Преди да прочета тази книга, смятах че Файнман е физик, носител на Нобелова награда с голямо чувство за хумор. Тук нямаше изненади. Възхитих се обаче на начина по който той е гледал на света, по който го е изследвал забавлявайки се. Наистина се изненадах от творческите му изяви! Изключително много подкрепям мнението му за образованието, подобни възгледи срещах и при изключителния Сейгън, жалко е, че с годините нещата се влошават прогресивно в тази насока. Заради хора като него, любопитството ми към науката се разпали доста години след като беше потопено като Титаник от образователната система.

I found myself unable to make fair judgement about: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Adventures of a Curious Character. One day I gave it three stars and another five. I should think that it certainly deserves five stars in that it is one of the few books that delve into the mind of a genius and gives some idea to their thought process's. My desire to write a review of this book are threefold:

I was stationed in Orlando Florida and it was mandatory that we watch the liftoff's.

After the Challenger shuttle disaster I worked for a woman who did quality assurance for repairs on US Polaris ballistic missile systems who worked with the same seals that failed on the shuttle disaster. Long before the results were published by the investigation team she met Mr. Feynman on a flight to duty stations. In their exchange he asked her what she thought was the problem and told him without a doubt it was the seals.

Reagan the president at the time this disaster had exerted pressure to launch the Challenger in the overly cold weather. I also watched the media's involvement and unneeded sensationalism about the delays that undoubtedly provoked a too hasty decision to launch. I have read many management studies attributing this debacle as a legacy of the decision making process called Groupthink. As this can only be so and knowledge of the affects of cold on the seals was widely know in professional circles and also at NASA it must be surmised that we have a warped decision making system in place in our government.

The lightness that Feynman's stories give to the seriousness of his academic career must only be surmised as a way of dealing with his knowledge of how many problems the Earth is facing in part due to our faulty decision making. It was driven home after watching a video about his life where I was almost brought to tears... The must see video is The Quest For Tannu Tuva[1988] which seemed to be more widely shown in the UK than in the US.

Let's learn from Feynman.

“You have no responsibility to live up to what other people think you ought to accomplish. I have no responsibility to be like they expect me to be. It's their mistake, not my failing.”



Richard P. Feynman's "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character is a roughly chronological sketch of what seem like discrete incidents, but incidents that really show Feynman's character, sense of humor and more significantly, his curiosity. They were very interesting; however, what struck me most forcefully was the cumulative effect of these stories about Feynman's curiosity. The way that Feynman could be actively curious about anything left me with a sense of awe. That is the way to live, I thought. 4.5 stars

I didn't give Feynman's book ***** because I think he's a great writer.

Rather, he's a fascinating man, and the only physicist of his stature I can think of offhand... who's written a memoir. I found it readable and, at times, really funny.

Richard Feynman showed himself to readers, warts and all, quirkiness and all. Hence my five stars.

I doubt I'll ever be able to understand what the Manhattan Project scientists knew, even if it were published in Easy Reader versions. But I'm definitely a student of humanity.

The Jim Parsons character on "The Big Bang Theory" was written and acted for entertainment value. (Sure, I enjoyed several seasons of the show.) By contrast, Richard Feynman's "Curious Character" is far more vivid to me, and much more to my liking.

La finalul cărții am ajuns la concluzia că, dacă Feynman este foarte important în lumea fizicii pentru descoperirile sale, atunci ca ființă umană nu este mai prejos. Cred că principiile după care, nu numai că se ghidează în viață, ci și le practică în mod consecvent, ar trebui să ni le asimilăm cu toții.

Din rândurile scrise cu mult umor, aflăm cum în viața de zi cu zi încearcă mereu să fie onest și integru față de sine însuși și, implicit, față de ceilalți. Acest lucru îl face să aștepte, destul de natural, aceleași lucruri și din partea societății, ceea ce de multe ori îi sâcâia și nemulțumea pe cei din jur, încurcându-le socotelile. Aflăm cum tratează pasiunea centrală a vieții sale, fizica, ca pe un joc care merită făcut numai dacă există curiozitate și plăcere. Învătăm că, dacă ești autodidact și perseverent, poți ajunge bun în domenii în care nu ai nicio experiență (Feynman a învățat de la zero portugheza, să deseneze, să cânte la tobe și multe altele). Descoperim că nonconformismul său provine din faptul că îi plăcea să înțeleagă și să gândească fiecare problemă întâi singur, prin propriile puteri, pentru ca abia apoi să consulte părerile celorlalți. De aici și autenticitatea și creativitatea sa atât de abundente. Și, nu în ultimul rând, învățăm că înarmați cu umor și deschidere putem trata viața ca pe un joc, astfel încât să avem parte de o continuă aventură.

