| Title | : | The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 270 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1999 |
El placer de descubrir permite acceder al mundo personal, social y cientíco de Richard Feynman, por ejemplo, a sus aventuras mientras participó en el Proyecto Manhattan, cuando se divertía —y escandalizaba— descifrando las claves de cajas fuertes, o a cómo se inició, siendo un niño, en el estudio de la naturaleza (en el «placer de descubrir»), que terminaría ocupando toda su vida. Podemos, asimismo, conocer sus pioneras ideas sobre las computadoras del futuro, su opinión acerca del valor de la ciencia o la explicación, tan sencilla como profunda, que dio al desastre de la lanzadera espacial Challenger. Es este, sin duda, un libro tan fascinante como su autor.
The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman Reviews
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“Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.”
― Richard Feynman, The Pleasure of Finding Things Out
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool."
― Richard Feynman, The Pleasure of Finding Things Out
It is hard to not love Feynman. You can love his as a scientist, as a man, as a genius, as a teacher, as an iconoclast. He is the real deal. 'The Pleasure of Finding Things Out' is a series of 13 speeches, articles, essays, interviews by or with Richard Feynman. These are guilty pleasure reads for people who adore those great physicists of the early 2oth centuries who were lucky AND brilliant enough to be physicists when physics jumped from classical to quantum. These guys were amazing. Feynman wasn't among the first wave of theoretical physicists to dance in the quantum space, but he was a huge member of the second wave.
The thing that makes Feynman so interesting is just his unpretentious quirkiness, his love of telling stories, his ability to quickly grasp the root of a problem (whether in physics, biology, or religion) and give you an honest answer.
The only drawback to this collection is it repeats several stories. Feynman retold many of his favorite stories (locks at Los Alamos) or ideas (cargo cult science). So if you've read
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character or
Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman many of these stories have been heard before. Even inside of this book a couple stories get retold a bit. It is unavoidable, but still a bit of a draw back.
Anyway, this isn't a deep dive into science. It is a flirtation with the curiosity that drives scientists. It is the recollections of one of the most fascinating characters to come out of the Manhattan Project and the post-quantum revolution period of physics. So, if you haven't read much on Feynman I might recommend reading 'Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!' first, but I'd still not neglect to check this out as well. -
Here's the problem with having high expectations: they're so often dashed.
In my years trawling the web and being a science nerd, I've heard a lot about Richard Feynman. There are legends about him, that he was the Puck of physics - brilliant, untamed, and really, really funny. When I got the book, I was expecting to read a lightning-quick volley of ideas that would set my mind alight with the wonder and infinite possibilities continued within a lifetime's pursuit of science.
Yeah, that didn't quite happen.
Don't get me wrong - Feynman is indisputably brilliant, and far from the classic mold of the physicist. He had no patience for titles or honors, and in fact couldn't give a damn about them as long as he had science to do. He would tell Nobel laureates - men whose names were bywords for scientific brilliance - that they were wrong, without hedging or worrying about their egos. He liked to play the bongos, loved a good party, and delighted in playing tricks. One of his more irritating hobbies was safe-cracking, and by the time he left Los Alamos labs after the Manhattan Project there were no places left to hide secrets from Feynman.
So Feynman was no doubt a really cool guy, the kind of scientist you would want to invite to your party without hesitation. His first interest was science, and as scientist go, he was one of the best.
That doesn't mean that reading him is entirely entertaining.
The book is, for me, not very readable for two reasons. The first is that it goes get terribly technical at times, and while I love science, I am not educated enough in it to grasp a lot of the technical details. Indeed, it broke my heart when Feynman said that, when it comes to physics, if you don't know the math, you don't know the science. True, yes. Humbling, yes. But still....
Were I editing a collection of Feynman's work, I would have started with the Big Ideas, defenses of science as an integral function of humanity's ultimate progress. Then, having made the reader comfortable with how Feynman thought, they could have gotten into what Feynman thought.
But no, the book starts of with highly technical lectures on quantum electrodynamics and the difficulties in getting parallel computers to work. If you don't know a lot about how computers work, or you don't have a detailed awareness of atomic theory, you're going to be a little lost. Or a lot lost. Even his minority opinion on the Challenger accident, something I was especially keen to read, was far too dry to be enjoyable.
The second reason why I didn't really enjoy this book is because a lot of it is transcripts of speeches and interviews. Very few people are able to speak in a readable manner, and someone with a mind like Feynman's - always moving, always active - isn't one of them. There are a lot of asides and false starts, wandering thoughts and truncated paragraphs. Even his more structured speeches aren't structured very well for the reader. Perhaps it would be different to listen to him, to sit in the audience and watch the man speak. I reckon that he had the kind of infectious energy and enthusiasm that would make it easy to gloss over structural problems and really enjoy the speech. But turning speech into print is always dangerous, and here I think it fails.
