The Pleasure Of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works Of Richard Feynman: The Best Short Works of Richard P.Feynman (Helix Books) (Hardcover) | Released: 12 Aug 1999

The Pleasure of Finding Things Out is a magnificent treasury of the best short works of Richard Feynman?from interviews and speeches to lectures and printed articles. A sweeping, wide-ranging collection, it presents an intimate and fascinating view of a life in science?a life like no other.From his ruminations on science in our culture and descriptions of the fantastic properties of quantum physics to his report on the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster and his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, this book will fascinate anyone interested in Feynman and anyone interested in the world of ideas. Newcomers to Feynman will be moved by his wit and deep understanding of the natural world, and of the human experience. Bookswagon.com Review Why do we do science? Beyond altruistic and self-aggrandizing motivations, many of our best scientists work long hours seeking the electric thrill that comes only from learning something that nobody knew before.The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, a collection of previously unpublished or difficult-to-find short works by maverick physicist Richard Feynman, takes its title from his own answer. From TV interview transcripts to his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize, we see his quick, sharp wit, his devotion to his work, and his unwillingness to bow to social pressure or convention. It's no wonder he was only grudgingly admired by the establishment during his lifetime--read his "Minority Report to the Space ShuttleChallenger Inquiry" to see him blowing off political considerations as impediments to finding the truth. Feynman had a fantastic sense of humor, and his memoirs of his Manhattan Project days roil with fun despite his later misgivings about nuclear weapons. Though one or two pieces are a bit hard to follow for the nontechnical reader, for the most part the book is easygoing and engaging on a personal rather than a scientific level. Freeman Dyson's foreword and editor Jeffrey Robbins's introductions to each essay set the stage well and are respectful without being worshipful. Though Feynman has been gone now for many years, his work lives on in quantum physics, computer design, and nanotechnology; like any great scientist, he asked more questions than he answered, to give future generations the pleasure of finding things out. --Rob Lightner From Booklist These dozen easy lectures and interviews are the late Feynman's accessible expositions about his life, about technical topics in computing and physics, and about science's general place in society. Although Feynman was normally an ebullient personality, several of the pieces reveal his pessimism over the deep penetration of society by science: not only was physics beyond the comprehension of the nonmathematical minded, he believed the ability of people to fool themselves was immense, a quotidian example being their belief in astrology, and an exceptional one, NASA's belief that the space shuttle was safe. Hence he was committed to absolute honesty in science, which he impressed on the 1974 graduates of Cal Tech in his commencement speech reprinted here. Other discourses, those recorded for radio interviews or popular magazine articles, show the more upbeat, iconoclastic Feynman, and his fans will enjoy his recollections of his father and of his work on the atom bomb project when he was a somewhat awestruck nobody rubbing elbows with world-famous physicists. A popular addition to Feynmania.Gilbert Taylor About the Author The late Richard P. Feynman won the 1965 Nobel Prize for his work on quantum electrodynamics. One of the most famous and beloved figures of the twentieth century, both in physics and in the public arena, he is the author of many popular and scholarly books, includingSurely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman andThe Meaning of It All. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. "I don't like honors. I appreciate it [the Nobel Prize] for the work that I