Welcome to the blog of Can Sar, a Stanford CS major. This blog is made up of my thoughts on Computer Science and the computer industry, as well as ever exciting tales from my life.
This was an OK book, that had some very interesting sections. Most of the explanations about Feynman's research are very superficial, and are targeted at people who do not know much physics. There is quite a bit of depth about the interaction between Murray Gell-Mann and Feynman, which I found very interesting. The fundamental question of the book was, however, how to find out what to do with one's life, and how to make it interesting and worthwile. There is a section in which Feynman talks about how everyone in physics research has to pick something interesting and strongly believe that only they are able to solve it, because there is something that gives them a tiny edge over others. This might be self-deception, but it is the only thing that makes us try complicated things - the unquestionable belief, that no matter how small, there exists a chance of success. I have always believed this, and was excited that Feynman thought so too. In high-school people always told me, that some things were to difficult, and why I would be able to do them. My answer was always: "I'm not saying I will succeed, but I sure will try as hard as I can."
Though the rest of the book, was quite uninteresting, this small part made it a worthwile read.