"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character

Rating:
Summary: The Mad Hatter Teaches About Physics And Life
Review: I have always been interested in science and math, although I know many people are not, which might put them off from reading this book. That would be a tragic mistake. This book is eminently readable, funny, and human, and best of all requires no knowledge of calculus or particle physics to understand or enjoy.

Richard Feynman was one of the truly great minds of the twentieth century, and his lectures are considered some of the most important works of hard science to date by the overwhelming number of physical scientists in the world. This book discusses physics in language accessible to most anyone, yet has an urbane sophistication and sense of humor about it that is able to entertain a wide variety of readers. I recommend it to anyone who wants to look inside the world of a genuine genius. Inside that world they will discover insights about science, music, societal values, the educational system, and much more, while simultaneously skewering pompous blowhards who feel superior to others due to education or upbringing.

Truly Feynman was a genius for the masses; this is my favorite of his books, but I recommend them all.

Rating:
Summary: A Glimpse into Genius
Review: I read excerpts from this book in college, and after hearing about it for what seemed to be the hundredth time in a recent seminar, I finally decided to read it in its entirety. I was not disappointed. Richard Feynman reveals his inner most thoughts in the form of a series of anecdotes that will make you laugh out loud. Feynman is a true genius, but he does not come across as aloof I was worried he would. Instead, he remains grounded, and simply tells you (the reader) what happened to him in the past. I highly recommend everyone read this book whether you are an aspiring scientist or simply curious how a Nobel Prize winner leads thinks about his own dreams.

Rating:
Summary: A genius of physics, common sense, and entertainment
Review: I have read the Czech translation of Feynman's book 3 times, and the original 3 times as well. It was always a very entertaining experience, and the book was among the things that influenced me a lot.

Richard Feynman has been one of the greatest and most original and unusual physicists of the 20th century. At the same moment, he was an ordinary, curious, emotional, straightforward man whose thinking was deeply rooted in common sense.

However, this book is primarily a great portion of fun. Feynman's stories involving locks in Los Alamos, doctors who considered him insane, girls in the pub, paintings with naked women, physics, rabis, magicians, maps of a cat, and other things are simply irresistable.

There may be other physicists whose life is (or was) equally entertaining and interesting as Feynman's life. But this book will make you sure that Feynman deserves your time.

Rating:
Summary: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman ?
Review: A radio technician, a safe-cracker, an integrator, a painter of nude women, a physicist, a Nobel prize winner, a member of the Manhattan Project, and a man who defines modesty--one of the most entertaining books I have ever read with the best title ever conceived.



Rating:
Summary: Good Business Reading
Review: Science Digest is quoted on the cover as saying:

One of the most famous science books of our time, the phenomenal national bestseller that, "buzzes with energy, anecdote and life. It almost makes you want to become a physicist."

Compare with the Chicago Sun Times quoted on the first page announcing, "Hilarious, exhilarating..." and the Detroit Free Press echoing, "If a single book can shatter the stereotype of the stuffy scientist, this may be the one."

Now, the first publication is a science magazine of some good reputation who caters to people who could charitably be called "eggheads." The fact that these people consider something funny is one thing but the fact that the mainstream press can consider the same book funny when the only science they've whiffed in the last 3 decades of their lives is from the general university requirement they barely passed as a freshman on their way to get some kind of liberal arts degree.

Now consider that this book is a national bestseller many times over, has spawned multiple editions and re-printings, and a variety of sequels--one can only assume that Feynman has touched a chord in the mainstream population as well (at least the book-reading mainstream population).

What can this possibly mean to the business reader?

Two things.

First, that it is possible for really smart people working in extremely esoteric fields to have a profound effect on an astonishingly broad cross-section of people. This is very important to any executive who is 1) probably far more educated than the majority of people in his industry, 2) can seem very forbidding due to his rank in the company, and 3) who is constantly challenged with trying to figure out how to motivate the office proletariat that is in truth the heart and soul of any company.

Just look at the shelves in any business section in any bookstore and you see all kinds of those weird books with numbered laws blaring out anecdotes that are really some sort of pacifying opiate to placate the rebellious and discontented who dwell in cubicles. And as the anecdote goes, if any of these books had the real answer would there be so many of them?

That leads us to the second point: what this book is about is LIFE. It is about a person who is going about living exactly the kind of LIFE that everyone wishes in their head to lead. But he does it. And best, by his LIVING he positively affects those around him in to living as well. Now, the business books try and talk about business but what better way to motivate people than by talking about their LIFE?

Not only is this a lesson in motivation through example and action for any executive but it is also a guidebook about how the executive should go forth in his career. Feynman very casually shatters notions of immutable laws in society and business. He tramples over social mores and niceties like an elephant in a flower garden. He blithely breaks procedural laws and office political codes with the same aplomb that he creates new laws in quantum mechanics out of the ashes of standard particle physics.


Feynman is a model for the business executive who feels trapped by politics, by procedures, or by industry. He will teach you how to perceive your job and place in the world in such a way that you'll either change your job or change jobs--change your company or change the industry. For all the weirdo business books that strive to tell you how to keep objectives, higher level goals, and mission statements in mind it is a physicist--Feynman--that shows you how to do it. And makes you laugh along the way.

All in a 346 page book that you can probably finish on a plane flight to one of those stupid summit meetings in Chicago or some other metropolis.

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