"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character
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4.4 • 237 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
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. Here he recounts in his inimitable voice his experience trading ideas on atomic physics with Einstein and Bohr and ideas on gambling with Nick the Greek; cracking the uncrackable safes guarding the most deeply held nuclear secrets; accompanying a ballet on his bongo drums; painting a naked female toreador. In short, here is Feynman's life in all its eccentric—a combustible mixture of high intelligence, unlimited curiosity, and raging chutzpah.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
History will remember Nobel Prize winning physicist Feynman (1918 1988), for his work in quantum physics and his role in the investigation of the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle. Contemporary readers and listeners, however, will remember him best for his reputation as a free-thinking iconoclast whose personal adventures were hilarious, insightful and inspiring. Todd does a fabulous job of conveying Feynman's infectious enthusiasm and childlike sense of wonder with his energetic portrayal of the scientist. He's adept even in difficult sections, such as when Feynman "speaks Italian" and "Chinese" inventing completely made-up but accurate sounding languages. Todd does a good job of portraying Feynman's inquisitive manner and conveys the book's message and attitude with aplomb. While he sounds nothing like the late physicist (Feynman the subject of James Gleick's Genius had a thick Long Island accent and sounded more like a cross between Yogi Bear and The Honeymooners' Ed Norton), Todd's clean, polite voice is a revelation. Based on the Norton paperback.
Customer Reviews
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman
A bestselling autobiography by one of the funniest physicists America ever produced.
I really wanted to like this book
I don’t know why I couldn’t see the humor in this book like everyone else. Many of the stories struck me as mean-spirited and pompous (sticking a waitress’ tips in upside-down cups of water…really?). The whole book is written from a perspective looking down on others. Even when a story is about his own mistakes (the pea slicing story, for example) it always comes back to “but I’m still way smarter than that guy and he should have let me try again, the dolt.” The butt of every joke is everyone else’s intelligence compared to his own.
I think I’ll try to read it again in a few years and see if I’ve lightened up.
Bested
That is the best science book ever written I am going to read it over and over again awesome I will recommend it to everyone