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Amazon.co.uk Review
The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen Scientist collects three previously unpublished lectures by Richard Feynman, who is probably the greatest populariser of physics in this century. There is plenty of scientific illumination here for the general reader, and more remarkably, some fantastic ruminations on the relationships among science, religion, politics, and everyday life. Feynman is especially sensitive to the relationships between scientific scepticism, faithful doubt and ideological flexibility. These lectures have been transcribed verbatim, so they sometimes ramble and repeat themselves. But this slim volume has wisdom and wit on every page: it is a truly erudite and edifying meditation on Dostoevsky's observation that "There lies more faith in honest doubt, believe me, than in half the creeds". --Michael Joseph Gross
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
What is science and what is its true value? Can a scientist believe in God? Why, in this supposedly scientific age, is there such widespread fascination with flying saucers, faith healing, astrology and alien invasion? Can there be such a thing as a satisfactory philosophy of ignorance?
At the peak of his career, maverick genius Richard Feynman gave three public lectures addressing the questions that most inspired and troubled him. Covering everything from the atomic bomb to ethics, the imagination to the meaning of life, they are brought together in this provocative and hugely entertaining volume.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This short booklet is actually a typescript of a series of three John Danz lectures which professor Feynman delivered in April 1963 at the University of Washington. They show yet another of his many facets -- aside from the ingenious scientist, the wonderful science teacher and the hilarious storyteller -- one of an intellectual thinking of the interaction between the science and the society.
The thread that can be followed throughout the series of lectures is the value of scepticism. Scepticism and doubt kept science sane for centuries. After describing what he considers the essence of science, Feynman tries to answer several questions arising at the boundary between science and the society. Is there a conflict between science and religion? Can science be applied to moral and ethical questions? How can the inspirational value of religion be preserved when the belief in God is uncertain? In the last lecture, Feynman elaborates some abuses of statistics he encountered, like mixing up the probability with the possibility, a posteriori statistical reasoning etc.
The book will probably first and foremost attract Feynman devotees, who already have all the other books he has written and cannot miss one. The book also reflects some of the atmosphere of the cold war 60's, so it might be of some interest for those who either lived in that era or have some special historic interest in it. But aside from this, no collection of Feynman's papers published after his death has ever reached the mastership of books he actively prepared.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
If you do not know what epistemology is and do not really want to know, but you want to be a scientist then you should read this book. It describes how a scientist thinks and what we know.
One review has said it rambles, but so do the minds of scientists. When you get a perfectly formed argument and lecture then you do not get what is really happening. You are expecting some completed finalised package. You expect an answer - the truth.
Everyday in science is a new discovery, a new wonder and you never know anything! When you present your work it looks complete, it looks convincing but a real scientist knows it is never quite there. That is the spirit of these lectures - they are not to teach they are to inspire and to give you a taste of unsanitised reality.
One review has said it rambles, but so do the minds of scientists. When you get a perfectly formed argument and lecture then you do not get what is really happening. You are expecting some completed finalised package. You expect an answer - the truth.
Everyday in science is a new discovery, a new wonder and you never know anything! When you present your work it looks complete, it looks convincing but a real scientist knows it is never quite there. That is the spirit of these lectures - they are not to teach they are to inspire and to give you a taste of unsanitised reality.
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
To read the previous reviews I can not contradict many of the points made, the book may repeat itself, be disjointed slightly and in places vague. But it is these aspects of the book that I would consider assets rather than faults. Feynman was not only a physicist but a great teacher and I feel that this book emphasises this.It does not purely deliver opinions, but provokes questions. A physisict must be able to formulate their own opinions rather than be force-feed views like in many other books. This is Feynman's true talent, he says enough to establish guided thought in the reader without inflicting his opinions. I therefore feel that if the reader is willing to use their mind to truely consider the points made in this book then the rewards are infinite.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
The master of science communication on uncertain gound
This is a very short book from Feynman (~120 pages of actual text) and comprises of the transcripts of 3 lectures he gave in April 1963. Read more
Published 12 months ago by S. Meadows
Not for everyone but a very amusing set of ramblings of a brilliant...
The book is a transcript of the three Danz lectures Feynman gave in 1963. The basic assertion (as the other reviewers have noted) is that scepticism is the only really sound frame... Read more
Published on 16 Dec 2009 by AK
Rambling
Richard Feynman was a brilliant scientist and a great communicator/educator. However, I feel this replaying of three lectures is very weak. Read more
Published on 12 Feb 2004 by G. Thulbourn
Somewhat disjointed, but a thought-provoking read.
This book undoubtedly suffers from not being a unified work but rather the text of a series of lectures given by Feynman; his thoughts span a wide range of areas, concentrating on... Read more
Published on 4 July 2000
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