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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