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Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) Paperback – April 17, 1997

by Richard P. Feynman (Author), Ralph Leighton (Author), Edward Hutchings (Editor),

4.5 12,302 ratings

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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.

Black-and-white photographs throughout

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A series of anecdotes shouldn't by rights add up to an autobiography, but that's just one of the many pieces of received wisdom that Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman (1918-88) cheerfully ignores in his engagingly eccentric book, a bestseller ever since its initial publication in 1985. Fiercely independent (read the chapter entitled "Judging Books by Their Covers"), intolerant of stupidity even when it comes packaged as high intellectualism (check out "Is Electricity Fire?"), unafraid to offend (see "You Just Ask Them?"), Feynman informs by entertaining. It's possible to enjoy Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman simply as a bunch of hilarious yarns with the smart-alecky author as know-it-all hero. At some point, however, attentive readers realize that underneath all the merriment simmers a running commentary on what constitutes authentic knowledge: learning by understanding, not by rote; refusal to give up on seemingly insoluble problems; and total disrespect for fancy ideas that have no grounding in the real world. Feynman himself had all these qualities in spades, and they come through with vigor and verve in his no-bull prose. No wonder his students--and readers around the world--adored him. --Wendy Smith

Review

“A storyteller in the tradition of Mark Twain. He proves once again that it is possible to laugh out loud and scratch your head at the same time.”
- New York Times Book Review

“Quintessential Feynman―funny, brilliant, bawdy . . . enormously entertaining.”
- The New Yorker

“Buzzes with energy, anecdote and life. It almost makes you want to become a physicist.”
- Science Digest

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (April 17, 1997)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393316041
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393316049
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 8.3 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #424,157 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #229 in Science Essays & Commentary (Books)
- #926 in Scientist Biographies
- #3,177 in Physics (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.5 12,302 ratings

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Richard P. Feynman
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Richard P. Feynman was born in 1918 and grew up in Far Rockaway, New York. At the age of seventeen he entered MIT and in 1939 went to Princeton, then to Los Alamos, where he joined in the effort to build the atomic bomb. Following World War II he joined the physics faculty at Cornell, then went on to Caltech in 1951, where he taught until his death in 1988. He shared the Nobel Prize for physics in 1965, and served with distinction on the Shuttle Commission in 1986. A commemorative stamp in his name was issued by the U.S. Postal Service in 2005.
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Bill Gates
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Bill Gates is a technologist, business leader, and philanthropist. In 1975, he co-founded Microsoft with his childhood friend Paul Allen and today he is chair of the Gates Foundation. Bill is the founder of Breakthrough Energy, an effort to commercialize clean energy and other climate-related technologies, and TerraPower, a company investing in developing groundbreaking nuclear technologies. He has three children.
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Edward Hutchings
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Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.
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Ralph Leighton
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Ralph Leighton (born 13 November 1949) is a biographer, film producer, and friend of the late physicist Richard Feynman. He recorded Feynman relating stories of his life. Leighton has released some of the recordings as The Feynman Tapes. These interviews became the basis for the books Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! and What Do You Care What Other People Think?, which were later combined into the hardcover anniversary edition Classic Feynman: All the Adventures of a Curious Character. Leighton is an amateur drummer and founder of the group Friends of Tuva. In 1990 he wrote Tuva or Bust! Richard Feynman's Last Journey.
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Customers say

Customers find the book engaging and entertaining. They appreciate the author's insight into a brilliant mind and his humor. The book is described as an entertaining biography of a unique person. Readers describe the author as an incredible storyteller who understands the life of a scientist. They find the character development interesting and unique.

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Readability Insight Humor Storyteller Scientist Character development Pacing Boredom

617 customers mention "Readability"573 positive44 negative

Customers find the book readable and entertaining. They appreciate the engaging style and inspirational stories about a brilliant thinker. Many readers consider it worth reading and recommend it highly.

"An amazing book that touches on so many areas, and it’s really just a book of stories from Feynman’s life...." Read more

"...Five stars, recommended for people who want to read an interesting and fun book." Read more

"5 stars for the content and as he would have said it, stream of consciousness style...." Read more

"...They are interesting and sometimes funny, but it's hard to believe that he was a serious Nobel physicist." Read more

355 customers mention "Insight"347 positive8 negative

Customers appreciate the book's insights into a brilliant mind. They find it educational and inspiring, with interesting passages about his imaginative and intuitive thinking. The author shows that science mysteries are fun, not scary, through a stream-of-consciousness style of writing.

"An amazing book that touches on so many areas, and it’s really just a book of stories from Feynman’s life...." Read more

"...It's a biography but consisting of short stories of interesting events that happened in the life of Nobel Prize Winner Richard Feynman who seemed to..." Read more

"5 stars for the content and as he would have said it, stream of consciousness style...." Read more

"...all his own, a born storyteller with gift of gab and an extremely inquisitive nature who also immersed himself in music and art...." Read more

216 customers mention "Humor"206 positive10 negative

Customers enjoy the book's humor. They find it quirky, funny, and witty. The author is described as hilarious, fun-loving, and saturated in satire and sarcasm.

