Rating:  Summary: A wonderful collection of Feynman's zany adventures! Review: This book is a jewel. One would be hard pressed to find a more comical and enjoyable book to read - anywhere. Feynman is the scientist who breaks (or should I say, shatters?) the stereotype of the lab-coat physicist who wears thick, taped up glasses. The great Richard P. Feynman is a testament to how great we as a race can me. I like to think of him as a cross between Goethe & Robin Williams (and I do NOT mean that in any sort of deragatory way). As a physicist, he was top notch, but as a person he was something even more. He had a marvelous sense of humor & enjoyed playing pranks on people. His love of life spilled over to all the people he met during his sojourn on the planet. I only wish that I had been one of those lucky few to have met & known him personally. Perhaps what is most remarkable about him is that he had friends from all walks of life. Many were scientists, yes, but many more were "ordinary" people off the street. That is rather noteworthy given the fact that so many Ivy league-calibre professors feel that they too "intellectually gifted" to associate with the rest of we mere mortals. Someone once said that Edwin Hubble wasn't a humble man, but then again, Hubble didn't have very much to be humble about. I would argue that one could say the latter of Feynman as well, but not the former. READ THIS BOOK and share the experiences of one of the most extraordinary and yet fun loving personages of the 20th century (if not all time). I guarantee it will make you laugh like few other books you will ever read.
Rating:  Summary: Absolutely Hilarious Review: this is truly an amazing book, this guy is a crack-up! there is no doubt that if you like witty humor, funny real-life stories and dont mind a bit of science mixed in that this book is for you...it'll really startle you how comic this guy is...
Rating:  Summary: ditto: Great mind expander! Review: I am NOT an avid reader, I usually read around 6-10 books a YEAR and I read this one in a matter of days. I absolutely could not put it down. One of my all-time favorite books. This man is not only a incredible mind, but has incredible talent in conveying his thoughts through the written word. The book is full of anecdotes which you can draw from in everyday life. A must-read!
Rating:  Summary: Not all physicists are labcoat wearing nerds Review: A lighthearted romp of entertaining stories that let you know that even brilliant scientists are human. Feynman's egotistic attitude gets annoying for time to time, but I suppose he was entitled to this other "quirk" in his multi-faceted personality. Very good supplemental reading for any serious student of science to remind them not to take life too seriously.
Rating:  Summary: Good in small doses Review: It's just not as funny nor as interesting as the jacket blurbs led me to believe.Yes, there are some interesting stories, and he is a curious character, but I started scanning instead of reading after the halfway point. It is by no means a poor book, but a lot of his so called-adventures may leave you feeling "so what?"
Rating:  Summary: Bad typesetting Review: Let me begin by saying this is an incredible book, one of my top ten by far, not taking itself too seriously while still being very inspiring. My father lent me a this book from a previous printing, and it was so great that I bought the book myself, the new book with the new design.And here's my complaint: Speaking as a graphic designer, this book is so over designed, over typset, over visually conceptualized that I found it incredibly difficult to concentrate on the actual stories. The text on the first page of every chapter is squished so tight that the line breaks after every 6-8 words so your eye keeps zooming back and forth like you're watching a tennis match, and the first page of every chapter is the most important. It sets everything up. It builds an environment. Unfortunately, the design of the book overpowers that environment. So I have to say, however impossible it might be, anyone considering buying this book should look for an earlier printed version of it if they want the true Feynman. The book was written in 1985 and should have a 1985 look to it. At the very least, it should be readable. (Apologies to the designer. It's nice. Just not appropriate.)
Rating:  Summary: Funny Beyond Belief! Review: This is easily one of the funniest books I have ever read -- and the best part of it is that it is non-fiction. Rarely can one see into the mind of a genius and extremely rarely into the mind of a genius who is also mischievious. His encounters with great minds such as Einstein, Oppenheimer, Teller, von Neumann, etc. are engaging because we see those people as humans, with human foibles. The title chapter (number 2) has to be read to be believed. I challenge anyone to read that chapter without laughing out loud!
Rating:  Summary: great leisure reading for science types Review: I am reading the book right now. I like it alot, although Feynman's bragging is very annoying. His stories are very interesting, but at least once every-other-page, he makes a snide comment about how great he is. If you can handle that, by all means, read this book.
Rating:  Summary: A hoot. Review: As a mechanical engineer I had not heard of Feynman until I read Rhodes' book about the Manhattan project. About then, I read that Feynman had just died. This was the first book that I read about him, and it's the funniest. I think that it's this book that has his insight about nuclear weapons...that despite all his misgivings about them, they had helped to keep the peace for forty years (at the time that he was reflecting on it)and that he was glad somebody had decided to go forward with the project. High school kids, and not just the brightest ones, should read this book. It talks about learning things on your own, and looking at things to the beat of your own drum.
Rating:  Summary: The book was passable, Feynman's a prat Review: Are you all blind? This Feynman character is nothing more than a conceited, pretentious, stuck-up, high-and-mighty, pseudo-funny-guy. He has no respect for anyone with a single brain-cell less than him. "Haha the dumb waitress poured water on the floor" or "Haha the dumb Captain forgot to set his safe", he might have been a fantastic physicist but he obviously had the personality of a worm. Don't bother reading this book. He was one of a kind and now he's gone. Thank God.
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