For different people - people who are deeply involved in physics or who are Feynman acolytes - this book is probably a fascinating look into the mind of one of the 20th century's greatest scientists. For the rest of us, we're going to have to find other things to enjoy from the text, and it is there. One of those is, indeed, the title of the book - the pleasure of finding things out.
For Feynman, science wasn't a rigor or a job, it was a joy. He attributes a lot of that attitude to his father, an unlikely fan of science. As a uniform salesman, Feynman's father was not a scientist and had no scientific training. But he raised his son to think about the world. Rather than tell him why, for example, a bird picked at its feathers with its beak, encouraged Richard to observe the bird, to form a hypothesis and then see if observations confirmed it. His father taught him to question everything, to form his own opinions about the world, and by doing so, made him into a scientist from an early age.
It is that attitude which should be the dominant theme of this book, rather than Feynman's technical genius. He says, over and over, to doubt everything. Ask yourself why things are the way they are, rather than just relying on what other people tell you. Observe, experiment and test, and you're doing science.
He has some disdain for social sciences, and a pretty healthy dose of misogyny in a couple of places, but if he is arrogant, then it is probably deserved. Feynman was a man fascinated with how the universe worked, all the way down to its smallest components, and that was his passion. Not awards, not titles, not praise - just the work, the discovery and the pleasure. -
In my opinion, Richard Feynman was and will remain the most charismatic scientist ever. His lectures are a joy to listen. We need more people/professors like him, to induce in children love for nature, science and curiosity about all the wonders around us.
This book contains some of his most popular lectures, and many of them can be seen in the
documentary with the same name, which I wholeheartedly recommend. His enthusiasm and love for nature, science, music and life are contagious and you’ll enjoy it immensely.
If you’re new to Feynman, you may choose either this one or
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character; it is almost the same book, with the same lectures. I enjoyed the latter more due to the way it was structured, but nonetheless, I very much liked rereading them here. -
بالاخره خوندن این کتاب جذاب تموم شد.
از همون اول کتاب، یعنی پیشگفتار که توسط فریمن دایسن نوشته شده بود، عاشق این کتاب شدم. دایسن جوری از فاینمن که استادش بوده، تعریف کرده که بهشون حسودیم شد.. اول پیشگفتار از رابطه ی استاد شاگردی جانسون، نمایشنامه نویس دوره الیزابت، و شکسپیر که یه جورایی نقش استاد جانسون رو داشته میگه. و بعد از خودش و فاینمن میگه که در واقع فاینمن، برای دایسن نقش شکسپیر برای جانسون رو داشته.
کتاب مجموعهای از سخنرانیهای ریچارد فاینمن در جاهای مختلف و زمانهای مختلف و دربارهی موضوعات مختلفه. از سخنرانی دربارهی ارزش علم، شبه علم، رابطه ی علم و دین، نقش فرهنگ علمی در جامعهی مدرن، تا ماجراهای بردن جایزه نوبل، عشقش به پدرش و اینکه چطور در کودکی تفکر علمی رو بهش یاد داده، دربارهی اینکه آزمایش علمی درست باید چطور باشه، توضیحاتش دربارهی پیوستن به پروژهی بمب اتم در زمان جنگ جهانی دوم و موضوعات جالب و جذاب دیگه.
فاینمن در همهی عمرش آدم رک و راستی بوده. و این رو در سخنرانیهاش هم میبینیم. خیلی شفاف و راحت تفکراتش و نظرش رو میگه.
در جایی از کتاب خاطرهای از دوران کارشناسیش تعریف میکنه که اولین سخنرانی علمی و جدی خودش رو باید مقابل بزرگان علم اون زمان انجام میداده. از جمله مقابل پروفسور پائولی استاد بزرگ فیزیک دانشگاه زوریخ، پروفسور فون نیومن بزرگترین ریاضیدان دنیا، هنری نوریس راسل اختر شناس معروف، و آلبرت اینشتین! قبل از شروع سخنرانی به شدت استرس داشته ولی وقتی که شروع به صحبت میکنه ترسش میریزه "همین که کاغذها را بیرون آوردم و سخنرانی را شروع کردم، اتفاقی افتاد که از آن زمان تا حالا همیشه افتاده است. آنگاه که از فیزیک حرف میزنم، به آن عشق میورزم و تنها به آن فکر میکنم و نگران آن نیستم که کجا هستم و از هیچ چیز هراس ندارم. همه چیز به خوبی پیش رفت. به بهترین شکلی که میشد همهی پژوهشم را شرح دادم. فکر نکردم که در برابر چه کسانی دارم صحبت میکنم. تنها به مسئلهای فکر میکردم که داشتم توضیح میدادم." در پایان سخنرانی پروفسور پائولی بلن�� میشه و میگه:" به گمان من که این نظریه به این دلیل و آن دلیل نمیتواند درست باشد، شما این طوری فکر نمیکنید پروفسور اینشتین؟" و اینشتین گفت:"نه-ه-ه-ه" و فریمن در اینجا میگه که این قشنگترین نهای بود که شنیده بودم. :)
این خاطره به نظرم خیلی قشنگ و هیجانانگیز بود.
