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Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From The Beaten Track

The Letters Of Richard P. Feynman

by Richard P Feynman ; Michelle Feynman

Summary

Richard Feynman (1918-1988) was a maverick among physicists, renowned for not only his achievements in the field of quantum electrodynamics (for which he won the Nobel Prize in 1965) but for his iconoclastic views and unorthodox leanings. No one ever doubted that his science was sound, and that he was a gifted communicator, as both writer and teacher. This collection of his letters, edited by his daughter (who also writes a fond and informative introduction), covers half a century and expresses the many sides of Feynman's complex personality, showing him as a lover (particularly in the tender letters to his first wife), as an inspiring professor, as a thoughtful observer of the world, and-always-as a very candid and likable man. The book contains many appealing candid photographs of Feynman playing the drums, dancing, hunched over a chess game, romping with his kids, getting a Medal of Science from Jimmy Carter, and much more.

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Media Reviews

"[S]plendid....[The] gleam shines throughout here." (starred review)

   -- Kirkus

"The energetic if decidedly colloquial prose underscores Feynman's exuberant nature and self-deprecating sense of humor."

   -- Publishers Weekly

"[T]he freshest and most interesting letters here are the ones written to regular folk-teenagers or teachers or parents who wrote to him from all over the world in moments of academic crisis or emotional doubt."    -- Kate Zernike

   -- New York Times Book Review

Bibliographic Details

Publisher: Perseus Books Group
Published date: 2005
Size: 6.5 x 9.25 inches
Weight: 1.9 pounds
Pages: 486

Publisher's Notes

An extraordinary volume of never-before-published letters written by one of America's most beloved scientists.

Richard P. Feynman, brilliant physicist and beloved teacher, is an iconic figure in the world of science. Born in 1918 in Brooklyn, Feynman received his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1942. Despite his youth, he played an important part in the Manhattan Project during World War II, going on to teach at both Cornell and the California Institute of Technology, and winning the Nobel Prize in physics in 1965 for his research in quantum electrodynamics. Many remember his work on the Challenger commission, in particular his famous O-ring experiment, which required nothing more than a glass of ice water. Besides his work as a physicist, Feynman was at various times an artist, dancer, bongo player, and lock picker.

While there have been many books celebrating his myriad scientific achievements and personal eccentricities, his personal correspondence has remained largely hidden from view buried in the archive at Caltech or locked in a box in his daughter's Pasadena home. Now, for the first time, we have the privilege of reading his wonderful letters to students, long-lost relatives, former lovers, crackpots, colleagues, and die-hard fans. From his early love letters to his first wife Arline, who died at Los Alamos of tuberculosis, to his decades-long attempt to resign from the National Academy of Sciences, Feynman shares his views on feminism, fatherhood and everything in between. These letters, which span a full half-century, tell the story of a marvelous and inventive life, and reveal the pathos and wisdom of a man many felt close to but few really knew. By turns abrasive and charming, intimate and inspiring, we see the many sides of Richard Feynman, and treasure him all the more.

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