Nu pot încheia decât afirmând cu entuziasm că mă bucur că mi-am găsit un nou model de urmat în viață!

A lo largo de varios capítulos que conforman más un anecdotario que una autobiografía, asistimos a varios momentos vitales de este gran físico del siglo XX. ganador del Premio Nobel. El lector encontrará un abanico variopinto de intereses a lo largo de la vida de un hombre cuya principal virtud es la curiosidad.

Conviene tener claro que este no es un libro sobre Física, alguien que se acerque a él pretendiendo eso acabará muy decepcionado. De hecho, el Premio Nobel se menciona muy de pasada como un suceso gracioso más y ni siquiera supe por qué se lo concedieron leyendo el libro. Tampoco el autor desarrolla sus teorías físicas, como mucho habla de pasada de sus trabajos como mero contexto.

Entonces, ¿de qué va el libro? Aquí seguiremos varias inquietudes de Feynman, quien sin duda fue un hombre muy polifacético. Empezó arreglando transistores de niño por el afán de descubrir el mecanismo interno, dedicó semanas a estudiar el comportamiento de las hormigas de forma muy científica y se convirtió en un miembro más de las comparsas musicales en los carnavales de Brasil. Impartió muchas charlas, incluidas aquellas sobre numerología maya. Cuando estuvo en Los Álamos dentro del Proyecto Manhattan, se dedicó en cuerpo y alma a forzar todas las cajas de seguridad que iban incorporando a las instalaciones, solo para demostrar lo precario de la seguridad que querían mantener en un recinto tan secreto. Estas son algunas muestras de la multitud de anécdotas que pueblan estos capítulos, mostrando a un Feynman aventurero y divertido a quien el título le sienta como un guante.

El libro permite ser leído con varias interrupciones y cada capítulo te mantiene entretenido. Se trata de una celebración de la vida en sentido amplio aplicando el poder del conocimiento y las ganas inmortales de seguir aprendiendo cada día.

From cracking safes to painting for a brothel to joining a samba band, Richard Feynmann definitely led such an interesting life it almost seems stranger than fiction. I can't say how many times I laughed out loud reading his amusing little anecdotes.

Would definitely recommend!

Фейнман, чувак, ну ти даєш! Як ти зміг це все втиснути в одне життя?))
Фізика і математика (участь у розробці ядерної бомби, викладання в найкращих універах світу, Нобелівська премія), зламування сейфів, малювання (виставки і продажі картин під псевдонімом), танці, мови (португальська, фейманська італійська:) і Фейнманська японська:)), музика (перемоги на бразильський карнавалах, гра на барабанах для балету), жінки і постійні нічні тусовки (пошук пригод і неприємностей), письменник (ця книга стала бестселлером в США).

Але найбільше мені сподобався сам шлях, а не список досягнень. Непідробна цікавість до того як влаштований наш світ, до всього нового і незрозумілого; гумор і посмішка до будь-якої життєвої ситуації; чесність з собою та іншими, цілісність особистості; вміння самокритично дивитися на себе і повна байдужість до думки оточуючих.

Я в захваті. В мене пробудилося бажання вчити фізику, робити більше речей, які просто мені цікаві і частіше виходити із зони комфорту і шукати пригод, про які потім захочеться написати власні мемуари:)

There’s presumably a rule where only smart people are awarded Nobel Prizes in Physics. Richard Feynman was no exception. This memoir is filled with anecdotes from his childhood spent fixing radios, his experiences as a young man doing bomb research at Los Alamos up through his days as a renowned professor at Cal Tech. The central theme was always that this is one smart cookie. It was interesting to pick up on his thought processes. It probably didn’t feature as much pure science as most of his other books, but at least you could appreciate his intuition into the physical world’s biggest puzzles. Rather than emphasizing the technical details of physics, most of his stories were focused on his other interests and his geeky humor.

