While I have sometimes had trouble figuring his dispassionate perspective - whether it was the death of his wife or his views on the bomb - I nonetheless have found his vision on the future fantastic. Reading 'There's plenty of room at the bottom' in middle school was a bit confusing but while studying solid state physics in engineering school, it made perfect sense!

As you say, his views are relevant to technology entrepreneurship. I would stretch it and say VCs ought to pay more attention to him too.

Here it would be apt to quote a short poem he cites in 'What is Science' that both entrepreneurs and VCs should benefit from:

A centipede was happy quite, until a toad in fun
Said, "Prey, which leg comes after which?"
Then raised his doubts to such a pitch
He fell distracted in the ditch
Not knowing how to run.

Feynman was a master of teaching by showing/doing, with a case in point being his dramatic O-ring in glass of cold water demo at the Challenger hearings, rather than using only words or equations to get his point across (as NASA engineers are apparently quite adept at attempting to do - google Edward Tufte's analysis of powerpoint presentations and how they actually hinder NASA engineers and scientists trying to convey their points). Good job, Paul, of following Dr. Feynman's lead, showing a video of the man himself rather than merely writing about him!

I have also been a big fan of Feynman starting with the pair “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman” and “What Do You Care What Other People Think?”. I even have a long-ish blog entry about him and this wonderful Feynman video last year.

Here is one of the lesser known great book about Feynman, “Most of the Good Stuff: Memories of Richard Feynman". is a great book of stories as told by many of Dick’s great friends and even his little sister Dr. Joan Feynman. And I included a story as told by her in my blog entry.

Thanks for giving me an excuse to think about Richard Feynman - one of the great minds of our time.

I just picked up the book over at Amazon. Thanks for the suggestion!

Thanks for posting the video, Paul. I'm watching it now and I really got into it at the point where he starts talking about his dad educating him to everything around.

Paul - thanks for introducing me to Feynman - fascinating video. Checking out the book of the same name now...