The Pleasure of Finding Things Out

This book is not purchasable in your country. Please select another book.

Listen to a sample

What to expect

The Pleasure of Finding Things Out is a magnificent treasury of the best short works of Richard P. Feynman, from interviews and speeches to lectures and printed articles. A sweeping, wide-ranging collection, it presents an intimate and fascinating view of a life in science—a life like no other. From his ruminations on science in our culture to his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, this book will delight anyone interested in the world of ideas.

"From the irregular trivia of ordinary life mixed with a bit of scientific doodling and failure to the intense dramatic concentration as one closes in on the truth and the final elation (plus, with gradually decreasing frequency, the sudden sharp pangs of doubt)—that is how science is done."—Richard P. Feynman to James D. Watson

Critics Review

  • “A sparkling collection.”

    Wall Street Journal
  • “Feynman’s distinctive voice rings out in this book…Feynman is both interesting and quotable.”

    Scientific American
  • “A delightful reminder of Feynman’s prodigious gifts.”

    Nature
  • “Feynman had a fantastic sense of humor, and his memoirs of his Manhattan Project days roil with fun despite his later misgivings about nuclear weapons…The book is easygoing and engaging on a personal rather than a scientific level.”

    Amazon.com editorial review
  • “Feynman remains fun and informative. Here are yet more comments, anecdotes, and overviews from a charismatic rule breaker with his own, sometimes compelling, views about what science is and how it can be done.”

    Publishers Weekly
  • “This work,
    drawn from several sources, including speeches, interviews, and
    articles, has a personal feel. And Sean Runnette delivers it in a
    personal, conversational way… Perhaps the
    most illuminating and interesting part—for non-physicists, anyway—is
    the behind-the-scenes discussion of life at Los Alamos, New Mexico,
    during the WWII atomic bomb project. The account shows Feynman’s impish
    side and humanizes this episode in the history of the war. Some of the
    entries are highly technical, but Runnette carries them off without
    hesitating or stereotyping the speaker with a pedantic tone.”

    AudioFile

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to get tailored content recommendations, product updates and info on new releases. Your data is your own: we commit to protect your data and respect your privacy.