201227: my father did his masters in physics at cal tech when feynman was there in early 60s. he did not study but sat in on one of his lectures, admired him greatly, told me this is how scientists could be. after his phd he did postdoc work at oxford- which he maintained was less interesting in physics- and never went back. he often said the best thing he got from pasadena was he met my mom there, but he gave me this book when it came out, we talked about it, we talked about our youths, and after he died 2 march i decided to read it again before year was out...
at the service and afterwards postdocs and colleagues all told me how my father had been open, giving, wise, much in the manner feynman is portrayed. this is the way we all want our mentors to be. this book is not difficult but easy to read, in the usual nonfiction novel way. he quotes actual recordings. he describes and characterises simply. so there is some sentiment involved in the rating here, this book i will never discuss with my father again. his Alzheimer's might have taken much of these memories away but he will be remembered by others. this book is not really bio of feynman or explication of physics but only one young man's memories of how helpful that brief time had been, in shaping everything from career to life...
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