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city planning. It became clear that all but the third needed better math skills than |
had. So I bought the Barnes and Noble textbook on College Mathematics, got through
it in a week of hard work, and then began on the Johnson and Kiokemeister textbook
on calculus along with Halliday and Resnick on physics. Together they took me
nearly a year. At the end, I was allowed to sit in on the freshman physics finals at Cal
Berkeley, where the same two textbooks were taught.
It was the finals for physics majors, and meant to be tough. Cal took physics
seriously. Not every freshman was destined to go farther. Some should be steered
towards engineering, which pays better anyhow. There were 10 questions. Three
hours were allowed. Each of us had a calculator and nothing else. Not even a table of
integrals. My God. I had to remember them or rederive them. There are some that
had taken even Newton and Leibnitz months to solve. I don’t remember any of the
questions. There were 200 to 300 kids in the room. Maybe 20 or 30 orientals, about
three women, no blacks. Not one finished early. And some figure to be Nobelists by
now. We're talking about Cal. | had answered seven questions when the three hours
were up. Was that good enough? | got a call in a few days. I passed, and beat the
class average.
My old friend Matt Kelly warned me about this time that George was in trouble. Matt
had known George’s new wife Jackie, and had been invited to dinner there. Matt’s
impression was of out-of-control mood changes. He said that George at one point
had drawn him aside, shown a pistol and warned him about paying too much
attention to Jackie. The next minute they were back at the table in jolly spirits. I
learned later what was wrong. George thought he had a weight problem, although |
never noticed one. Doctors prescribed amphetamines in those days to control
appetite. They revved him up and made it hard to sleep at night. So the same doctors
prescribed barbiturates at night to get him to sleep. Uppers and downers are
dangerous enough. Add a drink or two and you've got trouble.
Of course I should have told my father. But I didn’t want to be the one. I liked to
boost my brothers. Many must have seen the symptoms Matt saw. Let them break
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