6 ms·

Richard Feynman's Extraordinary Letter to His Departed Wife

235 points by ktr 8y ago

the_coding_crab 8y ago
Thanks for posting this. It was a super enjoyable, lil heart throb, lil sweet story about true love.
rofo1 8y ago
> You, dead, are so much better than anyone else alive. Look at Feynman! Who knew! I wonder what happens to our bodies, physically/chemically when one is in love to that degree. I know only very superficially. Anyone to suggest a book on this topic? Preferably one that backs its statements.
- gjs278 8y ago
  why would anyone actually read a book in 2019? just google it and find an article
JohnJamesRambo 8y ago
Such a sweet read, thank you. It's strange how the story would be so different if just a few more years had passed since the work on the compounds from fungi and bacteria had begun. Feynman's hope was totally on the right track. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Crude-death-rates-for-tuberculosis-in-the-United-States-1900-2014-Note-that-with-the_fig1_307084755 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Crude-death-rates-for-tu... I also found this interesting from the wiki for TB since it is thought Arline got TB from unpasteurized milk- "Robert Koch identified and described the bacillus causing tuberculosis, M. tuberculosis, on 24 March 1882. He received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1905 for this discovery. Koch did not believe the cattle and human tuberculosis diseases were similar, which delayed the recognition of infected milk as a source of infection. During the first half of the 1900s the risk of transmission from this source was dramatically reduced after the application of the pasteurization process."
- fredgrott 8y ago
  in fact we got the FDA and milk, food inspections via Upton Sinclair's expose on working in the Chicago stock yards and passing tb via untreated milk was one the things highlighted
menacingly 8y ago
This style of writing is becoming more common and it is frustrating. The author seems hell bent on making their words the focus rather than a window through which you view a story.
- spectramax 8y ago
  I agree, just to be clear - you're talking about the author of the article, not Richard Feynman. Clarity in writing reflects clarity of thoughts. I wish the same thing dies in the Business world. When I hear a CEO of Intel or Adobe or Google speak in polished, PR approved, Lawyer vetted tone as if they strung big words together and tried to make the sentence after the fact - it makes me cringe. This is one of the reasons why I like Elon or Steve Jobs - they are relatable and human.
- chubot 8y ago
  I've always been annoyed by this, but now that I know the term "classic style", it annoys me even more. For those who haven't heard of it, "classic style" is explained in the recent book Sense of Style by Steven Pinker, and there's a nice diagram here: https://philosophicaldisquisitions.blogspot.com/2014/09/steven-pinkers-guide-to-classic-style.html https://philosophicaldisquisitions.blogspot.com/2014/09/stev... It's in opposition to academic style, legal style, self-conscious style, etc. One distressing thing I've noticed is that some of my adult colleagues write in "high school book report style". They seem to want to fill up a certain number of words rather than getting straight to the point.
  - bitwize 8y ago
    Similar advice from Olin Shivers: http://web.cs.ucla.edu/~palsberg/shivers.html http://web.cs.ucla.edu/~palsberg/shivers.html
- mercer 8y ago
  While I do share your frustration most of the time, for some reason I've never felt it when reading a Brain Pickings post. I'm not sure why, but I think it's because I know what to expect, and so when I do read one of these articles, my state of mind is to just kind of take in whatever idea is expressed, to click on the copious amount of links, and to write down the titles of any materials that seem interesting. The style feels fitting for a blog/magazine that mostly seems to offer surface-level ideas, often interesting, with links and references to various source materials. It's a bit like the difference between actively using google/wikipedia/stanford encyclopedia of philosophy and passively clicking around on tvtropes.org.
lenocinor 8y ago
A nice article and a lovely read. Maybe some folks would view the fact that he had two other wives later as sad, but it gives me hope that even when some of the worst kind of heartbreak happens to you, you can eventually get better.

235 points by ktr 8y ago

Thanks for posting this. It was a super enjoyable, lil heart throb, lil sweet story about true love.

> You, dead, are so much better than anyone else alive. Look at Feynman! Who knew! I wonder what happens to our bodies, physically/chemically when one is in love to that degree. I know only very superficially. Anyone to suggest a book on this topic? Preferably one that backs its statements.

gjs278 8y ago
why would anyone actually read a book in 2019? just google it and find an article

JohnJamesRambo 8y ago

Such a sweet read, thank you. It's strange how the story would be so different if just a few more years had passed since the work on the compounds from fungi and bacteria had begun. Feynman's hope was totally on the right track. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Crude-death-rates-for-tuberculosis-in-the-United-States-1900-2014-Note-that-with-the_fig1_307084755 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Crude-death-rates-for-tu... I also found this interesting from the wiki for TB since it is thought Arline got TB from unpasteurized milk- "Robert Koch identified and described the bacillus causing tuberculosis, M. tuberculosis, on 24 March 1882. He received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1905 for this discovery. Koch did not believe the cattle and human tuberculosis diseases were similar, which delayed the recognition of infected milk as a source of infection. During the first half of the 1900s the risk of transmission from this source was dramatically reduced after the application of the pasteurization process."

fredgrott 8y ago
in fact we got the FDA and milk, food inspections via Upton Sinclair's expose on working in the Chicago stock yards and passing tb via untreated milk was one the things highlighted

menacingly 8y ago

This style of writing is becoming more common and it is frustrating. The author seems hell bent on making their words the focus rather than a window through which you view a story.

spectramax 8y ago
I agree, just to be clear - you're talking about the author of the article, not Richard Feynman. Clarity in writing reflects clarity of thoughts. I wish the same thing dies in the Business world. When I hear a CEO of Intel or Adobe or Google speak in polished, PR approved, Lawyer vetted tone as if they strung big words together and tried to make the sentence after the fact - it makes me cringe. This is one of the reasons why I like Elon or Steve Jobs - they are relatable and human.
chubot 8y ago
I've always been annoyed by this, but now that I know the term "classic style", it annoys me even more. For those who haven't heard of it, "classic style" is explained in the recent book Sense of Style by Steven Pinker, and there's a nice diagram here: https://philosophicaldisquisitions.blogspot.com/2014/09/steven-pinkers-guide-to-classic-style.html https://philosophicaldisquisitions.blogspot.com/2014/09/stev... It's in opposition to academic style, legal style, self-conscious style, etc. One distressing thing I've noticed is that some of my adult colleagues write in "high school book report style". They seem to want to fill up a certain number of words rather than getting straight to the point.
- bitwize 8y ago
  Similar advice from Olin Shivers: http://web.cs.ucla.edu/~palsberg/shivers.html http://web.cs.ucla.edu/~palsberg/shivers.html
mercer 8y ago
While I do share your frustration most of the time, for some reason I've never felt it when reading a Brain Pickings post. I'm not sure why, but I think it's because I know what to expect, and so when I do read one of these articles, my state of mind is to just kind of take in whatever idea is expressed, to click on the copious amount of links, and to write down the titles of any materials that seem interesting. The style feels fitting for a blog/magazine that mostly seems to offer surface-level ideas, often interesting, with links and references to various source materials. It's a bit like the difference between actively using google/wikipedia/stanford encyclopedia of philosophy and passively clicking around on tvtropes.org.

lenocinor 8y ago

A nice article and a lovely read. Maybe some folks would view the fact that he had two other wives later as sad, but it gives me hope that even when some of the worst kind of heartbreak happens to you, you can eventually get better.