Feynman Letters Bought at Basic
by John F. Baker -- Publishers Weekly, 5/3/2004
A trove of never-published letters by the late Nobel physics laureate and popular author Richard P. Feynman has been gathered together by his daughter Michelle, and Basic Books editor Megan Hustad has signed to publish them. The legendary scientist was a bestselling author himself, with his eccentric Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! and Six Easy Pieces, and the collection of letters will be, said Hustad, the nearest thing to a Feynman autobiography. They include letters to and from such eminent contemporaries as Victor Weisskopf, Edward Teller, Isidor Rabi and James Watson, as well as correspondence with his family, students and fans of his writings. Michelle Feynman will edit the collection as Infinite Variety: The Collected Letters of Richard P. Feynman, and it will be published next April, with a very large (for Basic) first printing of 100,000 copies. Hustad signed the major deal for the book with agent Melanie Jackson.
