false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165523967m/5544.jpg 5544 30 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 <I>Ask</I> Them?"), Feynman informs by entertaining. It's possible to enjoy <i>Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman</i> 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. <I>--Wendy Smith</I> 321174 1985 Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Adventures of a Curious Character total:3790|5:1717|4:1428|3:536|2:88|1:21| 3790 16102 5042 491 5 6 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 11 13:42:11 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 11 13:57:42 -0700 2007
Feynman is a physicist who taught at Cornell and Princeton, worked on the Manhattan Project and won the Nobel Prize. He's also a complete hoot. The book ...more...]]> 5 4 false false Tue May 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Dec 17 14:44:14 -0800 2006 Sun Jun 01 18:56:39 -0700 2008
One thing that struck me most deeply was his passion for learning new thi...more...]]> 5 6 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1984 Sat Nov 22 08:04:39 -0800 2008 Thu Nov 19 21:40:30 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 3 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1990 Tue Apr 15 12:56:09 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 15 13:20:02 -0700 2008
Feyman's other memoirs are good too, but this is the funniest. I still think of it often. For in...more...]]> 2 4 false false Mon Mar 02 12:58:05 -0800 2009 Sat Jun 30 06:30:48 -0700 2007 Mon Mar 02 12:58:05 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Oct 20 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Oct 19 09:28:53 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 24 13:47:56 -0700 2008 1 more...]]> 4 2 false false Fri Oct 19 10:35:27 -0700 2007 Fri Oct 19 10:45:22 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 2 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1986 Tue May 08 17:43:19 -0700 2007 Tue May 08 18:06:36 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Nov 16 13:32:54 -0800 2007 Fri Nov 16 15:08:55 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Jan 20 21:19:43 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 22 01:36:43 -0800 2008

The single most best thing about ...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 22 12:23:05 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 22 13:02:24 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Jul 10 20:47:50 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 30 21:24:45 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Jul 28 10:50:16 -0700 2007 Sat Jul 28 10:53:32 -0700 2007
The good news for lesser nerds than I is that the style is not overly science-y, but it is definitely indicative of the way F...more...]]> 0 0 false false Tue May 05 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue May 05 04:47:35 -0700 2009 Tue May 05 04:47:35 -0700 2009 http://www.gorgorat.com/, somewhat to my bemusement.

I wasn't really intending to read the whole thing -- I remember how impossibly long it seemed my first time through, when I must have been 8 or so. Actually, it was so impossibly long, I didn't ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Feb 21 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 21 16:04:15 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 21 18:03:44 -0800 2009 1
I felt like a 3 year old, talking to a physics professor about a subject I have never studied. He ...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun May 27 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Oct 24 10:19:02 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 24 10:19:02 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jun 22 00:00:00 -0700 1994 Thu Oct 08 13:00:36 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 08 13:02:11 -0700 2009
There can be no argument that Richard P Feynman was a genius. He has been a hero of mine since I was very young, probably because my father also greatly admires him and spoke to me about Feynman and his unique personality from time to time.

...more...]]> 5 0 false true Tue Jan 15 00:00:00 -0800 1985 Fri Oct 02 19:17:53 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 02 19:38:50 -0700 2009
RF as the supervisor of the "computer room" at Los Alamos. "These army privates would rather be fighting overseas. ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Sep 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 30 14:14:11 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 30 14:14:56 -0700 2009
He won the Nobel prize for physics in 1965 and was also noted for many other revolutionary insights into the world of theoretical particle physics and also his work on the Manhattan project during the second world war. This book - a series...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Sep 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 06 08:16:34 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 06 08:25:26 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=5544