The Meaning of it All
by Richard P. Feynman

Despite being dead for many years now, books by Richard Feynman continue to appear. Many have been collections of lectures he gave that were recorded or articles that he wrote but have never been collected.

This book is no different. It is a collection of three lectures he gave in April, 1963, as part of the University of Washington's John Danz Lecturer series. The general title for the the three lectures was, "A Scientist Looks at Society".

In the first lecture, "The Uncertainty of Science", Feynman gives a general feel of what science is and what scientists do. He shows why science is different from other endeavours of man like art, religion or ethics. In brief, he talks about the use of science (technology), the content of science (finding out things) and the method of science (scientific method). He provides interesting descriptions of how scientific discoveries and measurements are made and why it is that even basic ideas in science can be overthrown by one single observation that does not fit the current framework.

In the second lecture, "The Uncertainty of Values", he looks at how the type of society we live in can determine the advances in human thoughts and science. Here, he contrasts the societies in the US and the (former) Soviet Union. While interesting, I did find the presentation of material and his thoughts on society in both countries to be biased towards the US. But then, who wouldn't be biased towards their own country?

Finally, in the third lecture, "This Unscientific Age", he bemoans at the way society is unscientific. Examples here include common superstitions and the lack of proper testings methods being used for making unscientific claims (like psychic phenomenon). He also blasts various organisations that tend to treat the world in black and white ("you're either for us or against us") for who give over-generalised explanations such that there is no way it can be disproved (like various conspiracy theories).

This is a fascinating book that gives you a look at another side of Feynman. You won't find much of the man who plays the bongo drums or who can come up with marvelous explanations like Feynman diagrams. But you will get a glimpse of a man who is a wonderful scientist who cares about the condition of the world and asks us to question more and accept pat explanations less to make the world a better place.

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The Meaning of it All by Richard P. Feynman

The Meaning of it All
by Richard P. Feynman