I was always bored at secondary school (11-18 years). The teachers never seemed to find anything 
interesting to teach us. This was not so bad in physics which was my favourite subject, but 
something was still missing. One day in a sixth form (17-18 years) physics class I was becoming 
so disruptive that the teacher hauled me up in front of the class, and threatened me with some 
dire punishment or other, but then said he would relent if I went to the physics library 
(in a glass fronted cabinet nearby), and picked out a book and sat at the back of the class and read it. 
I thought this was a reasonable compromise so I moved towards the library, and the teacher called 
after me that I should try the "3 big red books" one could see in the cabinet. I shrugged my shoulders, 
picked out all 3 red books, and slowly made my way to the back of the class, thinking all the time that 
teachers were so patronising (as you do at that age). Of course, the 3 red books were the Feynman 
Lectures on Physics, and the rest is history!
 
You want more details? OK ...
 
I was hooked imediately. In these 3 red books there was someone writing about physics in a way that 
I had been trying to develop for myself. I had always tried to see results directly using physical 
insight rather than maths, because I felt that I then had closer contact with what was really going on. 
All the textbooks I had read up to that point encouraged you to think in terms of equations rather than 
physics. Yes, I can do the equations thank you very much, but where is the intuition please? 
Feynman's insight and style fixed that problem for me once and for all. Since then this has profoundly 
influenced my whole way of doing science (not just physics). I prefer to explore rather than run 
with the herd.  I like to visualise ideas graphically and underpin this with rigorous maths, rather than 
the other way around. Basically, I like drawing pictures to help me understand and to explain to 
others what's going on in the world.
 
I have tried to influence others to think the same way, but I have had limited success. It seems that 
most "clever" people whom I know believe that it is sufficient to do the maths, and that physical 
insight and drawing pictures is somehow a lesser talent.  I have tried to encourage people to draw 
more pictures to describe their ideas, but there is reluctance to do this. Perhaps people are not 
encouraged to think visually at an early age. It's not that they can't do it, it's just that they 
don't see the point of doing it. We have lots of visual cortex, so why not use it?
 
Anyway, my life as a scientist has been greatly enriched by my "punishment" in the physics class at 
school, and I went on to do a PhD in physics (quantum chromodynamics). Today I still do research 
(now in self-organising information processing, rather than physics) in a way that is profoundly 
influenced by my early exposure to the 3 red books.
 
Steve Luttrell
West Malvern, UK
Dec. 9, 2004

How I Discovered Richard Feynman (and, recently, The Friends of Tuva):

Years ago, perhaps in the early eighties, I was listening to CBC Radio in
North Vancouver, Canada, and heard a telephone conversation between the
radio host and an American in California.  I was interested and intrigued
by the conversation and the personality of the man being interviewed.  I
can't remember the subject discussed but I have always remembered the
feelings and thoughts I had at that time.  At the end of the interview he
was thanked and his name given and I immediately wrote it down - Richard
Feynman, Physicist.  I thought how wonderful it would be to have that kind
of person in one's life; I recognised immediately what a special being he
was.  Since then I have listened by tape to some of his lectures and have
read both "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman" and "What Do YOU Care What
Other People Think?".  Through reading the second book I discovered Ralph
Leighton and TUVA, and have just acquired the CD "The Safecracker Suite".

I had no idea this "loose network" of admirers of Richard Feynman existed
until very recently and find myself rather surprised, and pleased, to be
part of it.

Mr. Cirillo I enjoyed reading your account of your discovery of RPF and
will try to find the Christopher Syke's video and the PBS programme on
Tuva.  I don't use the internet and your material was sent to me courtesy
of a friend who is a whiz at looking things up.