خلاصه که کتاب بسیار جذابی بود و باعث شد علاقهم به ریچارد فاینمن بیشتر بشه و بعدها بیشتر سراغ کتابها و سخنرانیهاش برم. -
Perhaps not the best book to receive an introduction to the world and accomplishments from Richard Feynman. A loose collection of essay's about various topics, such as his time during the Manhattan project or his research in the Challenger disaster.
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اخترت قراءة هذا الكتاب لمحاولة الدخول لعقل أحد العلماء الذين شاركوا في صنع القنبلة النووية
كيف يفكر؟ .. كيف يحلل؟ .. وكيف ينظر للأشياء والأمور ؟
قد تكون هناك صعوبه في قراءة نص مكتوب عن حوارات ومقابلات شفهية ، وعلمية بحتة في بعضها الآخر
. لكن بين السطور هناك خلاصات وخبرات قد تفيد من يعمل في أي مجال علمي أو حتى تعليمي
هو عبارة عن مقالات ومحاضرات للفيزيائي فينمان وهي موجهة للعموم وليس فقط لزملائه العلميين، فيها نرى فينمان كما كان، يلعب دائما بأفكاره، ولكنه جاد تماما حول الأشياء التي تهمه. يحتوي الكتاب على تنوع واسع من المواضيع التي فكر فيها فينمان بعمق ليس الفيزياء وحسب بل ايضا التعليم الذي لم يتفوق أحد عليه فيه وكذلك الدين والفلسفة ورعب المسرح الأكاديمي، ومستقبل علم الكومبيوتر ومستقبل العلم والحضارة، وكيف ينبغي أن ينظر العلماء الناشئون إلى العالم والعمى البيروقراطي المؤلم الذي قاد إلى مصيبة سفينة الفضاء “تشالنجر” ذلك التقرير الرئيسي الذي جعل من “فينمان” حديث كل منزل.
كان فينمان يقول دائما أنه بحث في الفيزياء ليس سعيا وراء المجد ولا المكافآت ولا الجوائز ولكن من أجل “متعتها” من أجل السعادة الغامرة لاكتشاف كيفية سير الكون، وما الذي يجعله يسير.
إن ثرات فينمان يكمن في انغماسه وتفرغه للعلم، منطقه وطرقه ورفضه للعقائد واتساعه اللامحدود في الشك. لقد آمن وعاش فينمان بعقيدة أن العلم، عندما يستعمل بروح المسئولية، لا يمكن أن يكون مجرد متعة ولكنه يكون ذا قيمة لا تقدر لمستقبل المجتمع الإنساني.
مقتطفات أعجبتني :
علماء الرياضيات دوما منطقيين .
التعلم بالأشكال والطريقة وليس بالتعاريف والكلمات.
دور الأب في غرس المفاهيم ودفع الطفل لحب الاستكشاف والمعرفة وتعليمه التنظيم .
هنالك فرق كبير بين التعاريف والعلم مع انها ضرورية الا أنها لا تعطى في بداية الدرس.
إذا ارردت ان تعلم الناس على الملاحظة فإن عليك ان تخبرهم بأن شيئا رائعا سيحدث .
أنا لا أعرف شيئا .. ولكني أعرف أن كل شيء سيكون ممتعا إذا دخلت إليه بعمق كاف !
إذا كان لديك دافع لعمل شيء ما قوي جدا وبدأت تعمل فيه فيجب عليك أن تلتفت بين الحين والآخر لترى فيما إذا كانت الدوافع الأصلية لازالت محقة . -
For those who might not know, Richard Feynman was a Nobel Prize winning theoretical physicist, canny self-promoter and renowned teacher who worked on the Manhatten Project before he had even finished his Doctoral Thesis. Many books by and about him have been published and he has become a kind of miniature industry since his death; almost anybody who attended one of his lectures and scribbled some notes has tried to get them published, there are biographies and a volume of letters, CDs of impromtu drumming - the list goes on...
I was put off reading this book for several years by the fact that "all but one" chapter had been published elsewhere; I was figuring I already owned most of its contents.
That turned out to be wrong; although published, most of these essays, anecdotes and lectures had not seen the mainstream and fewer than 6 of them had I read before. Unfortunately some of the material covers territory that is widely available elsewhere and hence adds nothing in terms of ideas or anecdotes for the Feynman fan of long standing.
The material that was entirely new to me was interesting and made the book worthwhile on its own, but a characteristic of this book is that Feynman's own voice comes through strongly, unfiltered through editors and that made even familiar stories interesting. Feynman's voice comes through because many of the pieces are transcriptions of talks or interviews he gave. The book also covers a wide range from the silly stories to the serious science to the discussions on the nature and ethics of science.
