exceptionally good writer.

I don't know much about Feynman, the bomb builder and Nobel winner, and wasn't sure what to expect when I picked up this collection of Feynman's letters, edited by his daughter (and given to me by my daughter.) I took me a while to warm up to the man.

The book is organized by periods and sometimes by subjects.
The first chapter is the time of the bomb job, which coincides with RF's first marriage. While the letters to his wife are all that they should be -she was dying of TB at the time- there is no comment on the moral dimensions of the job at all. I found that a bit disturbing, but one has to realize that the letters are not necessarily complete, and that there must have been censorship around. Also, he might have expressed his thoughts elsewhere, ... Or maybe kept them to himself, .... Or maybe had none?
The subject (morality of developing the nuclear bomb) comes up first in 1972 in a letter from a young Brit. RF's response is simple and clear. He did it because he was afraid the war might be lost otherwise. I am satisfied with that answer. One tends to lose perspective of proper timing when one applies hindsight insights.
From a letter to Feynman in the 80s we learn that he had spoken about his bomb-related fear in his speech at his father's funeral in 1946. See!

A core chapter is his correspondence after the Nobel award in 1965. We get to know the man quite well, his sense of humor, his ability to be self-critical, his lack of respect for formality, his freespiriting.
(Remind me not to come to any more gravity conferences! Maybe I would never have received a physics prize if I had been better in English. I seem always to get into discussions where I know nothing about the subject. That doesn't stop me from giving strong opinions. Nobody has ever figured out the cause of government stupidity.)

He was magnificent in his treatment of troll correspondants. Some people would write very odd letters about his science or about public appearances, and he would always answer politely, but rationally. His conclusion on trolls: no argument will convince the idiot.
However I can see easily that many people might have been antagonized by his antics, mainly the stuffed shirts.

There are a few hilarious episodes, like his cancelled attendance of a scientific conference in Moscow, or his resignation from membership in the National Academy of Science.

By and by we get to understand him better in political and related questions. I was won over, finally, by his brilliant refusal to cooperate with a book project about Jewish Nobel winners. He refused. Praising good traditions in Jewish people was in his view not different from attacking Jews for alleged evil traditions. It is the wrong way to go.

I also liked his specific refusal to sign a petition by prominent Americans to the British government in relation to Britain's support of the Vietnam war. He supported the spirit of protest, but couldn't sign the petition because it made unverified claims. He sent a check instead of signing.
He also handled the new issue of women in physics well, IMO.

For readers who already appreciate Richard Feynman's place in scientific history, this collection of his correspondence will greatly enhance their appreciation of Richard Feynman the human being. There's honesty, bluntness, wit, compassion, empathy, and humor, sometimes all in the same letter. In addition to all his other admirable traits, Feynman is revealed to be an empath! I was particularly touched by his reply to a former student who was making little progress in his scientific work and despaired of accomplishing anything significant in life. Showing great sympathy, Feynman proceeded to list all his own scientific failures and then exhorted him to remember that whether a human being is a success or not is not merely a matter of his scientific accomplishments. That one letter alone is worth the price of the book. Great insight from a wise man.

A great compilation of both personal, and professional letters. A great way to know the 'real' Richard Feynman.

This book complements the other biographical and (semiauto)biographical works on Richard Feynman. In many ways we see him more intimately than ever before.

I once read a book describing the Roman Catholic Church as a struggle between saints and cardinals. (I would love to refind this book.) The cardinals were the guardians of orthodoxy, the saints broke new ground. The cardinals often burned the saints for heresy, then the saint's ideas became accepted and the next generation of cardinals beatified the ex-heretic (while burning the next future saint). Saint Joan is the best-known example of this habit.

Whether it is Einstein (who was described as a lazy dog by his professors at graduate school) or Feynman (whose paper that ultimately recieved the nobel prize was originally excoriated by his seniors) events move faster now, and original minds can now be canonized within their lifetimes. Einstein famously said something like "I always resented authorities - God has now punished me by making me an authority".

This book can be regarded as the record of Feynman's attempt to evade or accept this fate.

This book gives a wonderful insight into the mind of R. P. Feynman. It is very entertaining, amusing and interesting. I would recommend it after reading at least "Surely you are Joking.."

I just started reading this book. But I have already found it very interesting and a lot of lively teaching about life by Feynman. He sure had a very interesting and different way to teach us on life and living and a very humorous person too.

I will keep updating my review as I proceed with my reading.

I was showing a friend the kindle, and I pulled up the kindle sample downloaded for this book.

The sample was rediculous -- it wasn't a real excerpt from the book, it was basically a list of letters.

I would suggest that amazon excerpt a meaningful section of the book.