June Daniel,
BC, Canada
Feb. 16, 2003

**********************************

 
As a high school student in the Uk in the late seventies I always had my head in a science book of some sort, 
(physics was much simpler to understand than the opposite sex to me then anyway).
Anyway I feel I got to know the great minds such as Bohr and Einstein Hans Bette and some guy called Fennyman, 
I dunno if it was a spelling mistake in the book or if it was my mistake but for years I would see his name 
mentioned in a book and it would translate as Fennyman.
I just sort of assumed that all these people were dead, it was only accidentally watching a Tv documentry 
No Ordinary Genius that I found out Feynman was VERY much alive.
Like your posting stated I felt as though Feynman was speaking in some way about how I felt about things.
As a science student I was astounded to find that this Intellectual Giant was still around, not only that 
but that we shared similar viewpoints, I have been a fan ever since then.
Recently bought Mathew Brodericks 'Infinity' film and loved it.
Anyway that's my story, I have and have had a lot a heroes and often find myself thinking how sad it is that 
people like Feynman, Grouch Marx, Burt Lancaster etc etc (make up your own list)
have to die the same as the rest of us mere mortals.......
I'm thinking of going back to school as a mature physics student and seeing all the lecture Videos and CD's 
around I'm thinking I could do a lot worse than go throug the whole lot of em one by one
as a supplement to my tuition.
 
Great site, keep up the good work
 
 
Ade@Leptronics.Co.Uk
Jan. 29, 2003 

I first came upon the great man when studying Astrophysics back in 1989 in London. 
I remember my professor looking really glum one day, and on asking him what was up, 
the answer was that "it was the anniversary of Richard's death, and what a monumental 
loss to science it had been". More recently reading "The Pleasure..." and "Surely you're.." 
rekindled my passion for learning. I think he is the most inspirational person ever to 
have lived, and I find it a tragedy that more people don't know who he is.

Whilst Matthew Broderick made a valiant attempt at his life (kind of) in film, 
I really believe that a great many people could benefit from a sincere movie 
(A Beautiful Mind..but with more class!) about his life. Gary Sinese I think 
would make an excellent Feynman, both as he looks not dissimilar, but also he is a great actor.

How about it Mr Spielberg??


Nick Howes
Yamaha R&D Centre
Computer Product Planning & Development
Dec. 12, 2002

"New ideas do not come from committees, and although this dynamic is so well understood as to be 
part of folk wisdom, researchers in many areas of science or scholarship are so blinded by their 
own herd mentality, or collectivist ideology, or rent-seeking behaviour, that they commonly act, 
both for themselves and in judgment of others, in denial of it"

Richard P Feynman (1918-1988)

I just finished reading your page on Richard Feynman, and I thought I'd 
say hi and tell you my Feynman story.  I had a very-good physics teacher 
in high school (although I didn't realize it at the time) who planted in 
my head the idea that physics is more than just math, it's understanding 
in a conceptual way; and thanks to him I've been a science for 
lay-people junkie ever since.  Well, I'd seen the Feynman books on 
library shelves several times, but my interest in reading him was 
sparked by a line in "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking 
referring to Feynman as "the physicist's physicist."  So the next time I 
went to the library I walked out with "Surely You Must Be Joking, Mr. 
Feynman."  I read it in one day and was back at the library the next for 
"What Do You Care What Other People Think?" and "Six Easy Pieces."  And 
much later (say six months) I found Ralph Leighton's Tuva book.
  I think Feynman's attraction was that he was a real genius.  We banter 
the word about so much (particularly the entertainment media) that it 
has lost its impact.  We have grown used to geniuses who not only don't 
impress us, but aren't any smarter than us.  When some one with insight 
finally comes along (and has a sense of humor, and is honest, and...) it 
seems almost too good to be true and we latch on to them.  In that sense 
I guess Feynman was the Einstein of the post-war world.

Cheers,

Scott Spaeth

Dear Mr. Cirillo:

Please excuse me for writing when you don't have any idea who I am.  I saw your 
webpage this weekend while doing some research for my class here at school.  
I thought it would be acceptable to say hello to a fellow Feynman fan. Hello!

I wish I could have met Feynman, but I only just started learning about him 
when he died.  Instead, I've been reading all the books I can get and I joined 
the Friends of Tuva.  I try to tell all my friends about Richard Feynman.

Anyway, I don't want to make this letter too obnoxious.  I am a college senior 
studying chemistry and biology.  I'm going on to graduate school after this semester.  
Remembering Feynman always makes me feel better after a frustrating day in the lab. 

Best wishes to a fellow RPF fan. Stay well.

Beth Jensen

Subject: How I found Feynman
Copyright 1996 by Tatiana Divens

Not too hard to explain:  buddy of mine, Woody Springs was a mission specialist on the 
maiden voyage of the Atlantis, which had worse O ring problems than the Challenger.  
(Caught up with Woody last month for the first time in 16 years last month - picked up 
our last convo right where we had left it off.)

