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

[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.