Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman
May 6, 2009
kcarpenter20
Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman by Richard P Feyman is a very informative book with many small tales of what Feynman encountered in his life. This book’s purpose is to open up a new view of physists to the average person, and obviously to tell some of the amazing stories and experiences in Feynman’s life. The book is very strong in the fact that there is so much information tied into each chapter, it’s amazing that some one can remember all of the details to such stories. A weak point in the book though is its consistency.
The quote “People often think I’m a faker, but I’m usually honest, in a certain way—in such a way that often nobody believes me!” p. 41 just goes to show Feynman’s one-of-a-kind personality.
On a scale of 1 to 5 stars, I would rate this book with 4 stars. I give it this rating because although it is very interesting and grabs your attention, it jumps around a lot so its consistency is shaky. In all honesty, you could just pick up the book and begin at any chapter you would like because the chapters do not flow from one to the next.
The book contains a large amount of information of the Manhattan Project, since Feynman helped work on this. These facts and information were very interesting considering I don’t know much about this topic. My favorite part though was the inside jokes Feynman pulled while working on this, such as the whole combination locks situation. Feynman learned how to crack the code on any lock, so all the supposedly top secret information wasn’t as safe as everyone thought it to be. This was just one of the many ingenious things Feynman came across and conquered, causing humor in many people’s lives. ”
“I learned there that innovation is a very difficult thing in the real world” p. 29.
Reviews
“the book is simply SMART. It contains plenty of tips&tricks including not only “uncommon integration” (how you can gain from possesing the other toolkit), but also “how to cut massive number of string beans” or “how to deal wit a women”. What is truely inspring it desribes the things AS-THEY-ARE and not with rounded words” http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/adamkosz-techblog/surely-youre-joking-mr-feynman-book-review-21946
“This book is funny, I don’t know how many times I have caught myself smiling my way to glory while reading it in public places. Absolutely entertaining.” http://abeoye.wordpress.com/2008/02/14/book-review-surely-youre-joking-mr-feynman/
Additional Links
http://www.teenink.com/Books/article/1384/Surely-Youre-Joking-Mr-Feynman/
http://jcbmac.chem.brown.edu/baird/feynman.html
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