I was stationed at Ft. Lee at the time of the Challenger disaster, and saw it live time.  
Being a fed at the time, I knew how the feds excelled at cover ups.  I watched the Roger's 
commission like a hawk:  I dislike it when the feds try to turn my friends into crispy critters.
I will remember with compleat clarity til the day I die watching a sexy old long haired guy 
dip a piece of sealant into that glass of water.

It's been a long hard fight, but I is a natural philosopher now:  most amazing journey of my life.  
I represented the spirit of Feynman and Tuva at this year's Ig Nobels (www.improb.com/), 
spent two hours two weeks ago doing oral history with Freeman Dyson (no one warned me he was so *funny*), 
and generally giggle most of the time.

I have just finished reading all about the late Dr. Feynman via the internet!
I must say I had a wonderful time!  Alas, I never met Dr. Feynman, and I am
not a physist, a plain housewife!! But it was my husband who introduced me 
to "surely, you are joking..! and then the interest started! I do not have 
too much time now, but I would love to hear if this ltr has reached you!  
You see, the internet is a new game....

Vijaya Bharatha

I am an accountant by trade but have always had a fascination
with science.  I first noticed Richard Feynman's name in my 
physics textbook in first year university.  I never finished 
my science program but the love of science stayed with me and
so did the picture of Richard that I saw (he was drumming).  
Then I found a book called "Surely You are Joking Mr. Feynman".
It was one of the most delightful books I had ever read.  After
that I kept an eye out for anything about Richard that I could
find.  He is truly a hero in my life.  I also have his second
book and I have kept the recording of a show about him.  I shared both
the book and the show with my twin sister yesterday and she is another fan.
What inspires me about Richard is that he was never scared to try anything.
Whatever interested him and piqued his curiousity he went for it.  
He was an individual who spoke his mind and that is very rare. 
I never tire of reading about him and he will live in my heart forever.
I am very grateful to Ralph Leighton for sharing his friendship with
Richard with the rest of the world.  He has truly made the world 
a better place for it.

Best Regards,
Vicki 
Vancouver, B.C., Canada

Dear Mr Cirillo

I discovered Feynman on PBS some years ago. Since I met him on TV, I 
felt that I really cared and liked that man very much as a person even 
though I did not know enough about him.

I video taped anything about him. apart from his immensly pleasant 
personality, and scientific genius, I was facinated by his respose to a 
question. The interviewer asked him something related to his belief in 
God. Feynman expressed great difficulty in believing in a God who can 
care or deal with such a minute or insignificant creature as he was.

I am sure I am paraphrasing the conversation. Here is a wonderful 
person, who all his life has been very inquisitive about everything. He 
even devoted all his time to the discovery of the minutest, unseen parts 
of the atom, yet he could not conceive of a Creator who could care about 
all that He created. 

I was very sorry that he died before going to Tuva. I wonder if that 
place symbolicaly represented what was unknown to him.

I hope I have not bored you very much

Totmes Reskallh

Dear J Cirillo

Just visited your RPF web page. Excellent to find similar souls to 
myself. 
How I found RPF:
Here in England a science series called 'Horizon' has been knocking 
around for years and is usually worth a look, even if the contents 
usually pass me by ! I'm not a graduate and have veered as far away from 
science as possible after dropping out of a degree in Electrical 
Engineering. I now work in computers.

However, in the 1980's (I forget when) I stumbled across the end of a 
Horizon programme in which a venerable scientist was describing his 
philosophy towards science. He described the universe as an onion and 
that his job was to investigate science and reveal layer after layer of 
the onion. He did not, he continued, do this in the expectation of 
finding an 'ultimate answer'. If he did try to find this ultimate answer 
he would probably fail. If he just investigated the universe, he may 
accidentally stumble across the ultimate answer, and wouldn't that be 
great. I noted the guys name and tried to look out for some more stuff.
Subsequently there was a programme about his and Ralph's attempts to 
reach Tuva (a programme I have on video, which never fails to bring tears 
to my eyes as Ralph shows us all the stuff he had ready to get out once 
they reached their goal).

