How you can write a book - without actually writing a thing...

Did you know that one of the very successful authors whose books you can find in bookstores today – never actually wrote a book?

He didn’t actually write a thing!

I know it sounds impossible... Here’s what he did.

By the way, you may have heard of this technique before. However, this is LIVING PROOF that it really works!

The author I am talking about is a guy named Richard Feynman. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics back in 1965 for helping to formulate the theory of “quantum electrodynamics” – the theory of how electrons and photons interact with each other in the micro-world.

If you go to any bookstore and look in their “science” or “physics” section, you are guaranteed to find a book there (and probably many more) by Richard Feynman. In fact, some of his books are STILL some of the best-selling books in physics today. That’s incredible, given that he passed away about 16 years ago, in 1987.

How did he ”write” his books?

He had them “recorded”...

For example, one of his most popular books is a book of stories of various “adventures” he’s had in his life.

Stories like how he figured out how to crack the safes at Los Alamos National Laboratory when he was working there during WWII.

Or how, as a kid, those around him were amazed that he could fix radios – he had to “think” how to do it – so they said he “fixed radios by thinking”!

Another story was how he went to Japan for a physics conference, and decided to not stay at the Western-style hotel he was put in, but moved into a Japanese-style hotel so he could experience authentic Japanese culture. And his experiences with that!

As I said, he didn’t push a single typewriter or computer key to write these stories down, and he didn’t pick up a pen.

What happened was that Richard Feynman would often tell these stories to his friend Ralph Leighton when they had enjoyable bongo-drumming sessions. One day, Ralph Leighton decided to bring a tape recorder, and leave it running while Richard Feynman was telling his stories!

The transcripts of these spoken word recorded sessions were then edited down, to create a couple of the books that Richard Feynman has “written”.

Not only that however. He’s also credited as the author of several technical physics books. Didn’t he write those?

Well, no. In fact, those are transcriptions of lectures he gave as part of his job as a Professor of Physics at CalTech. His lectures were often recorded, and those recordings were again transcribed to make these physics books. Where he wrote down equations on the blackboard, those equations were inserted into the text.

Again, he didn’t really “write” these books – not in the sense we think of. He SPOKE them.

The fact is, if you can speak, you can write. The Nobel Prizewinning physicist Richard Feynman proves it!

By the way, if you are really interested in this process, you can actually get both the recorded versions of some of his works, then the later transcribed versions too. You can see where the edits were made, if you’re really interested.

For example, I recently bought some CDs of those original recordings that Richard Feynman made, of those stories he told while he was talking to Ralph Leigthon after their bongo-drumming sessions. You can get those here:

http://www.scs-intl.com/trader/feynman_audio.shtm

And of course, you can get the books which came from those sessions at Amazon.com or at any other decent bookstore. The most popular of these is called, “Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman!”

So if you can’t “write” – but you can “speak” – don’t let that stop you! Just get yourself a tape recorder, a tape, and turn it on!

(Or go with the fancy digital recording devices they have nowadays if you want to go high-tech!)

- Dien Rice

P.S. If the thought of all that transcribing gets you down, you can PAY someone to transcribe it. It may not be all that cheap - but it is the easiest way to "write" a book. Once you have your transcription, then it's all about editing...


You want business ideas? We got 'em here...

You have to BE Richard Feynamn first to achieve all this.

Who is your advice for/to, Dien?

To the richard feynmans of the world or to people who haven't achieved his status?

In order to achieve what Feynman did (including the PUBLISHING success) you have to BE a Nobel Laureate or/and highly creative and acclaimed research-scientist.

Only in THIS case the stories you can relate become something people care for.

I just can't understand how this simple fact so brilliantly observed in ancient times is constantly neglected...

Here is the peace of (Chinese) wisdom.

"In order to achieve something you first have to BE something and then you'll see whether you want to achieve that something..."

When you ARE someone like Feynman it's absolutely natural that you just don't want to waste your time writing, and use the transcribed tapes that are made (and transcribed) by students and friends who are drawn to you by your BEING Feynman in the first place.

I am absolutely sure that every reader of this board have a story to tell which are even funnier than Feynman's, but to try to 'inspire' them into writing a book of those stories is to tempt then with something utterly unrealistic.

Sure, EVERYONE can 'write' a book by transcribing one's own lectures, but the problem is - you have to BE someone to get people interested in them (apart from the fact that you have to KNOW the topic with the same deep and brilliance...

