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Summary: Great book if you haven't read much Feynman
Review: All but one of the 'shorts' in this book have previously been published - if you have extensively read Feynman (or even moderately) you'll learn/read nothing new about him.If you are a new Feynman discoverer however it is a superb book and may well lead you on to wanting to get hold of his other works. For me though, I was looking for new stuff and was a little disappointed although I did read the whole book and am pleased to have it in my collection.
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Summary: Feynman Is Funny, Fabulous and Fantastic!
Review: Although I had been given the book earlier, I never seemed to get around to actually reading it. Listening to the tape was so much easier. Plus the reader does a terrific job of making it seem like Feynman himself is talking. A 5-star recording! I listened to this tape on my daily commute, having just returned from a trip to Los Alamos the week before. Feynman worked there as a young graduate student and shares personal insights about Oppenheimer, Fuchs and the others on the tapes. This set of tapes is a terrific collection of short pieces on everything from The Bomb to how his father whetted his interest in science as a child. A must-listen for anyone remotely intrigued by brilliant teachers, science, and/or raising children. Have I forgotten anyone?
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Summary: Find out
Review: Anyone who became familiar with Richard Feynman from his hugely popular memoirs What Do You Care What Other People Think, and Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman will find The Pleasure of Finding Things Out an intermediate step between those books and the dense scientific texts behind his Nobel Prize and reputation as one of the 20th century's great minds. This book is not meant to be entertaining, but I suppose a glimpse into Mr. Feynman's mind cannot help but be entertaining, even when it is a series of lectures based entirely on science. Here he talks about what he calls the "thrill" of boldly finding out what no man knew before, on subjects ranging from the discovery of the reasons behind the crash of the space shuttle Challenger to the atomic bomb project at Los Alamos and from the role of science in society to his Nobel acceptance speech. And while it is not specifically written with the non-scientist in mind, a strong background in science is not necessary to understand and enjoy the wind-ranging collection of philosophies, musings, and remarks collected on these pages.
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Summary: Welcome, with some reservations....
Review: As a physics professor in the 1970s, I tried introducing my "liberal arts physics" students to Richard Feynman, via xerox copies of some of his writings, and via the filmed Messenger Lectures of a decade before, "The Character of Physical Law"--- by the way, why aren't these available today on video tape? Now, 25 years later, there's a modest "boom" of Feynman material in print, by no means all worthy of being in that state (which is why Feynman kept a number of lecture transcripts tucked away forgotten in file folders) and one fears, after seeing "The Meaning of it All," that even Feynman's used kleenex and desk blotters are not safe from publication! But this collection is welcome for gathering together many transcriptions of his famous talks from this era, the 1960s and 1970s, the best of which are "Los Alamos from Below," the deservedly legendary "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom," "What is Science?" and "Cargo Cult Science." As a physicist and as one who had the pleasure of hearing Feynman lecture in person on a number of occasions, I had some reservations about the editing of this book, however. The book unwisely starts out with an interview from late in Feynman's life, in which he tells some of his favorite stories in a quite inarticulate way, and then edits out the same stories as they appear in far more comprehensible fashion in the later material (related two decades before). The editor himself seems singularly innocent of science in all its aspects, which results in some major howlers. For example, the speed of light in glass is about 75% of its speed in vacuum, far from "a fraction of a percent" slower than its vacuum speed (p.xii) and CP Invariance (p. 101) has no connection whatsoever to conservation of charge. The operator C, "charge conjugation," changes particles to antiparticles. And so on! Some of the material presents Feynman strugging publicly with ideas, presentations and even grammar. By comparing the actual Messenger Lectures of 1965 with their published versions, you can see how carefully Feynman himself would edit such transcripts before publication. Without the touch of the master, "The Pleaure of Finding Things Out," an interview which opens the book and "The Relation of Science and Religion," which closes it, don't make a whole lot of sense! Feynman in person, no matter how much he might struggle to get a thought or concept stated to his satisfaction, would convey the successful outcome by body language and a triumphant tone of voice--- to see a transcript in cold print is to see a lot of rambling words with no clear focus, which is no service at all to Feynman, one of the princes of clear thinking! Recommended with some serious reservations.
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Summary: The pleasure of reading Feynman...