Sometime after that there was a home video recording of RPF talking about 
his life and then playing the bongos.
What I liked about him was his directness, his inquisitiveness, his fun, 
his common sense, his lateral thinking, his enthusiasm. He made me think 
about science in a different way.
I try to kid myself that if I had seen his programmes during high school 
I'd have been more inclined to study science, but this clearly is 
rubbish, as you can NEVER tell teenagers what they ought to do !
I wrote to Ralph and sent for the Safecracker Suite CD.
He was a great man. He is a great man. My life will never evolve around 
him, but he has had an influence - to the good.
Hail to the chief !

Swifty

Dear Mr. Cirillo ,
It is wonderful having Mr. Feynman on the web. Thank you for creating a 
common platform for Feynman enthusiasts to bring out their ideas and 
love for this unique teacher and friend. In my language I call him 
'Vishwa manava' , The man who is universal , acceptable to everyone. 

I was introduced to Feynman in 1989 . The book that kept me awake with a 
magnetic spell was "Surely you are joking Mr. Feynman " . The rest is 
history. My life magically got divided into two . BF and AF (Before Feynman 
and After Feynman). He became my friend and guide for life. I could not 
wait to read the next " What do you care what other people think " and it 
became a manthra. Through Feynman's love for Arlene , I realised that you 
could love for love only without any constraints. I could realize the 
unconditional love I already had and had failed to accept it. Today I am 
married to this wonderful husband of mine thanks to Feynman's biography. 
Feynman has given me the courage to question life , to experiment with a 
child's curiosity. I am a teacher by profession and share Feynman's 
intensity and passion for teaching in his own words :

"I find teaching and students keep life going. And I would never accept 
any position in which somebody has invented a happy situation for me where 
I don't have to teach. Never ! " 

However I am slightly bothered by his quote " I hate to die twice , it can 
be so boring " . Wish I could talk to him and understand what he meant by 
that.
I am eager to know if someone could explain this to me.

nanda@dtainc.com

I stumbled across your web-page on RPF and decided to accept your 
invitation to tell my Feynman story.

I was introduced to the Great Man by a physics professor, Elihu 
Lubkin, at the University of Wisconsin back in the 70's.  A student 
of Physics and Applied Mathematics, I was rambling on about how the 
world was just one big linear system.  Lubkin told me that I would 
enjoy reading the views of Feynman, who also loved to see the world 
simply.

Eventually I read "Surely You're Joking..." and I knew Lubkin was 
right.  Feynman articulated so many things I felt: the pomposity 
and pretentiousness of some "Social Scientists", the need to reduce 
apparently complicated questions to the simplest form possible, the 
silliness of some cultural mandates.

Most important, his contention that "if you can't explain it simply, 
you don't understand it", has remained a precept for me.  "This must 
be wonderful, I don't understand it at all!"...

Thanks for helping to keep the faith.

Michael.

------------------------------------------------------------
 Michael L. Grybush  Manager Quality Technology & Information
 Picker International
 mgrybush@pgw.picker.com
 (V)704-588-4330 (F)704-588-4595

Hello there,
I enjoyed reading your story about how you discovered this most
interesting teacher, Mr. Feynman.
I will give my own.

I believe that my first encounter with Feynman was on the PBS special
back in 1991, too. I recall channel surfing and then fixing on that
program because it was so fascinating. If my memory is correct, I was,
at that time, reading a book by Stephan Hawking titled "A Brief History
of Time". Then six years passed and my wife and I were browsing a
bookstore in Santa Monica, California a couple of weeks ago and low and
behold, on the shelf I see a book titled "Six Not So Easy Pieces" by you
know who. I bought the book and began to read and again became entranced
with this guy. I made a return trip to another bookstore in search of
some of his audio books because my wife had a problem with reading his
text (the mathematics can be imtimidating) and though I could not find
any of his audio, I found a great package of four tapes and a book by no
other than Stephan Hawking!! So now I am deep in the middle of reading
Mr. Feynman's lectures in print and listening to Mr. Hawking on tape.
The event that prompted this mail is almost humorous. My wife commented
that she wants to buy encyclopedias for the kids and I expressed
astonishment, considering the availability of information on the
Internet. She replied to me, "Well then Mr. Smarty Pants, why did you go
to the trouble of buying that silly printed paper book? Why don't you
just look up Feynman on the Internet?" Being a little bit hard headed, I
said, "Okay, I will right now just to see what we see". I found your
page....and many others.....

Take Care and Good health
Dan Roach

-- 
When I die, I want to go peacefully, sleeping,
Like my Grandfather did.
Not screaming and terrified like his passengers.

