Ebook: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!

Amazon.com Review 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* From Library Journal Raymond Todd gives an extraordinary performance bringing to evanescent life the amusing adventures of this Nobel prize-winning physicist. Feynman was the quintessential inquirer whose investigations led him, at times, to sophisticated equations, at other times to a kind of social mischief that is delightful in its purity and inspiring in its intellectual courage. Based upon an impromptu talk during drum-playing sessions with his friend Ralph Leighton, this surprise best seller is packed with unforgettable anecdotes. Working at Los Alamos, Feynman cracked safes containing the secrets of the bomb. He challenged an abacus salesman to an arithmetical duel. He trained himself to sniff like a bloodhound. He played frigideira in a Brazilian samba band. In Las Vegas, he learned the ways of gamblers and show girls. He gave his first physics lecture in front of Einstein. Refreshingly honest, iconoclastic, thought-provoking, this one-of-a-kind classic is a must for every collection.?Peter Josyph, New York Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.