The Pleasure of Finding Things Out

Rating

9/10 A very enjoyable read thanks to the wit and merriness with which Feynman spoke. You also get a glimpse into how Feynman analysed problems and approached his work with a child-like curiosity. The two most memorable chapters must be his recount of the time at the Manhattan project and his recollections of his father’s ways to raising him. There are some good lessons on how to approach raising a little curiose scientist. All in all, I loved it and as everyone else who had a chance to watch a Feynamn’s interview or read his book, I feel like I’m his buddy now. Might as well just call him Richard from now on.

Synopsis

A collection of Feynman’s best speeches and interviews that both educate and shine a light on what a character Richard P. Feynman truly was. You find here everything from his amazing recount of the time at the Manhattan project, through personal anecdotes from Feynman’s childhood, to his thoughts on education, politics, technology and more.

Notes

• there is a difference between knowing the term inertia and understanding what inertia is. Most textbooks unfortunatelly teach you the name of things, instead of teaching you the meaning, concepts and the greater picture of interactions between different natural forces
• the same applies to other fields. E.g. knowing a name of a mushroom is pointless if you cannot identify it. It’s much more useful to know how to identify poisonou mushrooms from the edible ones than knowing their names