Book Description: The outrageous exploits of one of this century's greatest scientific minds and a legendary American original. In this phenomenal national bestseller, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard P. Feynman recounts in his inimitable voice his adventures trading ideas on atomic physics with Einstein and Bohr and ideas on gambling with Nick the Greek, painting a naked female toreador, accompanying a ballet on his bongo drums and much else of an eyebrow-raising and hilarious nature. A New York Times bestseller; more than 500,000 copies sold.
Amazon.com: A series of anecdotes shouldn't by rights add up to an autobiography, but that's just one of the many pieces of received wisdom that Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman (1918-88) cheerfully ignores in his engagingly eccentric book, a bestseller ever since its initial publication in 1985. Fiercely independent (read the chapter entitled "Judging Books by Their Covers"), intolerant of stupidity even when it comes packaged as high intellectualism (check out "Is Electricity Fire?"), unafraid to offend (see "You Just Ask Them?"), Feynman informs by entertaining. It's possible to enjoy Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman simply as a bunch of hilarious yarns with the smart-alecky author as know-it-all hero. At some point, however, attentive readers realize that underneath all the merriment simmers a running commentary on what constitutes authentic knowledge: learning by understanding, not by rote; refusal to give up on seemingly insoluble problems; and total disrespect for fancy ideas that have no grounding in the real world. Feynman himself had all these qualities in spades, and they come through with vigor and verve in his no-bull prose. No wonder his students--and readers around the world--adored him. --Wendy Smith
Feynman never got out of his box, because he never had one! Part physicist, part prankster, part musician, part teacher, part genius, part story teller, part little boy and all human being, this is the true story of Richard Feynman. He was a man with an insatiable curiosity, and had a zest to explore the world of physics, human nature and himself.
The stories in the book are funny, entertaining and enlightening. Feynman never got out of his box, because he never had one. From the gifted young boy who fixed radios by thinking to the top notch physicist who could explain concepts to laymen like no one else, Feynman was one of a kind.
Well worth the read!
The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking
gift for someone else this was a gift for a family member. it arrived quickly and in great condition
Doesn't live up to his own hype Although Mr. Feynman is undoubtedly a smart man, with many things to credit to his name, this book seemed like nothing but his attempt to show how smart he was and is. However he comes off as extremely arrogant and pompous, the problem being that his anecdotes are ruined by his comments on how stupid others are compared to himself. Almost every other paragraph is a story in which he felt he outsmarted someone, but in reality, his accomplishments seem very exaggerated and insignificant. The way he talks about not being considered a sissy by struggling against his frat brothers, outsmarted the waitress with dumb puzzles, and outwitted his frat when stealing a door are NOT impressive in the least, and I feel that a average person could accomplish the same things. The fact that he writes about it in a manner so that he tries to make himself some child genius is what ruins the book and makes him seem stupider rather than smarter. I'm sorry Mr. Feynman, you may be a great physicist, but you must be joking if you think you're a writer, and a clever one at that. I may not be able to solve physics problems like you, but I can assure you...I am much more clever if compared to your life stories (and that's not saying much).
The genius of curiosity... For a physicist Mr. Feynman was a fantastically curious individual. Although, compulsive and a bit "different" his passion for life and curiosity with the world around him were remarkable. His wit and wisdom along with stories of his antics and general mischief acted as a magnet pulling me to the next page. This book was hard to put down and reminded me to remain curious throughout life. Well worth the time it takes to read, I will be reading other books by Mr. Feynman.
The lighter side of a physicist Richard Feynman is a theoretical physicist, Nobel prize recipient on Physics, professor of Caltech, a serious academic. However, he is also a curious character and a man of many talent. This book about him is not an autobiography but are little stories on him throughout his life. There is very little about physics. Rather, it demonstrates Feynman's attitude towards everything around him.
When he was in Princeton graduate college, he was invited to a tea party at the Dean's house. The Dean's wife served him tea and asked "Would you like cream or lemon in your tea?" He said "I'll have both, thank you.", quite absent-mindedly. The response was "Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman.", the title of this book.
Feynman is curious, and this may well be an important attribute for learning. The book has detailed description of how he learned to crack safes when he was in Los Alamos participating in the Manhattan project. He learned painting for a while and had his own painting exhibition. When he was in Brazil lecturing, he learned to play frigideira in a samba band and joined the Carnival parade. He also played all-drum music for a ballet performance. With all these talent, he admitted that he did not know painting, and did not know how to read music score.
This demonstrates now one should treat work and other activities as one. There is no such thing as work-life balance for him. He did anything that interested him wholeheartedly, leading to wonderful achievement in both study, work, hobbies and entertainment. It really reminds us that playing out so-called life activities half-heartedly is a waste of time.
There are so many humourous passages in the book and I can only quote a few.
- Judging Books by Their Covers. When he served on an advisory committee on textbooks for the government, a book publisher submitted a volume of three books for evaluation. The last one was incomplete and only the covers with some blank pages were included. To his surprise, Feynman found out that committee members gave good rating to the books, which exposed that they didn't even bother to read them before rating them.
- Is Electricity Fire? He was asked by a group of young rabbis "Is electricity fire?" He was glad that the theology academics were interested in physics and went on to explain the phenomenon. However, it turned out that the rabbis were trying to abide by the doctrine that they should not use fire on Sundays and thus wanted to know if this should include all electrical appliances. Quite a disappointment for him to find out that the rabbis were not modernizing but just trying to follow ancient doctrines to the letter.
- A Touch of Brazil. When he did some lectures in Brazil, he was amazed that the students were well prepared for the lectures. They could answer questions on the reading materials right away. However, they could not answer similar but simple questions put in another way. Feynman finally found out that the students memorized all the papers distributed, as well as all the notes of the lectures. They learned without thinking, read without understanding. There is a familiar situation in Hong Kong where students did the same. We also seldom have questions asked, topic discussed, or even intellectual arguments.
- Cargo Cult Science. On scientific studies, Feynman quoted an example. Islanders of a South Pacific Island saw what the army did there in the war: cargo planes landing bringing all sort of good things. A few decades later, they were found constructing long and flat mud strip with torches on both sides mimicking a runway. The leader would sit in a wooden shed, with wooden plates covering his ears like a headphone. They kept doing this but still wondered why the cargo planes never landed. They used accurate scientific observation and imitated the original way to near likeness. But such superficial scientific method without reasoning could not yield any results.
Stories in the book are so diverse and I could only quote 1% of them in the review. You are recommended to take a look.
Anything Goes Trivia
Last Kiss
Megaton Man
Trevor
