What’s the mark of a truly genius mind?

If I try to conjure up the memories of my experience with the Indian education system, then now I can starkly discern the relatively perduring differences between the two types of students, the one who is teacher’s favourite (the exemplar learner with no social life), whose prime focus is to secure the top position in the class by adopting the surface approach to learning by rote memorization and the other who is mischief (abstraction learner) who find innovative ways of learning the applications of the concepts learned in school or even on the internet, they are the curious cats who try to experiment with everything that they find interesting by pulling intelligent pranks on people and to the amusement of the whole class, they often provoke shrieks of surprise generally followed by laughter from even the teachers. It’s obvious that they have a high functioning mind, which is the cause of such provocative mischievousness, and what follows next is what we already know, when they are constantly being told by their teachers! “You better use your mind to score good grades”.

I think that’s the problem with our education system. It leaves no space for free thinking, it doesn’t let the students to think differently and to let them learn by experiments, by failed attempts, this is why most of us begin to lose interest in science because what we learn doesn’t really stay with us for a long time, since we don’t even understand the whys and hows behind the things!

What makes a wind-up toy go? I thought, “I know what it is: They’re going to talk about mechanics, how the springs work inside the toy; about chemistry, how the engine of the automobile works; and biology, about how the muscles work.”

If this makes you wonder why you never had a teacher who made you question everything and in turn made the process of learning interesting, then this book is for you! Professor Feynman (with his puzzle drive for discovering what’s the matter with things to figure out what to do to fix it) is the teacher you are looking for!

This book is not an autobiography in its absolute sense, it’s rather a recollection of the adventures of a curious character which will give you a new world view to understand the genius behind a prankster and his indignant impatience with pretentious pompous fools and their hypocrisy.

Its hilarious anecdotes (which are divided into wacky yet fascinating chapters) of fixing radio by thinking, stealing a door, learning biology with a map of a cat, fooling safecracker by safecracking, testing bloodhounds, not making decisions by refusing offers, receiving Nobel prize for the pleasure of discovering what he did, drawing and selling his beautiful artworks and learning to be an occasional jerk to women to get laid and playing with ants and bongo professionally, will surely hook you till the end.

Like all smart people he might come across as a narcissist but if you have an admiration for geeky humour coupled with a razor-sharp wit and are curious enough to understand what sets his thought process apart from his brilliant peers, you might discover Feynman techniques to learn how to maintain an open but skeptical mind to look at things differently and your life will never be the same again!

“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 Feynman, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!



I've been circling this book, The Feynman Lectures on Physics, and Gleck's Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman for awhile. This one seemed the most fun and easiest place to start. I was driving from Taos/Santa Fe back to Phoenix last week and as I drove past Los Alamos, it was just the particle collision in my brain I needed to start on Feynman.

Often, memoirs are hard to read because you know a bunch of it is façade. A person is showing you a part of them for a purpose. They want to be viewed as smart, important, funny, etc. They carefully guide you through a Potemkin village of their life. Richard Feynman's memoir is different. Not that I don't think Feynman had an ego. He might have even had an agenda with the book. But, for the most part, he seemed much more interested in the stories he wanted to tell, rather than on how they would make him look. He wasn't all that worried about how he looked so much. His entire life was built around doing what he wanted, exploring what he found interesting, violating taboos, beating his own drums and cutting his own path.

He was a Nobel-prize winning polymath physicist whose other talents included playing drums, teaching, drawing naked girls, picking locks, making atomic bombs, practical jokes, and telling stories. He wasn't interested in the usual trappings of success. Many of those things annoyed him. He was curious. He was a risk-taker. He was a genius.

This should be made compulsory in school. At a very basic level as a collection of humorous anecdotes and zany adventures, it already deserves 5 stars, but it is so much more than just a funny book. There is plenty of serious insight and we are so fortunate to have a glimpse into Feynman's ingenious childlike mind. Reading it brings me real comfort to know I'm on the right track - that it's right to remain intellectually curious, that there's fun in learning, that you should always go back to first principles, and that you should never lose any intellectual integrity.

So it is baffling and disheartening to see some bad reviews. To anyone who sees this book as self-aggrandizing, you're completely missing the point and I hope you stay a rare breed. But I'm open to hearing you out and I would be grateful if you could share your reasons because I'm just not seeing it at all.

My only regret is that I didn't read this sooner, but better late than never.

Listen, I read this a long time ago but here's the thing about it. I'm a big sience fan, and I've always heard how brilliant and funny Richard Feynman was, especially because of his connection to the UofC. But I loathed this book. I suppose it's a memoir, and I don't know if it's ghost written or not, but what was supposed to endear me to Mr Feynman made him revolting to me. According to this book, he treated other people like dirt and thought it was hilarious, he correlated pure intelligence with worth, and he dismissed and disrespected everyone who he felt was not as intellectual as he was (and being that he was a genius, that was most of everybody). Perhaps this is melodramatic, but he sickened me a touch. His blatant disrespect for the work of other scholars in the guise of a patronizing outlook is wholly demoralizing, and for people who wished to pursue a degree in the sciences under him I can't even imagine what it was like to deal with his pomp and ego. I know that the persona displayed in memoirs is different than the actual personality of a person, but the gleeful manner in which he presents his attitude does nothing to disprove my issues with his style.

