Disovering Feynman

This year I discovered a brilliant theoritical physicist who is regarded as one of the best teachers - Richard Feynman. I had come across the name before when reading about quantum physics and mechanics, but had not peered more into to his methods (few which, by the way, bear his name) or the man himself. While compiling a list of book to read (sourced from comments from Hacker News), Feynman's books were prominently listed there.

This particular book is collection of stories told to Ralph Leighton. This was my second book of the duo and I enjoyed every bit of it.

The book has two parts - one tells about Feynman's adventures in his life (teaching and presenting), and the other tells about his involvement in commission that investigated space shuttle Challenger disaster. What was stricking to me was how Feynman intergrated into the whole thing - applying his techniques and distilling complicated topics into easily understandable pieces. At the end, he used a simple demostration to explain the public what went wrong on that faithfull launch morning. He also highlighted some disconnects between engineers and leadership that ultimately also caused the mission to fail.

The books also challenges the reader to make their own path rather than follow someone elses, and deviate from common settings. Using such methods allowed Feynman make breakthroughs in his field, find a hotel room in the midst of a busy city, explore Japanese country side and experience what many strive for when touring (which sounded like) an amazing country.

ISBN: 978-0-393-35564-2