Ebook: Perfectly reasonable deviations from the beaten track : the letters of Richard P. Feynman

The exact sciences have an immense weight and influence in our culture. At the heart of their effectiveness lies the mathematical equation. The difficult form of the great equations - particularly those of modern physics - has often acted as an obstacle to any understanding and they have come to embody the mystery and terror of modern science. This volume brings together some living scientists, historians and writers about science. They each seek to unpack an equation so that it becomes understandable. The contributors include Roger Penrose, John Maynard Smith, Arthur Miller, Steven Weinberg and Oliver Morton One of the towering figures of twentieth-century science, Richard Feynman possessed a curiosity that was the stuff of legend. Even before he won the Nobel Prize in 1965, his unorthodox and spellbinding lectures on physics secured his reputation amongst students and seekers around the world. It was his outsized love for life, however, that earned him the status of an American cultural icon--here was an extraordinary intellect devoted to the proposition that the thrill of discovery was matched only by the joy of communicating it to others. In this career-spanning collection of letters, many published here for the first time, we are able to see this side of Feynman like never before. As edited and annotated by his daughter, Michelle, these letters not only allow us to better grasp the how and why of Feynman's enduring appeal, but also to see the virtues of an inquiring eye in spectacular fashion. The result is a wonderful de facto guide to life, an eloquent testimony to the human quest for knowledge at all levels.  Read more... Letters -- 1939-1942 -- 1943-1945 -- 1946-1959 -- 1960-1970: The National Academy of Science -- 1960-1965 -- 1965: The Nobel Prize -- 1966-1969 --1970-1975 -- 1976-1981 --1982-1984 -- 1985-1987