The Meaning of It All

Name: The Meaning of It All
ISBN: 9781433201721

Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist

by Richard Phillips Feynman · first published 1998

8mentions

4recommended by

7HN commenters

2008–2018first – last mentioned

57% recommend43% neutral

Philosophy Religion & Spirituality

In April 1963, Richard P. Feynman gave a series of remarkable lectures at the University of Washington in Seattle. These three consecutive talks were classic Feynman - full of wit and wisdom - but their subject matter was wholly unexpected: Feynman spoke not as a physicist but as a concerned fellow citizen, revealing his uncommon insights into the religious, political, and social issues of the day. Now, at last, these lectures have been published under the collective title The Meaning of It All. Here is Feynman on mind reading and the laws of probability and statistics; on Christian Science a

BuyBookshop.org Amazon

Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

View on Open Library ISBN 9781433201721

Mentions per year

What Hacker News says

dnautics · Oct 3, 2010 · Recommends

"The meaning of it all: thoughts of a citizen-scientist". Probably worth reading more than any academically lionized philosopher. "From Heaven Lake" is a really good non-fiction book that reads like a fiction.
on “Ask HN: Good books?” ↗
asnyder · May 16, 2008 · Recommends

1."The Long Tail" by Chris Anderson 2."Super Crunchers" by Ian Ayres 3."Six Great Scientists" by J.G Crowther 4."The Meaning of It All" by Richard Feynman 5."Dealers of Lightning"(The story of XEROX Parc) by Michael Hiltzik 6."What I Believe" by Betrand Russell The above titles can all be found at audible.com, and probably through…
on “Ask YC: Road trip. Which audio books would you recommend?” ↗
xenophanes · Nov 2, 2009 · Recommends

Feynman has a philosophy book (_The Meaning of It All_) which is excellent. He discussed philosophy of science frequently in his books and lectures, and sometimes other types of philosophy, e.g. educational philosophy. Feynman is not noted as a philosopher,…
on “Ludwig Wittgenstein” ↗
dnautics · Oct 17, 2013 · Recommends

I argue the best primer is Feynman's "The meaning of it all: Thoughts of a citizen-scientist" and "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out". I'm not just linkbaiting HN's love for Feynman: Feynman was an active, practicing scientist and besides being introspective,…
on “To an alarming degree, science is not self-correcting” ↗
evanb · Jul 23, 2017 · Recommends

…Insight POPULAR Deutsch - The Beginning of Infinity (especially his explanation about fungibility in quantum mechanics) Feynman - The Meaning of It All Feynman - Lectures on Physics Feynman and Weinberg - Elementary Particles and the Laws of Physics Galison - Einstein's…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite physics sites, documentaries, books?” ↗
nostrademons · Jun 12, 2009 · Mentions

Feynman wrote about this in The Meaning of it All - he thought one of the major problems with American society today (1960s) was that people could no longer distinguish confidence and expertise. The media has to have an answer for everything, even…
on “Humans prefer cockiness to expertise” ↗
abecedarius · Mar 6, 2018 · Mentions

…was less routinely scientific like that in my own experience earlier in my career when automated testing was less common. I think the Feynman talk was the one that turned into his posthumous book The meaning of it all, though I'm not sure.
on “Ontario wrongly separated families on results of Motherisk hair-testing program” ↗
prestadige · Jul 12, 2014 · Mentions

…the Soviet Union: >I think that Russia represents danger in saying that the solution to human problems is known, that all effort should be for the state, for that means there is no novelty. (from 'The Meaning Of It All', Ch. II)
on “Who smeared Richard Feynman?” ↗