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“Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”: Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard P. Feynman
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“Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”: Adventures of a Curious…

by Richard P. Feynman

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3,88447573 (4.26)34
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Showing 1-5 of 44 (next | show all)
Pompous, self-absorbed, microcosmopolitan apology of an academic jerk, with ready-to-parrot jabs at the establishment and appeal to "critical thinking". Please. ( )
  Kuiperdolin | Nov 6, 2009 |
Really interesting and hilarious! You don't need to be a math/science major to read this book. ( )
  mauveberry | Nov 1, 2009 |
Feynman reminds me of my uncle Preston Hammer. They were both at Los Alamos, NM on the Manhattan Project during WWII. Both were pranksters. Laughed all the way through this little book. ( )
  MarkHammer | Oct 7, 2009 |
Loved this book!: I loved this book, could hardly put it down, and bought it for several friends. Brilliant and funny, this Nobel laureate penned a delightful memoir. I recommend it for anyone remotely interested in science who wants to get inside a genius's mind. Seldom are we offered such an opportunity.
  iayork | Aug 9, 2009 |
This book suffered for years for having been recommended to me by a prize asshole. But it's truly an interesting book for a look into a lost world of society and science. I really do very poor reviews. I'm sorry. But his writing is humorous, the events are entertaining, and his insufferable arrogance mellows to a sort of sweet joy at the life he's managed to live. ( )
1 vote ewalrath | Jul 20, 2009 |
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Series (with order)
Canonical Title
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Awards and honors
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
When I was about eleven or twelve I set up a lab in my house.
Quotations
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Canonical title“Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”: Adventures of a Curious Character
Original publication date1985
People/CharactersRichard Feynman
Important placesLos Alamos, New Mexico, USA, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, New York, New York, USA
Important eventsWorld War II (1939|1945), Manhattan Project
Awards and honorsALA Outstanding Books for the College Bound (1999.3|Biography, 1999)
First wordsWhen I was about eleven or twelve I set up a lab in my house.
Last words(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Book description

Amazon.com (ISBN 0393316041, Paperback)

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

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:22 -0400)

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