Feynman fans should read it and people who want to know what the Feynman Fuss is about could do worse than start here. -
ممتع حقاً! مرت فترة طويلة عن آخر مرة استمتعت بكتاب ما لأقرأه في يوم واحد، التهمته دفعة واحدة كأنه نوع من أنواع الحلويات ولكن الجميل أن هذا النوع من الحلوى هو الوحيد الذي تستطيع التهامه بالكامل وسيعتبر فعلك فعل حسن.
تعقيب مهم: فاينمان عالِم عظيم ولا يختلف على ذلك أحد ولكنه عالِم فقط! معرفته في العلوم الاجتماعية ضعيفة ويظهر هذا الأمر بجلاء في الكتاب فهو يقوم بإسداء النصائح في جميع المجالات رغم عدم تخصصه وبعض هذه الآراء محرجة وخاطئة في اعتقادي بسبب عدم معرفته الكافية بهذه العلوم. -
Feynman is brilliant, arrogant and emotionally cold. He was the youngest brilliant mind working on the atomic bomb in Los Alamos in the 1940's and later won the Nobel Prize in physics. This book is an unintegrated collection of essays, transcripts of speeches, interviews and memoirs. As such it gets repetitive. We hear three or four times about how his father taught him to observe and we hear three or four times the identical story about the Cargo Cults in New Guinea after WW II. His father, who was not a scientist, turned out to be an excellent teacher specializing in teaching his son to learn by observing. Feynman and his school buddies also had basement "workshops" so that helped their intellectual development. It's fun to see a mind at work, punching the envelope, too undisciplined and too powerful to be contained within a skull.
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I love this man. He is brilliant, seems humble, and funny as hell. This is an excellent collection of some of his ideas and stories, mostly about his life experiences and how he became who he was. Even if you do not have a good understanding of physics or even math you will still enjoy this book. It is not a tractate or a manual but rather a collections of anecdotal stories and interviews that allow anyone to take a peek into the mind of this true badass.
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This book is a compilation of some of Dr. Feynman's more notable writings and talks from over the years. I imagine it was a daunting task (even for Feynman himself) to choose which 300 pages of his work to include, given his brilliance and his storied life, but I found the collection here to be an excellent representation of many of the more notable adventures of Feynman's life and some of his more interesting ideas. Of course, only a fraction of his body of work could be included here.
There is some overlap with other works, mostly with
"What Do You Care What Other People Think?": Further Adventures of a Curious Character. I didn't find that this detracted from the book, however. This work is fundamentally different in its aim; "What Do You Care..." comes across as a bit of an addendum to Feynman's first biography,
"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character, and a bit of a stand-alone biography, although particularly focused on a couple of periods of Feynman's life rather than his life as a whole, while this book is first and foremost a collection of notable lectures and writings. The stories that overlap between these works tend to be, in my opinion, notable enough that they bear repeating, such as the method through which Feynman learned what the "valve" symbol was on a particular set of blueprints, or how people working on the Manhattan Project were able to access important files in locked filing cabinets while the cabinets' owner(s) was away.
Unfortunately, nobody is free from flaws, and perhaps Feynman's most notable flaw in my opinion was his sexism; this shows through in a couple places in this book, so be aware.
Overall, I strongly recommend this book, though I suggest starting with
"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character. Feynman, despite his flaws, was a fascinating, brilliant person, lived a storied life, and came up with quite a few brilliant, world-changing ideas across a variety of academic disciplines. He is worth reading about. -
المتعة التي نحتاجها دومًا... إنها متعة العلم واكتشاف الأشياء
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“I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong.”
Richard Feynman is one of the most influential and inspiring people for any kid interested in science. I loved his book and the lecture series. When I had to pick up an anthology for a challenge - this was a perfect book collecting interviews and speeches of Feynman.
Feynman bought in humour along with an almost superhuman curiosity and humility to science. That reflects in this book and to me, it was like listening to a beautiful sonata! I found myself relistening to chapters and laughing out loud and at times totally charmed.
In this well structured collection he talks of science, teaching, working on the atom bomb (with a lot of fun anecdotes), future of computing (which all came true), his view on risks of equipment failure. My favourite chapters are his talk on Galileo day and the last chapter on religion vs science.
There are some chapters heavy on physics - that went over my head. I was half tempted to read more on the same but feared being daunted and chased by equations. I grew up really interested in science, but lost the plot thanks to some average teachers who explained physics through equations to remember and not question.
Maybe now is the right time to revist the books by Feynman to instill a sense of active curiosity and questioning in my kid as a parent. -
فاینمن؛ نابغه ی مسخره.
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OH MAN I LOVE YOU RICHARD FEYNMAN.
While significantly more technical than
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! I still really appreciated the writing and his insights into the physical universe. I feel like more teenagers should read Feynman - he believes so strongly in LIVING and THINKING and WORKING while still enjoying oneself that he could do so much good for that age bracket.