Review: As one of the most fascinating characters in twentieth-century physics (not to mention one of the most brilliant), it is always enjoyable to read anything by, or about, Richard Feynman. This book, a collection of some of his best works (interviews, lectures, essays), is an obvious must for any Feynman fan. While some of these works will probably be familiar to most readers, the majority will probably be new. The topic range is very broad, and while some works will appeal more to some than others (for instance, technical pieces versus anecdotal ones), they are all enjoyable, and I could not say which was my favourite, or, for that matter, list any that I didn't enjoy. Scientists like Feynman help to capture the public's attention, and hopefully, encourage more interest in science. It would be good for high-school students to be exposed to books such as this one, not overly technical, but exciting enough to transmit that love of learning that Feynman embodies, and seems to be so lacking in the youth of today.
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Summary: Disappointing
Review: Disappointing to say the least. The book at times is too technical and drags on and thus dosent engross as much as other feynmann books like surely you must..... Probably this is meant for a different audience. The challanger report is interesting though. Buy it only if you want to spend some evenings concentrating on what you are reading...
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Summary: Pleasurable reading
Review: Feynman expresses a love for discovery, starting with his father's walk in the woods ... not identifying birds but rather trying to discover why the birds do things. He sees science as fitting in the mold of asking questions of the form: "If I do this, what will happen?" and of doubt being a continual part of the scientific process. He views religion as not having this doubt, but I would offer Paul Tillich as a counter example. His chief area of conflict is with the metaphysical aspects of religion. He has little patience either for sociology or psychology, pseudoscience or the ponderousness of philosophy. In some ways he is still a "kind in a candy shop", for example hob-knobbing with physicist at the Los Alamos lab, but never afraid of any of them when he is talking about physics. He exhibits a quest for truth, for example if the Challenger inquiry. The articles on understanding physics reveal his enthusiasm at its best!
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Summary: A scientist's scientist
Review: Feynman seems to have something of a cult following, which is a shame, I think. He'd not approve of it. Reading his books, though, it's easy to understand how many people might come to almost worship the man. He was not only a remarkable scientist, he was accessible to the layman by virtue of his clear communication and clear language style. It was his accessibility, his style of communicating in the popular vernacular, and his passion for understanding and explaining things at their most basic level that gained him so much respect. While many academics were busy trying to impress their peers with 50-dollar words and technical mumbo jumbo, Feynman was explaining things with words like "jiggle." While appreciating Feynman's dislike of cult figures, I count myself among the thousands of individuals that admire the man not only for his intelligence, but also for his earthly mannerisms. Here was a man who was not only very smart ' he was, in a real sense, one of us; part of the mass of humanity. I found this book to be very engaging. In typical Feynman style it is both easy to read, and profoundly enlightening. These are the musings of a citizen scientist, curious intellectual, and genuine genius. One of the stories I enjoyed most was Feynman's description of things his father taught him about birds. One day one of the other school kids asked Feynman to name a particular bird in the field. Feynman replied that he had no idea what the bird's name was, whereupon the kid jested that Feynman's dad had taught him nothing. But it was just the opposite. Feynman's dad had taught him lots about the bird ' things about its behavior, color, etc. As Feynman recalls his father's lesson: "you know in all the languages you want to know what the name of that bird is and when you've finished with all that you'll know absolutely nothing whatsoever about the bird. You only know about humans in different places and what they call the bird." [See page 4]. This is a most profound observation that many people seem continually confused about: memorizing language-based facts (like the names of birds, lizards, planets, etc.) is not the same as studying those things, and understanding them. Another of Feynman's beliefs was that understanding things at a mathematical and scientific level does not, and should not, destroy one's ability to appreciate the wonder of the world and universe we live in. In fact, Feynman argues just the opposite; that someone who understands science should find the world an even richer and more amazing place than someone who looks at it with unknowing eyes. This is also a theme in Richard Dawkins' book "Unweaving the Rainbow." The book is replete with Feynman's musings about the nature of science, and a common thread is that the core of science is the freedom to doubt. He muses that he "believe[s] that one of the greatest dangers to modern society is the possible resurgence and expansion of the ideas of thought control; such as Hitler had, or Stalin in his time, or the Catholic religion in the Middle Ages, or the Chinese today." [See page 99]. He also speaks of the absolute need for full intellectual honesty in science: report all the data, and don't allow personal prejudices to filter it. Lay it all out, keep total commitment to truth, and let the chips fall where they fall. One chapter describes his ideas regarding the conflict between science and religion. While other