Summing this up.
1. choose a field of your interest
2. by working all your life achieve the status of the eminent EXPERT, earn your accolades.
3. THEN write a 'recorded' and 'transcribed' book...

THIS should be a realistic advice.

Alas, you'll have to write a LOT of words, papers, articles BEFORE you could write a 'book without writing a thing'...

I am sorry.

But the analysis should go even DEEPER.
Have you noticed that the real achievement in this case was made NOT by Feynman but by people who worked NOT for themselves.

So, here is a 'modified' piece of advice.

DON'T write a book for YOUR-self.

Find a person in your life like Leighton 'found' Feynman and offer to 'write' (that is, record and transcribe) a book for HIM...
(which won't be easy too, for if the man/woman is already lecturing, he might already have the book either written by himself OR some of the students has already beaten you to the punch).

Anyway, in this case your chances to succeed are much higher than on the path of realizing an egotistic 'dream'...

Simon

Hi Simon,

Thanks for your post - but I think on this particular issue we may have to "agree to disagree"....

Actually there are two things you touched on in your post.

One of the things which you said at the end is that you can be like Ralph Leighton. Know someone who IS a "Somebody" and - like him - associate yourself with that person, and be someone who "facilitates" their writings....

You may or may not know, but it seems almost all (if not all) of Feynman's books are "co-written" with someone. For example, his book of "adventures" - "Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman" - was "co-written" with Ralph Leighton. That's because Ralph Leighton did the recording, and I presume he did the editing too....

That's good advice, and that surely is one way to get in on a winning product.

In fact, it's a form of a JV (joint venture). JV with someone who is a "Somebody". It could mean recording their speeches, recording talks you have with them, and so on, and (with their permission, of course), turning these into products....

The other thing you said is that you have to BE someone to make this work, if these are your own original writings. I certainly disagree with that....

Sure, Feynman was a "Somebody". But how many people are not a "Somebody" before they gain publishing success?

Plenty....

And you don't have to necessarily make it to the bestseller lists to make it worthwhile....

Of course, it has to be a product that will help make people's lives "happier" in some way - whether it is through entertaining stories, or by sharing pieces of wisdom... And ideally, it should also be "unique" in some way too. Since we all have a slightly different perspective on life, I don't think making it your own "unique" product is too difficult.

I am NOT saying you should (necessarily) record a book of "adventures" like Feynman did. The point is that you can use this technique to "write" any book - simply by "speaking" it, transcribing then editing it....

Perhaps a good way to do it is to record a series of talks you may give, like Feynman did. That's exactly how his book "QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter" got written. He gave a series of public lectures in New Zealand, and the book is essentially the (edited) transcript of those public lectures.

Of course, I'm not saying you should give a talk on quantum electrodynamics if you know nothing about that topic! BUT ... If you know something about how to do convincing magic tricks - then talk about that. Or if you know something about how to toilet-train a child quickly - then write about that. Whatever it is you know about.... That's what you talk about.

You don't have to fill a huge auditorium. Give a talk to a local club. Hold a weekly class and record those. Even just have one student, and record that. (Having an "audience" - even if it is just of one person - will probably make it easier to do though, rather than talking into empty space, in my opinion....)

Of course, make sure that your talk will make some people's lives "happier" in some way as a result. If you're talking about "How I snore in my sleep no matter what position I lie in" - I have trouble imagining anyone being interested in that topic.... Now we're getting into the topic of "marketing" which wasn't the real point of my post (since of course that's another topic in itself).

Do you have to be a "Somebody" to succeed? I don't think so - everyone who is a "Somebody" today was an "anybody" yesterday.

Otherwise, it becomes a "chicken and the egg" situation.... Don't do anything unti you are a "Somebody". Yet you can't be a "Somebody" until you do "something". It's circular logic....

I'm not sure if that's exactly what you're saying, but that's what it sounds like to me anyhow...

Well, that's my two pence (as they might say in England).... :)

- Dien Rice

Dien,

Thank you for your reply.

Yes, my friend, you got it absolutely right, -
I DO maintain that the logic of success is circular, a big Catch-22.

And I do maintain that this is not a matter of opinion (yours or mine) - it's a matter of FACTS.

Once again - you CAN'T turn nothing into something. You have to BE a success in any shape or form in order to ACHIEVE success in another form...

If this 'being somebody' sounds foreign, consider another form - you have to KNOW somebody to achieve something.