As a newcomer to the Web, I was very pleased to find your homepage on Richard
Feynman.
I discovered him in the early 1980's, when watching a science program on T.V.
in England. (I think that the program has already been mentioned by one of
your other contributors).
Here was a man talking about physics,science and philosophy in a way that was
a complete revelation to me.His down to earth manner, his New York accent,
were completely beguiling. Here was a massive intellect, and yet he came
across as just a "regular guy".
My life has never been the same since, and I read all I can about Richard
Feynman voraciously. I only wish that I could locate a copy of that first
television program, so that I could recreate my first encounter with one of
the 20th century's great thinkers.

Kindest regards

Stephen Grosvenor

I discovered him by listening to Dick Estell reading "Surely your joking" on 
his "Radio Reader" program on NPR radio.  I am now a Friends of Tuva member, 
and a yurt fanatic..

J. Sugino
..

The words "cool" and Far out" also enter my mind as I write. I am an
English teacher in Israel. I teach Englisn as a foreign language. I was
teaching a student yesterday, and the chapter he had been working on talked
about heroes.  I asked the young man who his hero was,(if he had one) and
he told me Richard Feyman. Well being that I am not nearly as well read as
this 17 year old boy, I had not heard of the his books. He had already read
them both(in Hebrew translation). But he got me thinking, so I decided to
look it up in the internet. (I'm a sucker for following up on things.)
Well, I can tell you that I kind of understand this Feynman groupy thing
regardless if you're into physics or not. I will definitely get my hands on
the books . If you could tell me how to obtain the recordings, I would be
very apprecietve. My e-mail address is almog_ra@inter.net.il,and not the
above adress. (I am writing from school). Thank you very much and I enjoyed
your Richard Feyman story.                         

Yours,
Ruth Almog

I discovered Richard Feynman in college, University of California San
Diego, his physics book "lecture in physics" being our textbook.  I thought
his brand of explanations to be very refreshing and made a very difficult
subject much easier to understand. (I wish I'd kept the books!)  The
college I went to was a science oriented one (Revelle College at UCSD) and
the students saw Feynman as a hero. When it came time to choose a
graduation speaker (our class was the first graduating class at UCSD in
1968) we choose Feynman and he accepted. I really can't remember his speech
but I do remember his features and stature. 

Since then, I've read a few of the books about him. I ran across the book
about TUVA at a books sale and paid $1. I really enjoyed the book because I
loved his intellectual curiosity. I feel I share some of that too!  I even
went out and bought a CD with some of the native music of TUVA.

There was something about Richard Feynman that was different than other
scientists. He wasn't afraid to be human and loved his science and was
willing to share it with others not so bright as himself.

Thanks for your site.

Newt Perdue

James "Newt" Perdue                        Earth Science and Outdoor CD-ROMs
Rocky Mountain Digital Peeks CD-ROMs       http://www.sni.net/malls/rmdp
800-266-7637 (303-258-3779)		   We sell CD-ROMS on-line, visit us!

http://www.sni.net/malls/rmdp

Thank you for having this site. No unusual story here. Just a 
recognition of the huge truths that crop up in persuing RPF. The largest 
being: the openess that reveals the imperfections opens the doors to the 
greatest leaps, so apparent in his person and his work. Diagrams on his 
van! What a guy.

I'm new to Richard Feynman.  I think I've discovered him at a place in my 
life where I need his inspiration.  I decided recently to return to college 
to finish my degree and I am taking an astronomy course.  I've NEVER been a 
science or math buff.  In fact, if there was any place to avoid anything 
involving numbers, I'd be there.  

Anyway, my astronomy class is absolutely fascinating to me, and I've 
discovered that the mathematical end of it is really not that difficult.  
By chance, a few days ago, we rented a movie called Infinity starring 
and directed by Matthew Broderick.  It is about Richard Feynman's early 
career and relationship with Arline.  It is an absolutely fanatastic movie, 
I think.  So this movie is mulling around in my head and I mentioned it to 
my astronomy instructor (who also teaches physics and engineering classes).
His eyes brightened, almost like a kid getting a present, and he told me 
that Richard Feynman is one of his favorite scientists.  He told me about 
several books he wrote and showed me a transcript he had of a program on 
NOVA starring Feynman.  I read the transcript (he's going to give me extra 
credit.....I'm something of a brown-noser) and was fascinated.  
My search has begun.  I've read quite a few interesting things on line 
about Feynman, and I'm going to look into checking out some of his books.  

