Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!

My Thoughts

Richard Feynman. Nobel prize winner. Rio Carnaval drummer. Artist. Lecturer to Einstein. Atomic bomb team member. Physicist. One man. Many lives.

This is a book of stories that happened in Richard Feynman’s life (1918 – 1988). You get a full view of the quirks and eccentricities that began with a insatiable curiosity to learn about everything. You will definitely laugh. You’ll probably cringe. And you’ll definitely find your jaw open wondering if he really did that.

My favorite parts of the book were in reading about Feynman approaching different disciplines with a fresh and curious perspective. He was able to see things that many people never saw. My favorite chapter of the book dealt with breaking into safes. In his case, he regularly broke into the safes containing the nuclear secrets. He did this by classic safe cracking but also by psychological means. He found out that some of the top guys had the worst safe passwords.

This is a very fun read with some great tidbits of wisdom, some really funny stories, and some tales to make you think.