"...Now I did and I'm glad I did because I found it one of the most funny and insightful books that I've read recently...." Read more

"...They are interesting and sometimes funny, but it's hard to believe that he was a serious Nobel physicist." Read more

"...Did I mention this book is very funny? At many points, I found myself laughing out loud...." Read more

"...all of which are rich with adventure, sound scientific thinking and humor...." Read more

205 customers mention "Storyteller"195 positive10 negative

Customers enjoy the book's storytelling. They find it entertaining and interesting, with vignettes about other great thinkers. Readers appreciate the author's engaging style and his life story. The book is described as charming, intelligent, and inspiring.

"...that touches on so many areas, and it’s really just a book of stories from Feynman’s life...." Read more

"...Baudy, brash with a dynamic flare all his own, a born storyteller with gift of gab and an extremely inquisitive nature who also immersed himself in..." Read more

"Very educative and inspiring book." Read more

"...of stories from throughout Richard Feynman's Life, and is a great tale of in a way, what everyone could be if we all just had a little bit of a more..." Read more

131 customers mention "Scientist"120 positive11 negative

Customers enjoy the book. They find it insightful into the life of a scientist and an enjoyable read for those who love science. The book provides some insight into Feynman's scientific mind and adventure.

"...This is a great example of Richard’s willingness to constantly learn...." Read more

"...as a separate story all of which are rich with adventure, sound scientific thinking and humor...." Read more

"...is also very amusing. The book also gives some insight into Feynmann's scientific mind: take for example the story about how he fixed radios as a..." Read more

"This was an enjoyable book to read and understand the life of a scientist. Was encouraged to read it through the Freakonomics podcast...." Read more

82 customers mention "Character development"82 positive0 negative

Customers find the character development interesting and unique. They appreciate the author's personification, hyperbole, and figurative language. The book provides an accurate portrayal of the whole person, showing his inquisitive personality and psychological idiosyncrasies. Overall, readers consider Richard Feynman a great role model and a human side of a giant of the 20th century.

"...a specific topic, it is purely a book about Richard Feynman... a curious character... indeed...." Read more

"...Also the author perpetually uses personification, hyperbola’s, and different kinds of figurative language to appeal to your senses to make a boring..." Read more

"...this autobiography gives me what I think is an accurate description of the whole person...." Read more

"...because the stories have a good amount of detail and helps show his inquisitive personality...." Read more

58 customers mention "Pacing"45 positive13 negative

Customers appreciate the book's pacing. They find the author down-to-earth, honest, and humble. The tone is unpretentious and cheeky, leaving readers envious.

"...The book consist of 5 parts, which are roughly equal to five important periods in Feynman's life...." Read more

"...Baudy, brash with a dynamic flare all his own, a born storyteller with gift of gab and an extremely inquisitive nature who also immersed himself in..." Read more

"...Feynman showed that the mysteries of science are fun, not scary...." Read more

"...I gave the book 4 rather than 5 stars because I felt the book dragged a bit in places...." Read more

24 customers mention "Boredom"0 positive24 negative

Customers find the book boring and uninspiring. They describe it as ordinary, pedestrian musings of an intelligent physicist. Some find the personal narrative silly and disappointing. Overall, readers feel the book is not Feynman's most interesting work.

"He is very self absorbed. Boring read after first couple chapters" Read more

"...that make it easily readable, I believe this is not Feynman's most interesting book...." Read more

"...I finally read it. Ouch---so utterly boring! He is not the Bill Cosby of the Science world as I had thought...." Read more

"...I was expecting more insight on physics. It's Ok. Nothing great." Read more

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Just some dude
Feynman was an awesome dude. Hear it from him.
Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2024
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An amazing book that touches on so many areas, and it’s really just a book of stories from Feynman’s life.
Group think, logical fallacies, epistemology, and integrity are just a handful of themes.

The best chapters are Judging Books by their Covers, where Feynman realizes what a goat rope the textbook industry is and basically explains indirectly why American kids get a substandard education compared to the rest of the west, and Cargo Cult Science. In that chapter Feynman speaks to the problems of science and its incentives. It explains the climate hysteria without speaking to it. It speaks to the nonsense about structural racism without speaking to it.

And it confirmed to me that humans are stupid people exceptionally willing to fool themselves.

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Bas Vodde
Excellent short stories of a curious character indeed
Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2013
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"Surely you're joking, Mr Feynman" has been on my reading list for a long time, but I never got myself to actually read it. Now I did and I'm glad I did because I found it one of the most funny and insightful books that I've read recently. It's a biography but consisting of short stories of interesting events that happened in the life of Nobel Prize Winner Richard Feynman who seemed to have a special talent of getting himself into interesting situations.