Also, as an aside - can you even imagine the conversations between this guy and Neil Degrasse Tyson? CAN YOU. -
Brilliance and charm: Feynman as a teacher
I very much enjoyed this entertaining and delightful collection of lectures, talks and essays by the world-renown and sorely missed Professor Feynman, Nobel Prize winning physicist, idiosyncratic genius and one of the great men of the twentieth century.
I particularly enjoyed the subtle yet unmistakable way he scolded the people at NASA for putting their political butts before the safety of the space program they were managing in his famous "Minority Report to the Space Shuttle Challenger Inquiry." But the chapter that really sold me on Richard P. Feynman, boy wonder grown up, was "It's as Simple as One, Two, Three" in which he explores the ability to do two things at once through an experiment with counting. Such a delight he took in learning as a kid from his friend Bernie that we sometimes think in pictures and not in words. And then the further delight he took in learning that some people count with their inner voice (himself), and others (his friend John Tukey) count by visualization.
I was also loved the chapter, "What is Science?", a talk to science teachers in which Feynman demonstrates that the real difference between science and other ways of "knowing" (e.g., religion) is the ability to doubt. In science we learn, as Feynman said he himself learned, to live with doubt. But in the religious way of "knowing" doubt is intolerable. Feynman gives an evolutionary illustration of why doubt is essential. He begins with the "intelligent" animals "which can learn something from experience (like cats)." At this stage, he says, each animal learned "from its own experience." Then came some animals that could learn more rapidly and from the experience of others by watching. Then came something "completely new...things could be learned by one animal, passed on to another, and another, fast enough that...[the knowledge:] was not lost to the race...," and could be passed on to a new generation.
Now, let's stop for a moment. What a great teacher does--and here and elsewhere Feynman proves himself to be a great teacher (although he said he doubted that!)--is to guide the student just enough so that the student arrives at or anticipates the point of the lesson before the teacher gets there. What is the punch line of this lesson for the science teachers? Namely this: with the passing of knowledge from one generation to the next it became also possible to pass on false knowledge or "mistaken ideas." Feynman calls this a "disease."
"Then a way of avoiding the disease was discovered. This is to doubt that what is being passed from the past is in fact true, and to try to find out ab initio, again from experience, what the situation is, rather than trusting the experience of the past..."
In other words, don't blindly accept the word of authority. Test it for yourself! And this is what science does. It tests and it tests again, and it doubts and it doubts--always.
I loved this because one of my dictums is "always guide the experts"--the lawyer, the doctor, the insurance adjustor, et al. Always guide them because, although they are the experts, you're the one who really cares. To this I can now add that you should also doubt the experts because even though they are experts they can be wrong. And, as Feynman showed in his report on the Challenge disaster, they can be wrong for reasons that have nothing to do with their expertise.
I also liked the commencement address he gave at Caltech on "Cargo Cult Science...and How to Not Fool Yourself." We fool ourselves a lot. The managers at NASA fooled themselves; what's their names of cold fusion delusion fame fooled themselves. Feynman has noted that he has fooled himself. Science, he avers, is a tool to help us to not fool ourselves. He is profoundly right. Without science we would go on fooling ourselves with all sorts of mumbo-jumbo, "revealed" religiosity and scientific-seeming stuff such as Rhine's ESP experiments some years ago at Duke, the entire litany of New Age pseudobabblese, and--yes!--such stuff as the amazing Cargo Cult Science in which some Pacific Islanders, in an attempt to attract the big birds of the sky with their cargoes of goodies, built "nests," that is, landing fields with empty cargo boxes, and faux towers, etc. in the hope that the planes flying overhead would see them and land on their island. Feynman has taken this as an example of pseudoscience, that is, behavior in the form of science without the substance of science, without the "integrity" of science.
The integrity of science, Feynman advised the graduates, demands that all the information about the experiment be given, even detrimental facts. Feynman contrasts this idea with that of advertizing in which only that which makes the product look good is given.
When reading this book it helps to imagine that one is listening to Feynman speak. The text includes repetitions and the omissions which he no doubt conveyed with his voice, expression or gesture. When one reads him this way, some of Feynman's endearing charm and the gentle, self-effacing humor for which he is famous comes through. Here's a joke from pages 206-207: He is at Esalen in a hot bath with another man and a girl. The man begins to massage the girl's foot. He feels something in her big toe. He asks his instructor, "Is that the pituitary?" The girl says, "No, that's not the way it feels." Feynman injects, "You're a hell of a long way from the pituitary, man." And they both look at him. "I had blown my cover, you see--and she said, It's reflexology. So I closed my eyes and appeared to be meditating." Yes, Feynman is a long way from reflexology.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is” -
"İsveç Akademisinden birilerinin bu çalışmayı ödül alacak değerde olduğuna karar vermesinin bir önemi yok benim için; çoktan ödülü kazanmıştım. Asıl ödül keşfetme hazzıdır, keşfetme darbesidir, diğer insanların çalışmanı kullanmasını görmendir; bunlar gerçek şeyler, ün bence gerçek değil. Ünlü olmaya inanmıyorum, bu beni sıkar, onur, ün sıkar, ün apoletlerdir, ün üniformadır." (s.26)
Kitaptan aldığım bu paragraf dahi Feynman'ın nasıl bir insan olduğunu kısaca özetlemektedir. 24 yaşında Einstein'a seminer veren bu dahi, üniversitelerde ders kitabı olarak okutulan kitabın önsözüne "çılgınca bir sırıtışla tumba çalarken" (s.175) çektirdiği fotoğrafı koyacak, gece kulüplerinde gününü gün edecek kadar da marjinal bir insandır aynı zamanda.
