Any friend who brought him a new puzzle, he would usually solve it in less than 20 minutes. Richard Feynman is the exact brand of aloof, irreverent, genius that the world needs, at any and every time. Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman! This book was a pure delight. In the nuclear physics and Nobel Laureate world, there is no one like Feynman--the trickster, the bongo player, the safecracker at Los Alamos. He was just the kind of jerk who, caught up in his criticism of others’ inability to grasp his broad points, never begins to wonder whether he is the one missing the gist. A tedious set of stories about how clever Feynman found himself to be. They’re really not “crazy adventures,” these anecdotes; my own father's are easily just as rich and bizarre. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. A New York Times bestseller—the outrageous exploits of one of this century's greatest scientific minds and a legendary American original. He really likes to make others feel stupid, Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2019. The entire book is full of charming, intelligent, and surprisingly inspiring stories about the "curious character" that was the late, great Richard Feynman. A New York Times bestseller—the outrageous exploits of one of this century's greatest scientific minds and a legendary American original.. Richard Feynman, winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, thrived on outrageous adventures. That said, I wasn't thrilled by this book. Feynman! “Surely you’re joking Mr Feynman: Adventures of a curious character” is a collection of stories from the life of theoretical physicist Richard Feynman as told by his friend, Ralph Leighton. Although not covered in the book, Mr. Feynman’s last words before dying were said to be something to the effect, “I’m glad I only have to die once ... it’s so boring.” If true, this would be wholly consistent with his way of passing each milestone in his life with humor and a peculiar, distant perspective — as if he were on a life-long adventure. Let me know if you want a free copy. Why you weren't allowed to clean a gown at Princeton? The book is a series of autobiographical stories -- pranks pulled as a student at MIT and at Los Alamos, teaching himself to paint, scientific discoveries he made, his three marriages, how he was rejected by the draft board for being mentally suspect (they asked him if he ever heard voices and he said yes he did and then went on to describe what he found, Feynman is a physicist who taught at Cornell and Princeton, worked on the Manhattan Project and won the Nobel Prize. He spent more time on these than he did on his work which is well documented elsewhere. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough. This is a captivating story of an amazing life that could not have been better had it been scripted at birth. The so-called funny “stories” are at best vignettes that seem to have first been hurriedly written on a cocktail napkin, or maybe some stray toilet tissue, (ha, ha, ha, this is a good one, let me dash off something about it so I don’t forget) and submitted and printed without any editing at all. Today, I give a book review on Richard P. Feynman's book - "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Of course, it’s possible I’m not as gifted in some of the ways that Mr. Feynman was (l’m in a different field so there’s no comparison even if, qualitatively, our standardized IQ scores were identical) but I’m likely wiser in that I don’t waste my gifts on hurting and humiliating others. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Feynman! Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our … book. Read it now. Rather than emphasizing the technical details of physics, most of his stories were focused on his other interests and his geeky humor. Certainly Fenyman was precious and his childhood stories would entertain. Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2019. Laugh out loud funny. Feynman! My dad read this outloud to us when we were kids - I'm guessing at the exact year - and the whole family literally cried with laughter many times during the performance. How very. no, it is more of the story of an era than a story of physics, "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Reading it again, I'd clearly forgotten, or didn't pay attention to, how arrogant Feynman is, as his stories only seem to be written for him to remind himself that he was smarter than everyone by playing jokes on them. Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. There are no reviews yet. In this book, he's known for his time spent on the Manhattan project when he cracked his colleagues'… Richard P. Feynman was an American physicist who is known for a great many intellectual discoveries. Everyone needs to read "Surely You're Joking, Mr. ": Adventures of a Curious Character at Amazon.com. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. See all details for Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman: Adventures of a Curious Character... © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. He was a man ahead of his time when it came to many things -- & of his time when it came to his ideas about 'pretty girls' (as he calls women). I never give up on books but I did on this one. You see one of the best explanations for why the California education system has such troubles, when you read his account of reviewing textbooks for the state. Richard never drinks tea So how was it that one part of his brain had captured accents correctly but another hadn't? When I read this book, I almost feel that Feynman's telling the stories himself. In this video, I go into an overall take on the book the … I put the book down when he yelled at a woman that she was a whore because he couldn’t get laid. I hope it's now far enough in the past that the people concerned will see the funny si. Practical Intellectual Ethics Disguised in Hilarity, Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2016. If you're looking at this book and have spent the time to scroll through and read the reviews, just add it to your cart already. What a fascinating personality! The dean's wife is serving and asks him the above question. Not funny at all. He lost me fairly early into it, when he described how you could see physics in action in the everyday wo, This was disappointing, because I've been wanting to read this for a while because he is so renown for being quite the hilarious character as well as a Nobel prize-winning physicist. "(Video Review), founded a school build on the same principles what Feynman confessed, Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science, BOOK OF THE MONTH [AUG-2020] - "Surely you’re Joking, Mr. It was interesting to pick up on his thought processes. I have no responsibility to be like they expect me to be. It convinced me of the odd notion that it would be a good idea to go to Caltech and major in physics. We’d love your help. I'm going to keep this short so I don't mess it up. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" On a purely technical level, it would have benefited from a stronger editor. We are not often blessed with persons of the amazing intelligence of Richard Feynman. Everything revolves around him showing off and bein. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. I would not have put it down even if the book was 4000 pages long, so interesting is the story, a real page-turner. One of the primary sources of Mr. Feynman’s humor is making people who aren’t as smart as him look stupid through so-called “practical” jokes, which is a misnomer as the jokes aren’t practical at all just mean, petty, and abusive. While there's a rough chronological order to the material, there tends to be a lot of jumping around both within and between the chapters. Feynman! The book is a series of autobiographical stories -- pranks pulled as a student at MIT and at Los Alamos, teaching himself to paint, scientific discoveries he made, his three marriages, how he was rejected by the draft board for being mentally suspect (they asked him if he ever heard voices and he said yes he did and then went on to describe what he found interesting about that. Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman is an autobiography by anecdote. Glad I read a little bit of it again; didn't bother giving to my son in the end. That was how Feynman earned his reputation of being a super-genius. See all 9 questions about "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman came off to me as a somewhat unpleasant character: he was full to the brim of himself; his false modesty (“I’m too dim to realize when to keep my mouth shut, I just say what I think”) was cloying and annoying, as were his. I read and re-read it often, and Feynman is one of my personal top heroes. : Adventures of a Curious Character at Amazon.com. This was a compilation of stories that Feynman tells from his own point of view. He'll mention that he divorced his second wife, and then shortly thereafter tell a story set during the marriage. It is wonderful to see for me, that a son of a homemaker and a sales representative can have a so inspiring life as Feynman. Here was a man of superior intellect who could yet relate to the world around him and who had a curious interest in many facets of human endeavor. In retrospect, this would have been a better idea had I been born around 1930 and was starting my scientific career around 1940, but nowadays it's a tough slog in physics, both money-wise and also discovery-wise. 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