Feynman is a physicist who taught at Cornell and Princeton, worked on the Manhattan Project and won the Nobel Prize. He's also a complete hoot. The book is a series of autobiographical stories -- pranks pulled as a student at MIT and at Los Alamos, teaching himself to paint, scientific discoveries he made, his three marriages, how he was rejected by the draft board for being mentally suspect (they asked him if he ever heard voices and he said yes he did and then went on to describe what he found interesting about that. He said that sometimes when falling in and out of sleep he'd imagine conversations with his foreign-born colleagues and the voices in his head spoke accurately with their accents -- but that if he tried to imitate such accents he could not do so at all. So how was it that one part of his brain had captured accents correctly but another hadn't? This was entirely typical of Feynman's wide ranging curiosity and intelligence, but the end result in this case was that the psychologists decided he was nuts. His colleagues at Cornell were vastly amused by this.)

What I love about Feynman -- first of all, his great interest in everything and his willingness to experiment. The great joy he found in working things through (he said that the reason he'd never tried drugs, though he was tempted, was that he enjoyed thinking too much and didn't want to risk that.) Also, he's clearly so very intelligent and reading his book, his thoughts seem so easy to follow -- it makes the world of science seem accessible.

Неймовірно! Книга, що дає усвідомити наскільки ми іноді замкнені люди і не вміємо насолоджуватися життям. Коли ти все життя хотів чимось займатися, але то часу не було, а то сумніви постійно гризуть, що ти не зможеш все в повній мірі осягнути. І ось Саме Фейнман показує, що любителі, також можуть бути свого роду професіоналами, і не варто перейматися про те "що скажуть люди", чи "як це виглядатиме зі сторони", а переступати всі свої страхи і просто робити, що тобі хочеться і подобається, жити і розвиватися, щоб потім не шкодувати.)))

This book of anecdotes is written in a very casual, fun way that makes it easy to read. The problem is that the author, Nobel-Prize-winning physicist Dick Feynman, is annoying. All the anecdotes involve him discovering a hidden talent, using it, delighting others (or himself if that's his real goal) and then being applauded for it (sometimes only by himself). For example, he discovers that he's a great artist, musician, safecracker, and critic. Everything revolves around him showing off and being somewhat of a jerk. There were many times when I thought, yeah buddy, *you* think it's funny but no one else does. A few stories like this and it's quirky but piled on top of each other, it's annoying.

I can't really recommend this book. Maybe mischevious self-aggrandizing guys would enjoy it but otherwise, I suggest a pass.

For a person who hates biographies, I end up reading far too many of them ... But in this case, I feel partially justified, as "Surely ..." is far from a typical biography. Yes, it's dedicated to a single person (& a very interesting one), and yes, it covers quite a long span across his life, but Feynman's purpose, instead of presenting his accomplishments & the way to get them, is rather ... to collect funny & interesting anecdotes. These are bite-size situations that do tell some story but rather sketch a picture of Feynman's personality piece-by-piece instead of explaining the qualities of this personality.

I have to admit all these anecdotes were very amusing, and occasionally, I couldn't help but laugh aloud (quite embarrassing when I was in public places, as I was listening to the audiobook). But is there real value in reading that kind of book today? I think so:

- TBH, you won't learn any physics this way, but ...
- ... Feynman's overwhelming curiosity may be inspiring - he was a tinkerer by heart, he embraces learning by trying things - especially when he was young (after all, he became a theoretician in physics later); this may be a great example for Gen Z youth who have completely forgotten this attitude, maybe due to overprotective parent of theirs
- this book illustrates how important is your direct environment - if you surround yourself with people who are great at something, you'll create conditions to boost the growth of everyone involved
- maybe RF was one of his kind, but you may find it surprising that the science was not the only thing he had on his mind; I mean - yes, he was very passionate about physics, but he knew how to enjoy his life thoroughly (which some may find to libertine for their taste, especially in 2020s)

I had fun reading "Surely ...". Probably the first chapters were more fresh & funny, while the last ones (e.g., about the experimentations with consciousness) were not that amusing, but now I know why people keep recommending this book so many years after it was created.

The subtitle of this book is "Adventures of a Curious Character." I would definitely say that Richard Feynman is curious--the probably one thing I liked about him was his interest is exploring the world beyond just the physics he specialized in. He worked with biologists when he could've worked with physicists; he tried out deprivation tanks. He pushed himself to learn new languages and paint and get out of his comfort zone. That's admirable.

