Thursday, February 9, 2017

For The Love Of Reading: What do YOU care what other people think? by Richard Feynman



Reading had almost turned a rare luxury, but thanks to Feynman, I enjoyed the entire week soaking in the joyfully narrated anecdotes and experiences from the life of an extraordinarily curious and equally light-hearted human being. Haven't really been interested in science of late, but watching some of his interviews on YouTube allayed my fears of the inability to complete what I had suspected a serious book coming from a Nobel laureate. And hence I ordered it. 

My takeaways from the book are many. Feynman's early years regarding how his father invoked curiosity and critical thinking, and lit in him the traits of wondering at marvels of natural phenomena and keenly observing them with a logical eye at the same time- it just reminded me that ideas and how they are invoked are indeed crucial for both parents and children to grow. That the soil needs to be carefully prepared for genius to flourish. The story of his first marriage is one of love and sincerity, iced with dollops of playfulness and a total awareness of the transient nature of life. His random experiments on what would possibly be the most trashed and discarded ideas for us, for the purpose of finding meaningful inferences, to the extent of seeming lunatic- remind me of mining my (mostly unexplored) reserves of infinite curiosity (granted to all humans) to the last possible mile at every moment, and actually not "care what other people think". His ability to freely laugh at himself and on accusations hurled on him, of not caring two hoots about people in authority to the extent of staying as far away as possible from centres of authority, of being able to bring the element of comic relief into his situations of trouble or indecision- all ring a bell as to how important it is to keep the child alive within. 

Feynman doubts freely, but doesn't seem to have even a shade of scepticism. The enthusiasm is palpable and infectious. And not to forget, his knack for storytelling and simplifying the most complex things doesn't really overwhelm the reader, but inspires confidence in her that if Feynman can have such crazy stuff going on in his mind, I'm not a nut case. His mental struggles with human traits like forgetfulness and fascination for individual cheap thrills are so humourously relatable. 

I wish I had read this way before, when I was in school, and would highly recommend everyone to read this. Especially the parents and the kids. It's a treat actually! :)

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