Yes, I do fully subscribe to the brilliant analysis of Michael Ross and Boyd Stone.

Yes, I think that the Silver Spoon debunking of success myths is THE most significant contribution to this board and to the 'theory' of success in general.
(you can easily find Michael's and Boyd's posts by searching the archives for 'silver spoon')...

The theory of success that doesn't take into account the Silver Spoon factor is a LIE, self-imposed illusion and the way to delude others.

It's exactly like your beloved Quantum Mechanics - you can't get rid of the fundamentally IRRATIONAL character of success phenomenon...

Your mother, happening to know the president of IBM.
Your son BEING a genius.
Your uncle 'happening' to have a million dollars to invest in your company.
....................

And please, don't tell me that Feynman was a 'nobody' at some distant point in time.
We both know that Feynman NEVER was a nobody.
Call it 'genes', call it 'destiny', call it 'grace', call it 'silver spoon'.

We may try to turn away from reality of this 'circular logic' all our lives - but without the factor of LUCK, GRACE... whatever.. any success-considerations are myths and delusions...

And this 'luck', 'being somebody', 'knowing somebody', 'bumping into something' is NOT something secondary and peripheral - it's basic, the factor everything starts from...

Simon

Hi Simon,

I have my own theory - which is, that each one of us already IS "somebody"....

I didn't get this out of some motivational book or audio tape. I got it from my parents....

When I was a kid, my parents told me repeatedly - "You can be or do anything you want to".

They instilled a "can do" attitude in me. And I believed what they told me.

So if I wanted to do something - I went after it. I believed I "could do" it.

Without that belief in myself, I don't think I would have tried half the things I've tried....

Now, is this belief really true? I don't believe in it literally to the same degree I may have as a kid.... For example, my chances of becoming a star basketball player are probably quite slim, since I'm just of average height, and already a bit on the old side for professional sports!

However, I do believe that each one of us does have talents which we do better than most other people. For some, those talents could be in sports. For others, they could be in mathematics. For others, it could be in their writing or teaching skills. It could be musical talent or organizational skills. But I personally do believe that EACH ONE OF US already is a "Somebody". Though it's possible you don't yet know what your special "talent" might be....

Back when I was an undergraduate student at university, I had a friend who once told me that he was envious of me because I had some mathematics skills. (And it's true - mathematics comes easier to me - it seems - than to the average person....)

We called this friend "Mase" (from his surname, "Mason").

However, when I looked at Mase, I was the one who was envious! I've never been particularly good at learning languages... In high school, French was pretty much always my worst subject.

However, Mase was a whiz with languages. He could learn to speak a new language at the drop of a hat (so it seemed to me). At the time he told me how jealous he was of my mathematics ability, he was speaking English (his native tongue), and he had already learned till fluency Japanese and Spanish! He's one of those people who new languages came so easily to....

I was envious because knowing a another language is like a "window" into another culture and another world..... Certainly something very valuable.

I wanted to get to the story of Grandma Moses. You may have heard of her - she's a well-known 20th Century American painter, I think she passed away in 1961.

However, she never created "professional" paintings until she was age 76!

To me, the story of Grandma Moses is one of the most inspirational there is. She was a simple farmer's wife until she suddenly became this artistic superstar when she was in her late 70s....

Yes, she had talent. But then, in my opinion, we ALL have talent - though for some of us, we may not know (yet) what that talent might be. Just as Grandma Moses didn't take up painting till age 76, and wasn't "discovered" till after that.

I do believe, however, that every single person who visits this forum can probably do SOMETHING much better than I can do. So in this way, you're all more talented than I am.

And similarly, there are certain things which I can do quite well - certainly better than average. We all have talents.

For me, it comes down to what my parents taught me. So, I personally don't care what the pop psychologists and gurus have to say or not say - the formula my parents gave me I believe is a success formula for life.

If you set your mind to it - you can do it. Having a "can do" attitude is the most important part of it....

Just my opinion. :)

- Dien Rice


The story of Grandma Moses - read it!

Simon,

Thanks for mentioning me like that. I printed out your message and showed it to my wife. If I know anything, I know that your I.Q. is at least 25 percent higher than mine. Smarts mean a lot to me since it's obvious that the Universe considers stupidity one of the top crimes.

Best,

- Boyd

There is Mike Litman too. He was a no body. Then he asked some millionaires if he could take their interviews on radio.

He bought air time and recorded interviews with millionaires. As he says it - only about 4-5 people heard those interviews.

