Book finished

[johnridley]

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman? by Richard Feynman et al.

What an amazing man! Very funny stories. It's interesting that some reviews of this book say he's just showing off how smart he is, when if anything he keeps coming back to the fact that he never felt that he was as smart as most of his contemporaries, and didn't feel he had any abstract talent at all.

I found it amazing the number of other things he got OK at, at an amateur level; drumming, artistic drawing, several other things.

Comments

[forestweather.livejournal.com]

I had the same responses as you when I read this book--he seems like a good model!

[brotherguy.livejournal.com]

I used to assign this book when I was teaching science-for-nonmajors at Loyola University (Chicago). We had a lot of good class discussions about it, which usually followed a pattern...

1. What a great book, what a funny guy...

2. Yeah, but didn't he have some "issues" dealing with women (after his wife died)?

3. But... for that matter... why did he include the stories that showed those issues? When you read carefully, you realize that he could be kind of a creep. Why didn't he "censor" himself? Did he not realize that these were issues, that he was acting like a creep? Or was he such a stickler for complete honesty in "presenting the data" that he would have felt even more uncomfortable in not showing his own worst side?

Interesting issues; and a great way to get humanities students to see how techies think.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Yes, there was a certain amount of that weirdness when dealing with women, but honestly, his level of weirdness is very lightweight in the scheme of things. I don't know if he's even halfway up the weirdness scale in that regard; even in the worst story he has in there he's still half as demeaning to the women as most college Florida spring breakers or Mardi Gras attendees.

I was quite impressed by the way that lack of rigor in any objective decision just drove him up the wall. Also his willingness to stick to his guns even if it meant losing money, which he did many times in situations related in the book.

[tlunquist.livejournal.com]

Fabulous book. I also recommend the sequel, What Do You Care What Other People Think?