Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!

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Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! - Hardcover - USA - 1st Edition.jpg

Hardcover - USA - 1st edition.

Author Richard Feynman, Ralph Leighton
Published 1985-??-??
Type Non-fiction
Genre Memoir
Themes Mathematics, Physics, Science
Age Group Adult

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character is a collection Richard Feynman's memoirs edited by Ralph Leighton and published in 1985. The essays are about Feynman's upbringing, how he became interested in science, and the various projects he worked on. The book was so successful, a second memoir collection was released called What Do You Care What Other People Think?

Personal

Own?No.
Read?Hardcover / Audiobook read by Raymond Todd.
Finished2000s / 2017.

I don't remember why I was aware of this book as a young adult, but as I got more into science and skepticism, Feynman's name came up more and more. This caused me to pick up the book every time I stopped at Barnes and Noble reading one of the essays each time until I finished the entire book in the 2000s. I absolutely loved it and listened to the audio book in 2017.

Review

Overall:

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— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

  • Feynman tells interesting stories and Leighton has a very comfortable writing style.
  • Feynman's fearlessness with his desire to always try new things and work at them until he becomes good is really admirable.
  • A lot of the topics are fascinating like the development of the nuclear bomb.

Bad

  • Feynman, by his own accounts, is callous toward women. I understand this is a product of being a man in the 1940s, but that's not an excuse.

Ugly

  • Nothing.

Links

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