The Meaning of it All, Richard Feynman

The Meaning of it All:  Thoughts of a citizen scientist by Richard P. Feynman is another book by Feynman and that is enough.

Started: 05/25/2019

Completed: 6/18/2019

Recommendation: Mild Recommendation

Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

These lectures, given in April 1963, have some fundamental truths that resound today:

"No government has the right to decide on the truth of scientific principles, not to prescribe in any way the character of the questions investigated.  Neither may a government determine the aesthetic value of economic, historic, religious, or philosophical doctrines.  Instead it has a duty to its citizens to maintain the freedom, to let those citizens contribute to the further adventure and the development of the human race"

It is interesting that Feynman felt the need for this sentiment after the goal to go to the moon had been announced but long before it had been realized.  He definitely argues that the current age is the "Unscientific Age" which is part provocation (if you use an interesting title, you draw a larger audience) and part argument that while science has pervaded our lives in many areas--generally technology--it still is not a fundamental part of how we live.  We do not live with a scientific mind set.

All in all, however, having a physicist lapse into philosophy is bound to have some disappointments.  So, while this book is interesting and provocative, it is not really a treatise on philosophy just the musings of a genius.