Kitapta sevdiğim, beğendiğim, beni hem okumaya, hem araştırmaya hem de öğrenmeye teşvik eden o kadar çok bölüm oldu ki. Manhattan Projesinde yaşadığı sansür maceralarını okurken kahkaha atmaya engel olamazken; nanoteknoloji hakkında uzun zaman önce söylediği çığır açıcı fikirlere de hayranlığımı gizleyemedim.
En önemli detaylardan birisi, 1988'de ölen dahinin bu kitapta hayal gücüyle söylediği hemen her şeyin hala geçerli olmasıdır. Başta nanoteknoloji hakkında söyledikleri gelir. Gerçekten vizyonu olan, ileriyi görebilen bir insanmış Feynman.
Kitapta öğrendiğim bir diğer şey, ebeveynin çocuğu üzerinde yarattığı etkinin boyutlarıdır. Feynman neredeyse bütün başarısını bir üniforma satıcısı olan babasına borçlu olduğunu söyler. Zira babası ona zihin açıcı egzersizler, doğa yürüyüşleri, orman gezileri ve bunun gibi şeylerle bilim ve araştırma sevgisi kazandırmıştır. Matematiği nasıl öğrendiği konusu için 161. sayfaya bakın.
"Bilimin başarıları nedeniyle bence bir tür yalancı bilim de ortaya çıkmıştır." (s.34) derken bugün bile hala insanların büyük bir heyecanla sarıldıkları; bitki kürleri, parapsikoloji, ufoloji gibi saçmalıkları yerin dibine sokan Feynman; bu sahte bilimlere sosyal bilimleri de dahil ederek belki de bugünün akademilerinin çoğunluğunu karşısına almıştır. Fakat söylediklerine iddia ettiklerine -bir sosyal bilimler mezunu olsam da- karşı çıkmak da mümkün değildir.
Nobel Fizik Ödülü'nü kazandığı haber verilmek üzere arandığında "bunu bana sabah söyleyebilirdiniz" (s.211) diyerek uyandırıldığına kızan bu dehayı daha iyi tanımak, onun kişiliği hakkında ipuçları edinmek üzere bu kitabın okunmaya değer olduğunu düşünüyorum. Kitap keşfetmenin hazzından başka; deneyin ve gözlemin önemi, bilim insanının düştüğü fikri tuzak ve yanılgılar, kendini kandırma, bürokratik körlük, akademik işbirliği ve yazının kara delikleri gibi pek çok konuda oldukça önemli fikirler de barındırıyor bünyesinde.
Bunun dışında, basım hataları özellikle dahi anlamına gelen de-da eklerinin yazılışlarının ısrarla hatalı olması kitabın Türkçe baskısı için söyleyebileceğim olumsuz bir detay. -
Richard Feynman is one of my heroes, and this short, very accessible book compiles some of his most engaging writings, as well as a couple of interviews and the report he wrote on the space shuttle Challenger disaster. It's not as biographical as
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character or as technical as
Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics By Its Most Brilliant Teacher, and I think this would be a good place to start for anyone interested in learning about this fascinating man. This collection highlights throughout Feynman's deeply-held belief that doubt should be at the heart of good science. It also reveals his quirky, inquisitive character--I particularly love his explanation of how he learned to pick combination locks. For further reading, I also recommend
Tuva or Bust!: Richard Feynman's Last Journey, which is funny and sad at the same time.
The Pleasure of Finding Things Out was compiled nearly twenty years ago, and part of the charm is seeing which of Feynman's predictions came true, and where science has gone since the late twentieth century. Overall, though, I like seeing how Feynman thought--and doing a little check to see how well my understanding of science holds up. -
I have always been wary of scientists and scientific literature, because being apparently the "artsy" type I have been struggling with hard sciences my whole life: I always found them fascinating and scary at the same time and I only managed to make peace with Mathematics a few years ago. Never with Physics or Chemistry, and I always thought people who do them for a living were some kind of aliens. And they are (and so one more fond of science might say about artists), but after reading this book I can say that Feynman's way of thinking is simply brilliant, revolutionary and unique. It does not relate pretty much to anything else but his curiosity for what he calls "the wonders of the world", therefore in its uniqueness it's also not too far away from the artist's point of view. Feynman looked for answers he was aware he might not find, he was also aware of his potential and one might not agree with some of his ideas about gender equality (women do not strike him as smart creatures), religion (he does believe in God, despite not in the traditional/christian way) and morals (he kept on working on the development of the atomic bomb after Nazis had long gone) but there is no denying that trying to see the world through his eyes is enlightening.