But one day he transcribed those interviews in a book - and that book became a best seller on amazon.com

> Dien,

> Thank you for your reply.

> Yes, my friend, you got it absolutely right,
> -
> I DO maintain that the logic of success is
> circular, a big Catch-22.

> And I do maintain that this is not a matter
> of opinion (yours or mine) - it's a matter
> of FACTS.

> Once again - you CAN'T turn nothing into
> something. You have to BE a success in any
> shape or form in order to ACHIEVE success in
> another form...

> If this 'being somebody' sounds foreign,
> consider another form - you have to KNOW
> somebody to achieve something.

> Yes, I do fully subscribe to the brilliant
> analysis of Michael Ross and Boyd Stone.

> Yes, I think that the Silver Spoon debunking
> of success myths is THE most significant
> contribution to this board and to the
> 'theory' of success in general.
> (you can easily find Michael's and Boyd's
> posts by searching the archives for 'silver
> spoon')...

> The theory of success that doesn't take into
> account the Silver Spoon factor is a LIE,
> self-imposed illusion and the way to delude
> others.

> It's exactly like your beloved Quantum
> Mechanics - you can't get rid of the
> fundamentally IRRATIONAL character of
> success phenomenon...

> Your mother, happening to know the president
> of IBM.
> Your son BEING a genius.
> Your uncle 'happening' to have a million
> dollars to invest in your company.
> ....................

> And please, don't tell me that Feynman was a
> 'nobody' at some distant point in time.
> We both know that Feynman NEVER was a
> nobody.
> Call it 'genes', call it 'destiny', call it
> 'grace', call it 'silver spoon'.

> We may try to turn away from reality of this
> 'circular logic' all our lives - but without
> the factor of LUCK, GRACE... whatever.. any
> success-considerations are myths and
> delusions...

> And this 'luck', 'being somebody', 'knowing
> somebody', 'bumping into something' is NOT
> something secondary and peripheral - it's
> basic, the factor everything starts from...

> Simon

Of course the silver spoon catch-22 metaphor of sucess is correct. Even in the case of the 79 year old painter. She survived to the age of 79 so she was successfully healthy and I believe that same woman lived on to a very old age (check an encyclopedia article about her life if you REALLY need more info) Plus it is a simple luck factor as stated by Richard Wiseman who recently wrote a book under that title. you generally meet people everyday if you not a hermit and since every person tends to know at least 300 people one of those people has to be successful in one form or another and at least one person you meet each day knows somebody who can help you in your field of business, or field of interest. Lucky people are more positive, yet they also find the harder they work the luckier they get. Therefore it is only fair to have unfair advantages in an unfair world if you wish to have an "unfair" amount of success. Keep your nose to the grindstone and actually educate yourself in some form or another. I'd suggest classics like Acres of Diamonds or As A Man Thinketh or even The Magic Book from 1906 which have no post modern BS and no newsletters you try to get sold on. Even posting on here denotes your success in actually being bold enough to speak up! Tim JR.

...that "I can't write" is a poor excuse for not getting a project on paper. So transcribe it yourself or have somebody -- or something else -- do it for you.

David Pogue has suffered for years from carpal tunnel. His "Mac OS X: The Missing Manual" was written mostly using voice dictation software.

I use Dragon Dictate myself, a good program that has been sold and resold to countless companies over the years. Don't use it all the time but only when my poor hands scream uncle. That and my office has about 10 birds in the adjoining rooms; whenever they hear me talking, they chirp in with their comments and confound poor Dragon to no end!

As far as positioning yourself as an expert in a certain field, appoint yourself. Really. Create a niche and annoint yourself. "I hereby declare myself the one-true expert on e-commerce legal policy" etc. Have enough substance to back your claim up, obviously, and if you dedicate enough of your time to learn that field, then you learn enough to chat with the experts. But waiting on someone else to annoint you takes too long.

As long as one doesn't skirt any legal certifications (doctor, dentist, etc.) there is nothing preventing anyone from creating a premier position for themselves. I'm reminded of the "America's Greatest Steakhouses" co-op ad I've seen in airline magazines for years. It consists of a list of independent steakhouses all over the US. See, each one of them couldn't justify running an ad in the airline mag, which flies all over the place, just for their one location in (i.e.) Topeka so they co-opted an ad with non-competing restaurants all over the States.

Who gave them that award? Themselves.

best,
al hulaton