“Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”: Adventures of a Curious Character
Richard P. Feynman, winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, thrived on outrageous adventures. In this lively work that "can shatter the stereotype of the stuffy scientist" (Detroit Free Press), Feynman recounts his experiences trading ideas on atomic physics with Einstein and cracking the uncrackable safes guarding the most deeply held nuclear secrets--and much more of an eyebrow-raising nature. In his stories, Feynman's life shines through in all its eccentric glory--a combustible mixture of high intelligence, unlimited curiosity, and raging chutzpah.
Included for this edition is a new introduction by Bill Gates.
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Community Reviews
This is a very accessible book with educational anecdotes about life that's just fun to read. I'll recommend this to any reader seeking a break from academic texts or any reader just wanting to experience what it is like to be a rationalist in a crazy irrational world.
Pro:
It's a very well-written book with lots of interesting life anecdotes. Feynman clearly has experienced more than enough in his life to warrant this book and then 3 more books like it. It's curious, engaging, fun and simple. I think it's a must-read for all Americans for sure. But anyone would enjoy it.
He also adds a few jabs at modern social science and how unscientific it is. All completely warranted but I wish they were longer stories.
Con:
At times Feynman's silly writing style, real life gags and silliness is just too childish. I want to dig deeper into the science in some way. But instead of telling us anything about science he writes about personal stories. I think most readers want to experience how it's like to be a great physics professor. Not just experience how it's like to follow a semi-autist ladies man around who then also happens to be extremely clever.
At the end there is not much concrete new knowledge for the reader to gain from the book. It's about living life and having fun. It's about being creative and doing what you love. But it also misleads the reader. We know he must have done A TON of math. So why hide it from us? We can understand the gist and idea behind that stuff.
I also would have liked to know more about his life. He doesn't tell us much about his wives or family. Weird as this book is about him. I guess he didn't want to overshare but I feel like his family deserved some more of the spotlight in the story about his glorious life.
Conclusion:
If you like to have fun this is very much worth a read and it's very accessible. If you are looking for deeper thinking you are probably better off reading academic papers on this stuff. It's fun but not that educational unless you are a high school student.
This book is like eating a McDonald's meal. It makes you happy but you still need to seek out more nourishing stuff somewhere else.
Pro:
It's a very well-written book with lots of interesting life anecdotes. Feynman clearly has experienced more than enough in his life to warrant this book and then 3 more books like it. It's curious, engaging, fun and simple. I think it's a must-read for all Americans for sure. But anyone would enjoy it.
He also adds a few jabs at modern social science and how unscientific it is. All completely warranted but I wish they were longer stories.
Con:
At times Feynman's silly writing style, real life gags and silliness is just too childish. I want to dig deeper into the science in some way. But instead of telling us anything about science he writes about personal stories. I think most readers want to experience how it's like to be a great physics professor. Not just experience how it's like to follow a semi-autist ladies man around who then also happens to be extremely clever.
At the end there is not much concrete new knowledge for the reader to gain from the book. It's about living life and having fun. It's about being creative and doing what you love. But it also misleads the reader. We know he must have done A TON of math. So why hide it from us? We can understand the gist and idea behind that stuff.
I also would have liked to know more about his life. He doesn't tell us much about his wives or family. Weird as this book is about him. I guess he didn't want to overshare but I feel like his family deserved some more of the spotlight in the story about his glorious life.
Conclusion:
If you like to have fun this is very much worth a read and it's very accessible. If you are looking for deeper thinking you are probably better off reading academic papers on this stuff. It's fun but not that educational unless you are a high school student.
This book is like eating a McDonald's meal. It makes you happy but you still need to seek out more nourishing stuff somewhere else.
PFS Book Club --- 6th April
Today we reviewed book called “Surely you’re joking Mr. Feynman” by Ralph Leighton.
Chandrashekhar started session by mentioning about the book as a collection of stories rather than any science concepts book. And these stories were collected by Ralph during his informal drumming sessions with Feynman.
There are two types of physics a) Theoretical Physics (using mathematical calculations to explain anything) and 2) Experimental Physics (using experiments to prove any phenomenon). Chandrashekhar mentioned that apart from Physicist, Feynman was Teacher, Dancer, Safe breaker, Drummer, actor and many more.
At the age of 12-13, he could repair radios. One incident Chandrashekhar mentioned was somebody approached him to fix radio and he was not sure if Feynman can repair it. Radio was having some noise when you play it and then get settled after some time. So, Feynman was thinking for long time on what is leading to this noise, guy asks what are you doing and he replied I am thinking. When radio was fixed, that guy was very impressed and got Feynman other work as well and used to say this guy fixes radios by thinking.
One more incident was mentioned that how he created alarm by connecting to his room’s door. If his parents come to his room and open the door, alarm will ring.
Feynman could break safes. He used to break safes for fun using mathematical & science logics. He used to say the only skill you need to break safe is to be patient.
Feynman was in Brazil and there he learnt to play drums. Hotel staff used to encourage him to play drums and he used to camouflage himself in costumes so that nobody recognize him. Chandrashekhar mentioned about one incident of teaching in Brazil and he saw kids noting down many things. When asked question they were not able to answer anything. And then he realized kids without understanding physics are learning the concepts by heart to excel in exams to pass exams without knowing anything.
Feynman won noble prize and Chandrashekhar mentioned that how he thought it as a prank when somebody called him to inform that he won noble prize.
Feynman also worked on Manhattan project during second world war which led to invention of atomic bomb.
Lots of quantum physics was discussed which is beyond my comprehension.
Vijaya mam said that this book was recommended to non-science people by one of her colleagues who was physics teacher.
Chandrashekhar mentioned from the back cover of the book, “There are two types of genius. Ordinary geniuses do great things, but they leave you room to believe that you could do the same if only you worked hard enough. Then there are magicians, and you can have no idea how they do it. Feynman was a magician”
Vijaya mam mentioned about how the title of the book was thought. I googled the same and she was cent percent right.
This book's title is taken from a comment made by a woman in some function after Feynman asked for both cream and lemon in his tea and woman said “surely you’re joking Mr. Feynman”
Thank you, Chandrashekhar, for reviewing this amazing book and introducing us to difficult science genre through humor.
Yet another amazing session😊