Bookplanet: book tour sans author

The phycisist Feynman's "Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track: The Letters of Richard P. Feynman," is being published. "We want to see a national best seller here," said David Steinberger, president of Perseus Books Group. "That is a challenge when you're talking about letters from a dead guy." Feynman, whose telegenic presence made him a sought-after speaker, was always his own best advertisement. But his death in 1988 made an author tour to promote the new book problematic, at best. The solution is one that Feynman himself might admire: the "authorless book tour," a series of panel discussions with scientists, several of them Nobel laureates, who were close to Feynman. Last month, three of them addressed a standing-room-only crowd at the Los Angeles Public Library. At least five more sessions are scheduled, beginning tonight in Seattle and following this month and next in San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and New York. The panel discussions will be augmented by readings and book signings by Michelle Feynman, Feynman's daughter, who edited and wrote an introduction to the new collection of letters. (A schedule is available at www.basicfeynman.com.) More here.