Incredibly good and the CD is better than any comedy album you have ever heard. Why aren't there more smart people like Feynman? ( )

I was taken in and swindled. Oh, I wasn’t ripped off that much, and it was my own fault, but I fell for it just the same.

This book represents a combination of two of Feynman’s most famous books – “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!” and “What do YOU Care What Other People Think?” That’s where I got taken. My fault. I thought it was a new collection.

But, I’ll get over it. You see, it gave me an excuse to revisit these stories. Feynman is definitely an interesting character, and these stories (by combining them, now presented in chronological order) provide the full flavor. Whether it is the stories of Los Alamos during the war or Brazil while becoming part of a samba school or becoming a safecracker or playing the bongos or (fill in your other favorite part here), the picture is clear that this is something different – a creative, genius (oxymoronic far too many times) who was unafraid to take on anything that interested him.

And when was the last time you read a book by/about a physicist where you dog-eared pages to just remember what was said? (In my case “You know, what they think of you is so fantastic, it’s impossible to live up to it. You have no responsibility to live up to it” and a longer passage about education and the length of the Chinese emperor’s nose that I won’t go into here.)

Okay, maybe I wasn’t taken. Did I mention this edition also has a glorious CD with Feynman’s speech on what he did in Los Alamos? That is worth the price of admission all by itself. So, if you don’t have anything by Feynman – this is a perfect place to start. If you already have the other two volumes, maybe think twice, but it is a great excuse to revisit and to here the man speak himself. ( )

If you enjoy colourful characters, Feynman is your boy. He puts paid to the typical image of physicists as nerds, with his bongo playing-lock picking-girl watching irreverence combined with sheer genius. ( )

An amalgam of all the anecdotes in _Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman_ (1985) and _What Do You Care What Other People Think?_ (1988). Too bad there can't be some previously unpublished ones. RPF's account of his experiences on the Challenger accident commission is quite extensive.