Book details of 'The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen Scientist (Helix Books)'

Title	The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen Scientist (Helix Books)
Author(s)	Richard Phillips Feynman
ISBN	0201360802
Language	English
Published	April 1998
Publisher	Perseus Publishing

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Reviewer amazon.com wrote:
In this series of lectures originally given in 1963, which remained unpublished during Richard Feynman's lifetime, the Nobel-winning physicist thinks aloud on several "meta"--questions of science. What is the nature of the tension between science and religious faith? Why does uncertainty play such a crucial role in the scientific imagination? Is this really a scientific age? Marked by Feynman's characteristic combination of rationality and humor, these lectures provide an intimate glimpse at the man behind the legend. "In case you are beginning to believe," he says at the start of his final lecture, "that some of the things I said before are true because I am a scientist and according to the brochure that you get I won some awards and so forth, instead of your looking at the ideas themselves and judging them directly...I will get rid of that tonight. I dedicate this lecture to showing what ridiculous conclusions and rare statements such a man as myself can make." Rare, perhaps. Irreverent, sure. But ridiculous? Not even close.
Reviewer Rob Slade wrote:
This is a book of poetry. No rhyme or metre, perhaps, but poetry nonetheless. In 1963 Feynman gave the second John Danz lecture series at the University of Washington in Seattle, speaking on the topic "A Scientist Looks At Society." In three lectures he looked at science itself (and the misunderstanding thereof), values, and our "unscientific age." These lectures have now been published for the first time, seemingly from transcripts of tapes kept at the archives of the California Institute of Technology. Jacques Plante, a goalie in ice hockey, once asked "How would you like a job where, every time you make a mistake, a big red light goes on and 18,000 people boo?" Feynman points out how very different the scientific mindset is from the layman's by noting that every time you *succeed* in science, everyone, including those who are cheering for you, immediately try to prove you wrong. And you look *forward* to this. As Feynman points out, nothing that he says could not have been said in the seventeenth century. There is nothing new here. By the same token, there is nothing to get old. A passage on page 22, written long before the Internet was conceived, explains something that is extremely puzzling to non-scientific newcomers to the net. "Most people find it surprising that in science there is no interest in the background of the author of an idea or in his motive in expounding it. You listen, and if it sounds like a thing worth trying, a thing that could be tried, is different, and is not obviously contrary to something observed before, it gets exciting and worthwhile." This attitude is shared by the scientist, and the techie, and the geek, and explains why any thought of censorship is met with such visceral and instant revulsion, even when proposed on behalf of such worthy endeavors as the fight against pornography and hate literature. This necessary uncertainty and doubt Feynman next applies to the dogmas and beliefs of society. In an interesting digression he seems to be a bit hard on religion, but eventually comes to a conclusion that most religious leaders could agree with: when religion and science come into conflict, it is because "your God is too small." He notes that political systems are universally too badly flawed not to seriously consider the alternatives. His argument returns full circle when he notes the tragedy of a political system which is so unsure of itself that it must censure scientific fact. The final lecture is the most impassioned and, it must be admitted, perhaps the least well organized. He starts by looking at the scientific age we live in, and demonstrates that it is remarkably unscientific. Reactionaries, advertising, radiation, horoscopes, mysticism, and flying saucers all come under analysis not so much for what they are, but for the unquestioning acceptance they have and demand. The end of the lecture is rather undisciplined, but still manages to make some interesting and important points about various fields of education. A valuable collection of thoughts not so much for the light that they shine on society, but for the processes of thinking which could be of ongoing benefit to it. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1998
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