I've read very few books of letters, biographies, and autobiographies, so I'm very much in the early stages of calibrating my scales. This is a good book. Not every letter is scintillating or contains a gleaming gem. A minor few seem to be included only for completeness. I would have lost only a little, in one sense, by reading a booklet of the best ten or so.

However, there are certainly gems to be found, some of them very fine, others more like nice shells you find on a beach and then hang onto for a few paces before setting them back down. Some of the letters are incredibly moving, to the point that I wasn't sure I ought to be reading them, others are more straightforwardly touching, and most are at least a little amusing. So what you do gain from reading the extra 400 pages or so you are given here relative to that hypothetical best-of booklet, if not a wealth of extra wisdom or zany genius, is a gradually growing sense of warmth towards a man with a plain love for family, "Nature", teaching, and the joy of discovery, as well as a generosity of spirit that shines through. And if you're anything like me, you get fair bit of inspiration along the same lines.

I'd only read one book by or about Feynman previously, and I'm not sure whether DYHTTT was the best book to read to learn more about the man, or even whether that's what I wanted from it. But I would recommend it, at least to people who could do with being taught a thing or two.

One of the foremost scientific minds of the 20th century, Richard P. Feynman was as much an intellectual as he was a character.

He possessed a curiosity for life that was the stuff of legend. What made Feynman different was he wasn't afraid to challenge the status quo and ask 'Why?' and even more importantly 'Why not?'

Nobel prize-winning physicist, loving husband, father, enthusiastic bongo player, and may I add devilish trickster with a wicked sense of humour; this book containing selected letters from the man himself is a must read for any Feynman fan.

Happy Reading.

C

Man I love Feynman

Feynman trying to quit the National Academy of Sciences is funny af, I can’t believe it took him that many letters.

A fascinating inside look at a fascinating person.