Some parts of the book are very technical and especially towards the end his thoughts and his way of expressing them are repeated in an almost redundant way, but this can easily be forgiven considering that the book it was not written by him but is a collection of transcripts of his speech and interviews. -
A few chapters which are a collection of his scientific opinions on how the field of computer science would evolve in the future, I was impressed at how forward thinking Dr. Feynman is about parallel programming, distributed systems, and nano-technology. I enjoyed his analysis of the failure of the challenger space shuttle.
However, a couple of lines starting Chapter#3 bothered me and felt quite cold, eg: "my wife had just died so I guess I was on a vacation," days before the trinity test in 1945. As I progressed into latter chapters where his personal viewpoints rather than his scientific opinion was being presented, I was not liking what I was reading. For eg, in 1966, when he heard two women accurately discussing how to draw a straight line, he realized, FOR THE FIRST TIME apparently that a "The female mind is capable of understanding analytic geometry."
He is undoubtedly a great scientist and I loved how much he stressed on the experimental rigor in any field, the importance of mathematics, and the importance of being ok with not knowing everything. Despite his sheer brilliance, reading and learning more about his sexism, it is so unfortunate to know that he was so openly and unapologetically disrespectful to women. -
في النهاية لا استطيع سوى أن أبدي كل الاعجاب والمحبة لهذا الرجل العظيم الذي بنيت معرفته على أسس عميقة، ونظرته كانت مختلفة كثيراً عن نظرتنا للعالم.
يمنح كل إنسان مفتاح بوابة الجنة إلا أن المفتاح ذاته يفتح أبواب جهنم.
ولا اجد ما اختم به سوى وصف رؤيته للعالم:
مثلاً أقف على شاطئ في البحر وحيداً وأبدأ في التفكير، هناك أمواج متلاطمة جبال من الجزئيات، وكل واحدة تقوم بعملها بغباء، بلايين متجزئة ولكنها تشكل زبداً أبيضاً معاً.
عصور تلي عصور... قبل أن تراها عيناي... وعاماً بعد عام ترتطم بالشاطئ بعنف كما تفعل الأن. لمن ولماذا؟....
على نجم ميت دون حياة تعيشها.
لاترتاح أبداً... معذّبه بالطاقة... تهدرها الشمس بشكل مذهل... وتصب في الفضاء. شيء صغير جداً يجعل البحر يزمجر.
وفي أعماق البحر فإن جميع الجزئيات تكرر نمط ذاتها إلى أن تتكون أنواعاً معقدة جديدة.
إنها تصنع الذرات الأخرة مثل ذاتها تماماً... وتبدأ رقصة جديدة. تنمو من حيث الحجم والتعقيد... أشياء حيّة، كتل من الذرّات، DNA بروتين يرقص في نمط أكثر تعقيداً.
ومن المهد على الأرض اليابسة... تقف هنا... ذرّات بلا وعي... مادة بصفات غريبة.
أقف عند البحر... أتعجّب من التعجّب.. أنا... عالم من الذرات... ذرّة في الكون. -
Richard Feynman, a brillant scientific and a bad philospher ..
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This is what I got when I've read reviews here about that, but I said NO ! not that much, he should have some beautiful views about philosophy and epistemology, just similar to the beauty of his science and stories.. but unfortunately he hadn't, and the saddest thing was that he tried to answer methaphysical and religious questions using the scientific empirical method. NO Dr.Feynman, don't do it please !I will investigate the world without defining it !
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Although what I think about his last articles, I've really enjoyed with him his anecdotes, childhood stories, and his justified positions about " titles, uniforms, prizes, .. ". Yes I've spent a lot of time reading about a man who gave all his life for science, did everything to get the truth, to understand how does the wold " behave "..
Peace on your soul Dr.Feynman, just still trying to follow your steps, to understand..
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16/07/2018
03/11/1439 -
it is such a pleasure to read Feynman's speeches. There is a marked difference in the way people talk about something when they enjoy doing the thing and are good at it than when they don't enjoy it very much. That is very noticeable in this book. Feynman has a way of making his sense of wonder and the hunger of understanding things very contagious. The biggest takeaway that a person not involved in the sciences can get from this book is a solid understanding of what is and what is not science.
