Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard P. Feynman (review)

their original in utero condition on hearing womb sounds reproduced. Two authors do not hesitate to extrapolate from the very limited evidence (TheMusicWithin You,by Shelley Katsch and Carol Merle-Fishman, p. 16): You know music from your very first stirrings of life. As a pulsation of splitting cells within your mother’s body, you are already introduced to the most fundamental and universal aspect of music: rhythm. Within four weeks of conception, your own heart has begun beating, announcing your very existence to the world. Further, in a syndicatedarticle published in the Rocky Mountain News (Saturday, April 5, 1986, Denver, Colorado) writer Delthia Ricks reports some astounding claims by Susumu Ohno to have discovered “the primordial secret”, a link between music and the chemistry of genes and DNA: By translating the basic chemistry of DNA into musical notes, Ohno is creating musical scores from cancer genes, genes for antibodies and those that code for enzymes. When played, a cancer-causing gene,called an oncogene, sounds somber, slightly out of control. An enzyme that breaks down lactose, simplemilk sugar,sounds likea lullabye. The tune, recorded by a violinist, has been played in several kindergartens in Tokyo, and helps put the children to sleep at nap time, Ohno said.. . He thinks the music ofthe great composers may have been inherent in their genes and that his system of creating music from genes may have some practical applications for scientists. All of this may sound extreme, speculative and preposterous, even as the author of Soundtracks admits (p. 23). Berlioz’ opera,Les Troyens(TheTrojans), requiring four hours for the music alone, is light years away from his and his mother’s heartbeats, no doubt about that. Still, Harrell makes a plausible case as a theory construct from implausible and surprising natural events. Two topics are treated at length in separate chapters: film music and the concept of genius. In both cases, we are shown in extenso how the theory of partial recall allows a new reading of film music’s auxiliary (and shallow) function, as well as a new interpretation of the meaning of genius. Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! Richard P. Feynman. Bantam Books, New York, 1986. 322 pp. Paper, $4.50. ISBN: 0-553-25649-1. Reviewed by Vladimir Tamari, 2-15-14 Okusawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan. In this light-hearted and thoroughly enjoyable book arefound “the outrageous exploits of the world’s most outspoken Nobel prizewinning scientist”. The prize (granted in 1965) was for his work on quantum electrodynamics, but one only glimpses this serious side of Feynman through a feast of anecdotes featuring a colourful list of characters, ranging from Albert Einstein, samba dancers in Rio, to Nick the Greek. Feynman has an irrepressible urge to solve puzzles, to crack safes (just for the fun of it), to tease and exhort, and, most important, to follow his instincts to learn. It is this last aspect that is of interest, when he suddenly took an interest in learning how to paint. What this great scientist has to say about art and science is very much to the point and should be quoted at length: Once I was at a party playing bongos, and I got going pretty well. One of the guys was particularly inspired by the drumming. He went into the bathroom, took off his shirt, smeared shaving cream in funny designs all over his chest, and came out dancing wildly, with cherries hanging from his ears. Naturally, this crazy nut and I became good friends right away. His name is Jirayr Zorthian; he’s an artist. We often had long discussions about art and science. I’d say things like, “Artists are lost: they don’t have any subject! They used to have the religious subjects, but they lost their religion and now they haven’t got anything. They don’t understand the technical world they live in; they don’t know anything about the beauty of the redworld-the scientific world-so they don’t have anything in their hearts to paint.” Jerry would reply that artists don’t need to have a physical subject; there are many emotions that can be expressed through art...