This book is a collection of letters that were written to and by Richard Feynman, a great person, a Nobel laureate in Physics, a great iconoclast, and a beautiful, beautiful man. These letters span his lifetime, from his letters when he first left his parents to study at Princeton and MIT, to his love and wife Arline, and later to Gweneth among the many letters he wrote (and this surprises many that he did, and did so much).

His willingness and excitement to communicate the most complex of problems in the simplest of analogies is evident when he responds to small students, and awkward fan mails from the orient. A person is not just what is described by the press, or by his autobiographies, or by his friends and family, no, the world is much bigger than that! We meet far more people than that and we touch many lives, in some way. What these people think of us, and how we touched them is a much larger picture. This book, is an example of how he fared and to me, he was phenomenal. And that is not it, he still continues to inspire people, like he inspires me. Ironically, he also authored ‘What do you care what other people think?’ but there is no conflict...

How does one review someone’s life, or letters that were meant for individuals, without a purpose of being published one day, perhaps, as a compendium mirror of your image? Does one write a letter to be critiqued by posterity on what he told an individual about? I think it would be none of our business, except to enjoy them while we can, if we can, and have opinions...

This isn't the complete review, but I sure am on to one long discussion about Richard Feynman. To read the complete review, please visit Aesthetic Blasphemy: Don't you have time to think by Richard Feynman

Perfectly reasonable indeed!

Well-organized and edited collection of letters, some to, most from Richard P. Feynman. Some of them are fascinating, some a bit dull, although which letters fall into which category probably depends on the reader. I most enjoyed the letters to his mother while in college; the congratulatory letters, and his responses, when he was awarded the Nobel Prize; his sharp responses to requests that he viewed as requiring him to violate his strongly-held principles (for example, asking him to attend a conference in the USSR, or to receive an honorary degree), and his thoughtful responses to questions posed by serious students and crackpots alike.

The section I liked least was the exchange of letters between Feynman and his (ill) wife during his Los Alamos years, which was just a little too personal for comfort. Some things should remain a couple's private domain. I did, however, love his description of witnessing the first atomic test.

The audio version was well done, with a male reader for Feynman's letters, and a female reader for letters to Feynman, as well as for the explanatory notes before some of the letters, as the editorial voice of Feynman's daughter Michelle, who put together the book. But I think the text rather than audio version might be better for dipping in a little here, a little there rather than just gulping them all down at once (as I did, with a couple of weeks' break in the middle).

what an opportune time for some reasonable deviations. The personal letters to his first wife seemed a little too private for inclusion but really painted a beautiful picture of their relationship. Always love hearing more feynman stories, he had a hand in so many amazing things. Also it was crazy to hear the medical issues that he was able to survive, and his involvement with the space shuttle program and early AI musings

As the subtitle indicates, this is an anthology of Feynman's letters. This is one of the relatively few books that I have read based on a published review -- in this case, Freeman Dyson's review, anthologized in "Scientist as Rebel."

I started browsing in these a few nights ago, on the theory of "I'd just read a few". A few hours later, I realized three things. First, I was utterly absorbed. Second, Feynman had a wonderfully clever and crisp prose style. Third, he was impressively thoughtful, sensitive, and wise in his dealings with others. My only caveat about the book is that the context on both physics and biography is limited -- you will get much more out of the book if you have browsed in "Surely You're Joking..." or at least read the Wikipedia page about Feynman.

Many of the letters are highly quotable, but here is my favorite.

A former student had written to Feynman, and had commented that he wasn't doing anything important or notable. Feynman responded with a long and thoughtful letter. Here are two paragraphs that struck me very forcefully.

"Unfortunately, your letter made me unhappy for you seem to be a truly sad. It seems the influence of your teacher has been to give you a false idea of what are worthwhile problems. The worthwhile problems are the ones you can really solve or help solve, the ones you can really contribute something to. A problem is grand in science if it lies before us unsolved and we see some way for us to make a little headway into it. I would advise you to take even simpler, or as you say, humbler, problems until you find some you can really solve easily, no matter how trivial. You will get the pleasure of success, and of helping your fellow man, even if it is only to answer a question in the mind of a colleague less able than you. You must not take away from yourself these pleasures because you have some erroneous idea of what is worthwhile."

"You say you are a nameless man. You are not to your wife and to your child. You will not long remain so to your immediate colleagues if you can answer their simple questions when they come into your office. You are not nameless to me. Do not remain nameless to yourself -- it is too sad a way to be. Know your place in the world and evaluate yourself fairly, not in terms of the naive ideals of your own youth, nor in terms of what you erroneously imagine your teachers's ideals are."

Письма Фейнмана. Для самых стойких любителей, письма интересные, но разные по содержанию. Понравилось само умение ясно выражать свои мысли письменно. Безос одобрит.

I'd already read a couple of other books about or by Feynman so I feel I didn't learn much new here.

A couple of things that were interesting/amusing:

(1) His persistent efforts to resign from the National Academy of Science.

(2) The amount of effort he put into corresponding with random strangers who mailed him.

But I think only a very dedicated Feynman-phile will find it worthwhile to read all the correspondence.

If it was me, I would have edited them down and only shown the ones that were really interesting.

Still, Feynman was quite a character, with a lot to admire. The letters are a pretty good way of seeing his character without filers: very independent, diligent, earnest, with unbending rectitude and a hatred of pretentiousness.

This collection of letters has brought me to tears in two separate instances. Once out of sadness, and once out of joy.

The first instance was early in the book, when we are given insight into Richard Feynman's relationship with his first wife, Arlene, who for the adult part of their relationship was suffering from an, ultimately, fatal case of Tuberculosis. The letters to his wife were extremely touching, and outlined the great tragedy of it all.

The second instance was while I read the last pair of letters. A concerned father asks for advice on how to encourage his son's love for physics, as he was not doing very well. I will not defile's Feynman's response by trying to summarize it, for I can do it no justice. I will only remark on the fact that it gave me a great sense that there can be goodness, and compassion in this world.

Provides interesting insights into this great mind. There is duplication with other books, such as, "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman"

Appreciative that Feyman wrote these and that his daughter has shared them with those of us who would like to understand how Feyman navigated the trials and tribulations of being alive, holding one's ground, while being a kind and truthful soul that contributes to society and his family.

This is my favorite of all the various Feynman books, because it's not cluttered up with Feynman playing the lovable, picaresque, eccentric. Instead of the slightly buffoonish public persona (or "curious character") he (or his publishers) seemed to feel compelled to present in his various autobiographical writings, the letters speak for themselves. And, to my mind, the picture they paint is ultimately far more flattering than that which he himself tried to present.

Sure, there are lapses - he is not always charitable towards colleagues, he is sometimes impatient, and there is that characteristic unwillingness to suffer fools gladly. But the traits that shine through again and again in these letters, so much so that one has to think of them as his defining characteristics are generosity and graciousness. Over and over he takes the time to respond to strangers, who have written him out of the blue, with letters that are astonishing, both for their empathy as well as for the obvious care that he spent in writing them.

He may have preferred to be considered a rebel, a free-thinker, a bit of a rogue. And he certainly relished the opportunity to twit the imagination-free defenders of the status quo. But these letters establish, beyond doubt, that at heart Feynman was a true mensch.

Leggere i libri di e su (come in questo caso) Richard P. Feynman consente alla propria mente di ritrovare un po' di ristoro intellettuale che molto più spesso di quanto si desideri può venire meno a causa della profusa follia del mondo di cui si fa esperienza quotidianamente. Leggendolo, mi sono sentito a casa. Grazie, Dick!