The book consist of 5 parts, which are roughly equal to five important periods in Feynman's life. These are: 1) His early pre-university life, 2) His university life, 3) Involvement in the Manhattan project, 4) Early years as a professor, and 5) Later years as a physicist and professor. Each of these parts consist of small chapters that tell a situation (usually funny or weird) in which he got himself and his usually odd reactions in that situation.

Throughout the book, there is this honest, smart, jokingly view on life. Feynman did experiments. Not just experiments in physics but experiments in life. He would try out things to see if he could do it or to see how people would react. That attitude of experimenting and learning always got him in weird situations and this book is full of those. Example? As a boy trying to imitate Italian (and getting away with it). Removing doors from classmates and so honestly admitting that he did it that nobody believed him (hilarious!). Pick-locking safes. Playing Brazilian instruments. Doing out to Vegas to hand out with gamblers and show women. Proof reading secondary school science books and actually reading them :)

This was one of these books which I found myself laughing out loud quite often. Many of the stories made such an impression that I went off to tell other people about it as they stuck with me (especially the genius experiment with water, a glass and a tip). Everytime when I read more of it, I got more excited about the book and I was actually very sad when I finished the book. It is a book I'll probably re-read (and enjoy as much the second time). It isn't a book about physics or about a specific topic, it is purely a book about Richard Feynman... a curious character... indeed. Five stars, recommended for people who want to read an interesting and fun book.

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31 people found this helpful

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ZVarwig
Wouldn’t Get Written Today
Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2024
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5 stars for the content and as he would have said it, stream of consciousness style. One of a kind person with very little regard for “normal” social conventions. A 20th century intellectual and adventurer.

3 stars for the rambling and sometimes off focus story telling. Found myself speed reading a few sections thinking “ok Feynman get on with it, we get, you’re amazing.”

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DAC_Houston
Hard to believe this guy was a serious physicist
Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2024
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Most of the book is about tricks and schemes he played on others. They are interesting and sometimes funny, but it's hard to believe that he was a serious Nobel physicist.

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Karl V
Feynman’s life is truly inspiring
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2024
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Managed to finish the entire book and was totally worth it! I’ve watched his lectures and this book is equally good.

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MikeVB
Richard Phillips Feynman
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2023
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Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! is a book I could not put down. I read it in two evenings which left me wanting more. From his humble beginnings in Far Rockaway Queens as a high school prodigy to MIT (SB) at the age of 17 and then on to Princeton (Ph.D.), to Cornell and eventually Caltech and the Nobel Prize for pioneering QED this is an autobiography of one of the greatest minds ever in theoretical physics. Baudy, brash with a dynamic flare all his own, a born storyteller with gift of gab and an extremely inquisitive nature who also immersed himself in music and art. Everything he tried his hand at he excelled in. The loves of life and his family were also shared so it was not all technical. His descriptions of his work on the Manhattan Project with Oppenheimer and at Oak Ridge are riveting as is his work on the Rogers Commission to solve the root cause of the Challenger disaster. Those memories give a rare look inside the bureaucracy of NASA and how the upper management tried to hide a known defect in the design of the SRBs. That accident was preventable and Professor Feynman exposed numerous shortcomings in their processes which befuddled Secretary Rogers who had been tasked by President Reagan not to embarrass NASA! In Feynman’s second book “What Do You Care What Other People Think? He devoted half the book to the inner workings of the Rogers Commission and the controversy that arose once the final report was being prepared. I give five stars to his second book as well. My heroes in science have always been Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. Richard Phillips Feynman now joins that elite duo in my picks for perhaps the greatest scientist ever.

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J
Quickly became one of my favourite biographies.
Reviewed in Canada on November 18, 2023
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This book contains unforgettable and hilarious moments during the life of Richard Feynman.

It's a lovely book that takes you through the life of the 20th century physicist, which covers many aspects during Feynman's life.

It's a great book if you want to learn about the condition's of Los Alamos, or life as a professor at Caltech.

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Amazon Customer
bought as a xmas gift
Reviewed in Sweden on November 25, 2024
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much appreciated, fast delivery

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Nagaraj Kamath
Peer into the mind of a simple man
Reviewed in India on October 24, 2024
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I finally finished the book. It is surprising to know how the mind works, especially a persistent and curious one. To summarize, he just loved physics and pursued it at his whim. It is a good book that reflects the life of a physicist and how simple things always inspire discoveries.

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Arda Yörük
Feynman'ın anılarından oluşan çok akıcı ve keyifli bir kitap
Reviewed in Turkey on August 31, 2024
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Eğer bilime, şeylerin nasıl olduğuna ve arkasındaki hikayelere meraklıysanız soluksuz okuyabileceğiniz bir kitap. Feynman'ın üslubu her zamanki gibi çok akıcı ve keyifli. Tabii ki fizik, matematik ve analitik düşünmeye olan ilgisini kitabın her yerinde hissediyorsunuz.

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Heidl
lesenswert
Reviewed in Germany on June 5, 2024
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Sehr humorvoll erzählt Mister Feynman Erlebnisse aus seinem Leben.
Kurzweilig und amüsant.

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