Posts Tagged Feynman
Surely Your Joking, Mr. Feynman – A Fanboy’s Take
More than 5 years ago, I got my first salary and the first thing I did was head to bookstore. 
I was surfing the books and found the book – Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character). I had no idea who Feynman was or what he did, but Geo Philips introduced him as Nobel Laureate in Physics and the book as a FUN autobiography.
I started the book with not great expectations but by the time I finished chapter one I was blown away with the awesomeness. The book is simple, straight forward and filled with adventures which range from designing Atom Bomb to safecracking, being at particle accelerator to topless bars, travel to brazil or to subconscious. At no point it is a book from physicist to physicist or common men. It is a series of anecdotes by a common man, that Feynman describes but albeit being simple these are very important lessons.
I am a big fanboy and always wanted to adopt several of his characters in my life. Few weeks back I sat down to write a letter to a friend who I was gifting this book to. I was overwhelmed by the fact that I have too many things to write? So to make things clear I read the book again. After reading I could write nothing less than – “He has been the greatest influence in my life, and I thought I would share that experience with you.”
The book of stories is so simple that it directly affects your life. There are no complexities, just simple facts that anyone can understand. His experiences helped me realize nothing in this world is complex enough to understand, it just need a new perspective and by breaking things into parts everything becomes simple. His life is a lesson and he has pictured that beautifully in this book. I would recommend everyone to read this book once, you don’t need any knowledge of physics or any science to understand this book. That is one of the great qualities of Feynman that everyone understands him.
Over five years I have read a lot of books by Feynman but this remains my favorite. After this book, everyone grows.
PS: Now there is a new edition of the book which combines Adventures of Curious Character with it’s second part Further Adventures of Curious Character. I would recommend people to get that book (Classic Feynman: All adventures of Curious Character) as it comes along with an audio CD.
Feynman’s popularity cannot be summed better than this XKCD
Alt Text: Maybe someday Science will get over its giant collective crush on Richard Feynman. But I doubt it.
Hope!
There are two quotes from the movie ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ about hope that sometimes help me and sometimes makes me nervous. First quote
Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. -Red
and second one
..hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. -Andy Dufresne
I always wonder which one suits me, which one should I live my life with. Whenever it comes to giving advice,suggestion, boosting moral I go with Andy’s quote. But then there are situations in which I am concerned and then I go along with Red, because I hope for a lot of things and when things do not turn out my way, I drive myself insane. Many a times I ask myself which one should I follow, but it seems there is no correct answer, both are at different extremities and as I understand living on extremities is dangerous. I can always take the Middle Path as suggested by Buddha and be happy.
I am able to follow Middle Path for most of things in my life but then there are some circumstances when my expectations are high. With some situations/people I am just too much hopeful. I want some things to go my way and because I trust the people involved in it that I end up hurting myself. I am not a demanding person, as my friends know, I am very flexible but once in a while I change my attitude to demanding and end up hurting myself. My demands are not high and worst part is, I do not understand concerns from other end.
I need to resolve this. I definitely know ‘hope is a good thing’ and I should hope but at the same time be able to control myself. I have created a lot of problems and need to figure out a way to get out of it and I am hopeful to get out of it. I just hope that I should be more understanding and could control my emotions. Will stop here but with the quote that I love the most and I believe is absolutely right.
The highest forms of understanding we can achieve are laughter and human compassion. – Richard Feynman