Speaking of life changes, discovery, and following your dreams.....I think 
I may actually take a few math and science classes, whether they're 
required or not!

Hi, it was great reading about how people from different professions
discovered Richard Feynman.i first came across the feynman lectures on
physics when in high school. our teacher gave a very convoluted
derivation relating the speed of light to the permittivity and
permeability of space, since we knew no vector calculus. being
dissatisfied, a friend and i hunted for books that did this in a simple
way. we still remember the feeling of being swept along by the sentences
in the book.it became so easy to understand when he presented it in his
almost "obvious way".we have been hooked on physics ever since and though
he has published "popular" books like " surely you're joking..", his real
appeal lies in the infectious mix of enthusiasm,curiousity and brilliance
that comes across so clearly in his work. i love you, Richard Feynman!!
	
prashanth jaikumar	

Interesting web sight on Richard Feynman.  I too am a Feynman fan who likes
to identify with many of the fascinating/spiritual things about his
personality.  For me, science is my career.  I studied it in college
(chemical engineering -- Ohio State), research it when I come to work, and
read about science in my leisure time.  Scientific personalities, like
Feynman, drive me.  My wife and friends think I have an "odd" taste in
books, but people who take the time to learn about Feynman and the rest of
the boys of Los Alamos and the Institute for Advanced Study know that this
is some real brain fuel.  


Brian R. Collett
Researcher
Aerosol Science and Technology Assessment
Battelle Memorial Institute
collettb@battelle.org
(614)-424-3816
Fax (614)-424-4185

--
I came to know about the great Richard Feynman through my friend
Uday Shankar.
I read lot about him and he is my dream man. His "Feynman Lectures" is
great and sometimes I feel that Feynman taking personal classes to me
while reading his book.
I really enjoyed his book. I like his character and his approaches. One
example is solving the differential equation s2x/dt2=sin(omega)x and deriving
Avagrado's number from newton's laws.

S.Gopinath
Email:sxg@tn.nic.in

Hi below is my story of how I found RPF

I have a site too if you want to check it out.  I haven't gotten to my RPF 
dedication page yet though :) But will soon!!!!

http://www.explorespace.com

Thanks
Bill McCoy
-------------------------------------------
When I found him......

 My life had recently been destroyed or reinvented so to speak.  My landlord 
wouldn't renew the lease, the credit cards were maxed, and I was driving 
around the dependent left to me.  Her had to have expensive car. Our 
relationship lasted four years. The marriage lasted four months. So I slept 
on the cot mattress laid in the dining room of my parents.  My parents house 
is a small cozy place in the woods just south of the Wisconsin border.  My 
old room was now a linen closet.  I wouldn't fit it their anymore anyhow. 
The parents were asleep by nine and I'm what you call a night person.  I 
couldn't watch movies, or come home at late hours. Both would cause them to 
awaken. I felt enough quilt that I ve failed for the time being and was 
forced to sleep on the cot mattress laid in the dining room of my parents.

It was a cold Christmas day morning my back was stiff from the floor. I rose 
 early thanks to teddy bear the family puppy licking my face.  She felt I 
was the big dog of the house because I slept on the floor like her.  Next to 
my bed was nothing more than a pile of books and magazines.  For all I could 
do in  my spare time was read.  It s not a loud hobby you know.   Next to my 
alarm clock there was a girt for me from my mother.  I could feel it was 
another book.  Which made me excited.  I hurried and opened it.  It was "The 
motion of planets around the sun" By Richard P. Feynman.  It came with some 
 marketing material.  Like join this stupid music club get a 10cent 
calculator. The description of the book in this junk marketing material made 
me believe that Richard Feynman was a high  school teacher, and he proved 
the motions were ellipses.  Therefore since he was a high school teacher he 
was un heard of and it wasn t until now the "LOST LECTURES" were found!  I 
was clue less to who this character was.  I was just totally clue less of 
the whole picture.  My mother had bought it for me because of my passion for 
astronomy and I just started volunteering for the Adler Planetarium in 
Chicago.  I m sure she figured motions, planets ah ha astronomy!   She had 
no idea that she was changing my life and inspiring  me to the world of 
Feynman and physics.