While some of the stories were entertaining, and the lumens of candle power abounded, it didn’t always work for me. I kept getting the feeling that had the same stories been told in the third person, they would have been better – less egotistical sounding. In every one of his sidelines, he was masterful. It was like he was still driving home the point of how brilliant he was even when he was slumming it. After a while, I got tired of hearing how he became fluent in Portuguese when he taught in Brazil, or impressed the locals to no end with his distinctive style of bongo playing, or could dance like a professional, or got just about any woman he wanted to sleep with him. It was this last one that left the worst taste in my mouth. Some of his tales of attraction and conquest occurred when one of his wives was on her death bed.

He was probably not as bad as I’ve made him sound. Like I said, we can certainly appreciate his intellect. He had a rare ability to explain difficult concepts in laymen’s terms, too. I got a confirmation of this a week after I finished the book when we were interviewing a former student of his from Cal Tech. He mentioned the “Feynman Effect”: a phenomenon whereby someone asking him a question got answered in such a clear and intuitive way that it was only later that they realized they still didn’t know exactly how it all tied to their existing understanding.

So, count me as a fan of his scientific contributions and his ability to communicate, but not of his swagger. If it had all been a bit of a joke (you know, physicist … funny hair … limited social skills … but a would-be Lothario in spite of it), I would have laughed along with him, but I don’t think that was his intention.

Laugh out loud funny. My dad read this outloud to us when we were kids - I'm guessing at the exact year - and the whole family literally cried with laughter many times during the performance.

Feyman's other memoirs are good too, but this is the funniest. I still think of it often. For instance, every time I use a combination lock, I think of his safe-cracking phase, and how it's every child's dream to learn how to crack safes and get at all that secret and valuable stuff. Which really sums up this book - Mr. Feyman approached life with the curiosity and glee of a small boy. He never lost that childlike sense of wonder or mischief.

My only caveat - Mr. Feyman was quite the ladies' man, and there is a certain old-school misogyny in his style of writing about women. Looked at in the most charitable light possible, it's a reminder that he was human, as well as a genius physicist, and frankly, not always right. It doesn't make him any less of an amazing physicist, but it does remind us that he was mortal too.

And after reading all of his memoirs, I began to suspect that his cavalier attitude towards women arose at least in part from his grief at the loss of his first wife, who died of cancer at a very young age (her early 20s, if I remember correctly), while he was busy working on the nuclear bomb in Los Alamos. She is the only woman he writes tenderly about - after that, the talk shifts to conquests and getting girls naked. His descriptions of his subsequent marriages lack the warmth of that first marriage, even if there is more fodder for humor. Something about it rings hollow even in Feyman's warm, humorous, self-deprecating voice. There is a real tragedy written between the lines here.

This is one of those books which bring a turning point in your life, and make you reevaluate it, much like Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture and Steve Jobs bio for me. Made me take interest in physics around us again. :)

Feynman was surely a man of multiple lives, how could anybody live so much? Physicist, safe cracker, artist, frigideira (an instrument used in Samba music) player, nobel prize laureate, drummer, and more. His mischievous nature and varied interests (exploration of hypnotism and sense deprivation, e.g.) were inspiring in a way.

As a scientist, he leaves out important messages primarily in the chapters: O Americano, Outra Vez! (later part, pg. 211 onwards, about state of science education in Brazil at the time); Is Electricity Fire? (on Jewish (dis)interest in science); Judging Books by their Covers (review of school math books, and disappointment obtained from them); and lastly, Cargo Cult Science, the last chapter.

A must read for any science-loving person.

Re-listen June 2021: Richard Feynman is a fascinating man. He was so curious about everything, especially fond of puzzles, and not afraid of anything or anybody. Great stories. I am glad I did not remember very well so I could enjoy them again.

Original review January 2018
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Mr. Feynman was a curious character. Besides being a great physicist and lecturer, he was also a practical jokester, a ladies’ man, a musician, a polyglot, and most of all, he possessed a childlike excitement for learning, a thirst for all knowledge.

The stories give insight into his way of thinking, his honesty, his curiosity, intolerance for pompous stupidity and nonsense. Some of my favorite stories: the ingenious study of ants in his own apartment; the sad and hilarious story of how he got declared mentally unfit by an army psychologist; his adventures in biology; and the story of him becoming the member of a Brazilian samba band.

The writing is straightforward and easy, but my audiobook narrator, Ralph Leighton, had a very distracting habit of ending his sentences with an upward tone, thus making it sound sing-song-like, which I imagine is quite the opposite of what the no-nonsense Feynman intended. I perhaps would have enjoyed more reading it, but right now audio was what I could build into my schedule.