However. The man was insufferable. This book, which is largely a series of stories he told to a friend in a very informal manner, is anecdote after anecdote of him saying, essentially, how much better he was than others. How his was the right way of thinking. He would try to be self-deprecating, but it inevitably wound up as "But it turned out I was the most awesome!" Stories tended to go something like, "Some really smart people were talking about something. I'm such an idiot, and didn't know anything about that topic, but threw out an idea that sprang to mind, because I'm too stupid not to say whatever I'm thinking. And then they lit up! 'What a great idea!' they said. It was really just luck that it happened that way." Repeat ad infinitum.

Some of his stories from his childhood were interesting--and the book is probably best read in brief snippets, so the ego doesn't overwhelm you. But he lost me when relaying the story of putting a waitress's tip under an upside-down full glass of water. And he remained proud of himself for that. The man was not nice. He wasn't a good guy. He didn't feel the need to contribute to the common good. He had zero problems making others' lives miserable, like when he agreed to give a class at a local college, provided he only had to fill out so many forms. Turned out, it required one more form than originally agreed-upon, but instead of just signing it, he made the poor college employee go to what Feynman himself describes as a lot of trouble just to not fill out the form. And he refused to submit receipts for reimbursement (though at least there he accepted that that meant he wouldn't get the money).

This isn't even getting into his stories about women.

The book wasn't all bad. Like I said, Feynman had some redeeming qualities. He's someone who would be interesting to chat with for a few minutes at a party. But ultimately, as good as he may have been at science and as many interesting stories he may have had, Dick Feynman is not someone I want to spend more time with.

If not for copyright laws, this book could easily have been entitled, “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!”. This is a captivating story of an amazing life that could not have been better had it been scripted at birth.

Mr. Feynman has done it all. I loved the feeling of tagging along on this brilliant, Nobel-prize winning physicist’s life. A little eccentric yes, but the narrative flows in a very conversational manner (which is a style I like very much). From his early life, to his work on the atomic bomb, to his ability to crack safes, I could not help but admire his chutzpah and proven success. This "nerd" even had tremendous success with the ladies. Therefore, on behalf of nerds everywhere, you are our hero!

He, like Robert Todd Lincoln, was always lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time in history. The difference is that Feynman tended to be around for the more auspicious historical events. Truly, there are not enough adjectives to describe his amazing talents, admirable life, and impressive success.

Among the many biographies I’ve read, only one other person gets this summation, “Remarkable...a life well lived.” That person?
Abigail Adams

One of the problems with reading a book written by a genius is that you have to ask yourself whether any perceived deficiencies in the text are due to the author, or due to your own failure to comprehend his brilliance. That said, I wasn't thrilled by this book. On a purely technical level, it would have benefited from a stronger editor. While there's a rough chronological order to the material, there tends to be a lot of jumping around both within and between the chapters. A few times, Feynman would relate some post-WWII anecdote, only to jump back to something that happened during his time at Los Alamos in the early 1940s. He'll mention that he divorced his second wife, and then shortly thereafter tell a story set during the marriage. It gives the book a very disjointed quality.

On a more personal level, Feynman just doesn't strike me as someone you'd want to spend time with. About 30% of his stories talk about a time he pulled a fast one on somebody, or how he did something arrogant and obnoxious and it developed into an incident. Reading this book feels like babysitting a very rambunctious toddler--as amusing as his antics may be, you're can't help but looking forward to it being over. And while it's perhaps unfair to judge his behavior by modern standards, some of the womanizing and borderline misogyny (as when he decides that the best way to pick up women in bars is to treat them badly and call them whores) is a bit disappointing. Feynman's scientific accomplishments may be beyond reproach, but I doubt I'll spend any more time with his memoirs.

Teate seda tunnet, kui raamat hakkab läbi saama, aga sa ei taha, et see saaks? Näed, et lõpuni on ainult 2 lühikest peatükki, aga sa tahaksid veel ja veel. See on üks nendest raamatutest.
Feynman oli legendaarne füüsik, kes tegeles peale kvantfüüsika (sai Nobeli!) veel muukimise, uste varastamiste ja miljoni muu asjaga, mida toitis siiras maailmast arusaamise soov. Raamatusse ongi ta kirja pannud enda huvitavamad (ja koomilisemad) juhtumised, mille poolest on ta ajalukku läinud kui väga ekstsentrilise teadlasena.
Nii tulebki juttu, kuidas/miks ta õppis portugali ja jaapani keelt; õppis muukima tuumapommi arenduse käigus lahti lukke ja seife; kakles väikelinna baaris vetsus kohalikuga; uuris ühikatoas sipelgate omavahelist suhtlust ja palju muud.
Kokkuvõtvalt väga tugev lugemissoovitus minu poolt!