authors seem inclined to simply repeat the mantra "there is no fundamental problem between science and religion" Feynman points out that doubt is a foundation stone for science and a frequent taboo in religion. He also (correctly) points out that religion is composed of multiple parts, and that there is not a disagreement between the ethical parts of religion and science, but that a schism does exist between science and much of the mythological base found in religion. It's not all about philosophy (which Feynman generally disliked). There are chapters that describe the ultimate energy use of computing machines, appeals for the development of nano technology, and Feynman's report on the Challenger disaster. There are also fun chapters, with Feynman describing some of his experiences while working at Los Alamos during development of the atomic bomb. Found throughout these stories are his contempt for figures of authority, and his ever-present need to question things, especially those things we take for granted. In keeping with Feynman's advice, I resolved to find at least one thing in his book with which I disagreed. After all, Feynman would have wanted it that way. In the chapter that discusses science and religion, Feynman states "' it seems to me that there is no scientific evidence bearing on the Golden Rule." On the contrary, I think evolutionary pressure actually selects for "the Golden Rule," and I believe authors like Dawkins have shown convincingly that what looks like selflessness in some types of altruistic behavior is actually, from an evolutionary point of view, a selfish thing (it promotes the replication of genes responsible for that behavior). Whether or not you agree with everything in the book is hardly the point. Feynman's point is that we should question and think about everything ' including what he wrote. That's how you find things out. And if you've ever had the pleasure of finding things out, and then sitting back with hands clasped behind your head and a broad smile across your face, this book is for you.
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Summary: Great Book for anyone interested in Physics and Mathematics
Review: I bought this book because I was familiar with Feynman and his work with QED. It's a fantastic book that contains lectures and interviews about Feynman's childhood and work on the Manhattan Project, to the future of computer technology, as well as many more subjects. This man had an awesome life that anyone interested in math or science would aspire to. The book is interesting and easy to read. I'm in 11th grade and I can understand it, so anyone who is at all familiar with physics and has a decent mathematical background will do fine reading it.
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Summary: ¿The kick in the discovery¿
Review: I felt a bit of trepidation when approaching this work, as reading a collection of what are considered "The Best Short Works" of a Nobel Laureate Physicist, sounds daunting even for someone trained to some degree in the field. I am not so trained. Mr. Richard Feynman has the additional gift of speaking passionately, and often in a self-deprecating manner, about what he does, with the result that the layperson can enjoy both his originally spoken, and written thoughts. There are terms and concepts that are understood best, and perhaps only, by those who have made the decision to pursue physics to its higher levels. However the vast majority of the book is readable to any that are inquisitive. Mr. Feynman's Father was also a remarkable man. He was not a trained scientist, and his profession had absolutely nothing to do with science. However as is repeated throughout the book he was the catalyst that recognized and nurtured the talent his precocious son possessed. This topic and the ideas that are expressed about learning and teaching are just one of the topics that is completely accessible to any reader. The topics make for such interesting reading, as the author's enthusiasm combined with his gift for explaining the complex and the abstract, is what allows his thoughts to be accessible, and this is what I enjoyed so much. He was a man of great enthusiasm for the wonders that he sought to understand, and his writing transfers this feeling to his audience. The quote that titles this review is Mr. Feynman's way of describing his feelings when he learns something new. The feelings translated not only into every recognition that his peers could bestow, but also a gift to the rest of us, for he was able to apply the same mind to questions of religion, morality, teaching, governmental roles in science, the responsibilities scientists have to society, and dozens of other topics. I enjoyed the entire work but there were some sections that could have justified the entire time spent reading on their own. His lecture at The Galileo Symposium in 1964, and his report on the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster were remarkable. I was unaware of his role as an investigator into the Challenger episode, and was even more surprised that the committee on which he served attempted to suppress his report. Once you have read his report you will understand why many would have liked to see it locked away. He explains what is arguably the most complex piece of equipment assembled by man, and it is elegant in its simplicity. I believe he intended it to be so, as he could have made his case in language that would have been foreign if he had so chose. I read this book as I enjoyed "Fermat's Enigma" so much. It is not necessary to understand everything that is involved with what these gifted minds have done. It is a pure joy when you can read and gain a glimpse, just a bit, of the ideas that are discussed. It requires a gifted speaker/writer, and this man clearly counted his extraordinary ability to communicate among his skills. A wonderful enlightening book.
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