What makes the book a bit difficult to read is that the book is almost a direct transcription of his speeches - which means the prose is less than exemplary.. Feynman's rambling style of speaking, with omissions and repetitions here and there do not make for an easy reading experience. -
This book is a bit of a mixed bag. Some of the stories are entertaining, some show a brilliant scientific mind at work, and some provide thought-provoking insights into the role of science in society. Still there is an inelegance to the whole thing. Most of the pieces are from lectures, talks, and interviews that Feynman gave at one time or another, and while I'm sure he is an engaging speaker, they don't transfer to the page all that well. There are also various repetitions of Feynman's pet ideas, which lose a bit of their luster when repeated more than once. I enjoyed it but not as much as I hoped I would.
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Feynman is brilliant, but I spaced out at times. Some very interesting parts, but many parts difficult for a non-physicist to follow. -
A fun collection of Richard Feynman's talks and interviews throughout the years. The essays range from philosophical to technical, with much of the book focusing on Feynman's views about how to approach science and the role of science in society. It's inspiring to see how delighted Feynman is about everything he observes. The level of focus he gives to things he's curious about such as safecracking, psychology, mysticism, amongst others. Throughout the book Feynman's infectious spirit comes through--it's as if he's just a child playing around with intense curiosity. A few concepts that Feynman emphasizes are worth noting:
1. Knowing the name of something vs. knowing it - Feynman places strong emphasis on what it means to "know," and is careful to delineate the difference between knowing the name or definition of something from true knowledge. An example he gives is that of observing a bird. You may know what the bird is called but know nothing else. But on the other hand, you may observe that the bird is always cleaning its feathers. You might ask why it's doing this, and guess that it's because it needs to clean its feathers after flying. But that would in turn imply that the bird only exhibits this behavior when it's not flying, which is cause for further investigation. This type of thinking was instilled in Feynman at a young age by his father
2. A scientific mindset requires an attitude of doubt - Question is always "how likely is it this is true," and always trying to find out if your previous notions are in fact true. If you already know the answer, no need to investigate or collect evidence. This is in stark contrast to many religions/philosophies/politics where there is an absolute answer, which many people find much more satisfying. Feynman finds it more satisfying to know that we don't know, and that there is more to find out
3. Scientific integrity is about revealing all the evidence - You must reveal all the evidence, not just what supports your theory. A lot of studies get cherrypicked - because they're funded by organizations who are interested in a specific answer. Interestingly, Feynman criticized psychology and its lack of focus on replication studies in his 1974 CalTech commencement address, and nearly 45 years later psychology had a crisis as many studies (particularly in the field of "positive psychology") were found to lack replicable results. When Feynman is asked about an "ultimate theory" or "ultimate particle," for example, he is careful to note that you shouldn't have preconceived notions about what the answer has to be; the fun is in figuring out the way it is. Maybe there isn't an ultimate particle, and it's some other answer
This book was a fun read, an interesting view into one of the greatest minds of the 20th Century. -
A fun book. I believe these are transcribed from various speeches and interviews Feynman did.
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Intriguing collection of some of the works of Richard Feynman, Nobel Scientist who participated in the development of the atomic bomb. He's a fascinating character, and his lectures give one man's view of the years leading up to World War II and after. Highly recommended.
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"The Pleasure of Finding Things Out" is a collection of speeches, lectures, and published papers of one of the greatest physicists in the 20th century, Richard P. Feynman's. If you have read his autobiography "Surely You Are Joking, Mr. Feynman", you'll be familiar with his curiosity and playful characters, cracking safes, playing pranks on colleagues, and observing his surrounding no matter how mad he might appear to other people. "I'm not responsible for what other people think I am able to do," he said, "I don't have to be good because people think I'm going to be good."
However, I personally have some problems with this book. Despite his enthusiasm in some of the chapters in the book, quite a number of technical issues are beyond my ability to comprehend. Those lectures were delivered to audience that had medium to high scientific literacy, which is why an ordinary reader like me found it very challenging to digest those ideas. I've noticed three important, but complicated speeches on three different special occasions: first is the investigation on Challenger Space Shuttle disaster, the moment that haunted NASA as well as forced them to be more careful in their future missions; second is nanotechnology, which Feynman himself was one of the pioneers; and third, the speech related to quantum electrodynamic, the subject that won him a Nobel Prize. Heaven knows how much I want to understand the science behind those speeches!
In spite of those technical stuffs, readers could learn a great deal about his way of learning science, his standpoint on the relationship between science and religions, etc. Feynman repeatedly reminisced his father involvement in his early scientific experience. Although not being a scientist himself, Feynman's father was eager to show his son how to observe, question, and breaking up the knowledge of their surroundings into comprehensible information.
I love his stand on science. "The first way in which science is of value is familiar to everyone," he reasoned, "It is that scientific knowledge enables us to do all kinds of things and to make all kinds of things. Of course if we make good things, it is not only to the credit of science; it is also to the credit of the moral choice which led us to good work. Scientific knowledge is an enabling power to do either good or bad–but it does not carry instructions on how to use it. Such power has evident value–even though the power may be negated by what one does."