I've since then read it all.  I have a picture framed of Richard in my new 
place far better from the cot  mattress.   Finding him has changed me and I 
feel fortunate to have found him in a time where thinking was all I could 
do. The best Christmas I've ever had.

RPF- Master of great thinkers!

I found your site browsing for books by Richard Feynman. I too saw that
old NOVA program that he participated in, and I remember that he thought
he had nothing in common with Andre Mourois, the French author, then
changed his mind because of the common intellectual pursuits for the
truth of things...this is paraphrased, of course. I was hooked...now
have read the popular books by him, and about him by Ralph Leighton...We
have lost a real human being; thankfully so much is left for us to read
and listen to and be inspired by.

Thank you for putting your site out "there" for us all.

Mary De Young
Stark Kansas

Hi,
I luckily stumbled on to the Feynman's fan page and was absolutely delighted
to find people talking about their Feynman quest.I would like to take this
opportunity
provided by you to tell my story here.I think I first came across Richard
Feynman
in high school.My father being a thorough physics enthusiast,I was fortunate
enough to hear about him.But I didn't read his books till I got to
college,but the moment I read the Feynman's lectures I found myself getting
drawn towards the man.To me he seemed the ultimate war hero,just the kind of
person I idolised about-frank,honest,earthly..a great sense of humour and all
unparalleled brilliance.
But the book which made me a compulsive Feynman fan was James Gleick's
masterly "Genius".The book brought alive the most wonderful human mind that
ever existed.Theoretical Physicists were supposed to be serious,orthodox,with
a certain air about them.Richard was starkly different-a free whheling
spirit,a prankster par excellence.But my favourite piece about Feynman is
when in Los Alamos admidst the leading physicists of the day Feynman gave a
presentation,
Gleick captures the moment beautifully in his book-"Night fell and feynman
spoke,
chairs shifted,the audience had been treated to a flawless virtuso by julian
Schwinger earlier in the day,Feynman was throwing unfamiliar equations on the
blackboard,the scientific community had trouble following this brash young
man,his vowels were a raucous urban growl"....
Feynman was then 24,and even then he had what it takes to hold his own.I
didn't
have the opportunity to read the other Feynman books "surely you're joking
Mr.Feynman"  untill lately but the books only reinforce the breathtaking
dimensions of his life.I feel really sad that a wonderful thinker is no more
around,
but the Feynman spirit is very much alive.A couple of months ago on a sunday
morning I had nothing to do and was just fiddling around with the TV channels,
and suddenly on BBC I saw a familiar face giving an interview.It was Feynman,I
watched fascinated as Feynman talked bringing into realm all his enchanting
prowess.At one point Feynman was asked about his view on mysticism etc and
he erupted in an animated response and then politely added in his
irresistible way-
"sorry I can't help it....my papa brought me up that way".This no nonsense
approach towards life and his quest for understanding things in an original
way were his hallmarks.It's impossible that there will be anyone like Richard
again,he
was a man ahead of his times,even then he was the only one of his kind around.
I would end my story by quoting the master "It does no harm to a mystery by
knowing something about it".
Richard Feynman-Physicist,safe cracker,Professor,womaniser,bongo
player,sketch artist.....BEAT OF A DIFFERENT DRUM.
CHEERS TO THE GREAT FEYNMAN SPIRIT.
Rishikesh Singh,
rishik_s@yahoo.com
Bangalore,
INDIA 

I was forced to read Surely you're joking for a term paper due at the
end of this week.  I haven't thouroughly read a book for two years but
somehow i got interested and read the entire book.  i enjoyed reading
about the antics and experiences of Feynman.  he is one talented and
lucky individual!

Jahde

Have been reading your fascinating web pages about Dr Feynman.  My 
introduction is far different.  Way back in the late 70's/early 80's I worked 
for a small ballet company in San Francisco, working their sound system and 
sewing costumes.  One of our choreographers decided to set Conrad's "Heart of 
Darkness" to live drum music (don't ask). So, for the next several weeks, we 
spent evenings in rehearsal with two drummers, one by the name of Richard 
Feynman.  I thought him pleasant, funny, and collegial - and "rahter 
intellgient"!  It wasn't until years later, I discovered he was also a nobel 
prize physicist!  And my love for him continues....

C. Dillon

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