<story><title>Richard Feynman and The Connection Machine</title><url>http://www.longnow.org/essays/richard-feynman-connection-machine/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>dy</author><text>I&apos;m always amazed at the breadth and depth of Feynman&apos;s genius.  My favorite story of Feynman is his calculation of the size of the first nuclear explosion and then driving to just a few miles outside the blast radius (much closer than his colleagues were willing to watch from).  That&apos;s a level of mental confidence that I can&apos;t even begin to imagine possessing.&lt;p&gt;Surely You&apos;re Joking is a great read - one of those &quot;drop what you&apos;re doing and read it now&quot; kinds of books.</text></comment>
<story><title>Richard Feynman and The Connection Machine</title><url>http://www.longnow.org/essays/richard-feynman-connection-machine/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>Jun8</author><text>I had read this before but went ahead and read it again anyway and was again struck by the practicality of Feynman&apos;s genius.&lt;p&gt;However, as always, every genius has their undesirable part:&lt;p&gt;&quot;The charming side of Richard helped people forgive him for his uncharming characteristics. For example, in many ways Richard was a sexist. Whenever it came time for his daily bowl of soup he would look around for the nearest &quot;girl&quot; and ask if she would fetch it to him. It did not matter if she was the cook, an engineer, or the president of the company. I once asked a female engineer who had just been a victim of this if it bothered her. &quot;Yes, it really annoys me,&quot; she said. &quot;On the other hand, he is the only one who ever explained quantum mechanics to me as if I could understand it.&quot; That was the essence of Richard&apos;s charm.&quot;&lt;p&gt;When I was reading Feynman&apos;s biography (&lt;i&gt;Surely You&apos;re Joking, Mr. Feynman!&lt;/i&gt;) one thing that really bothered me was the big difference in his approach to his son and daughter. He seemed to relish how, when his young boy got his interesting games, but sounded quite impatient with his daughter, saying she only wanted the same story repeated to her.</text></comment>