Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character

Interesting, Fun Read!

I am a student in the 10th grade and, although I never would have picked this on my own, based on the content and the little information I knew about it before i started reading it, I really enjoyed this book! I had to read this book for my 10th grade honors physical science class, and was pleasantly surprised! I was dreading having to read it (I'm not much of a nonfiction/scientific reader, I like light reads), but this book made it interesting, not boring to read about Richard Feynman's encounters in the scientific world.The topics covered in this novel are nothing I ever would have suspected to interest me, but I was surprised to find that I did not actually mind reading this book. Basically Richard Feynman is retelling and recounting upon his most intriguing journeys and the memorable circumstances he has been in. It chronicles his life from the beginning, as Feynman shares his exciting personal experiences with you. It reads as though you and Mr. Feynman are sitting down, sharing funny, memorable stories with each other, a very smooth read. When reading, I almost forgot that I was reading this for an assignment, because of the way the information is presented in such a relaxed, casual way. It is a bit lengthy, but it's just interesting enough that you'll want to keep turning those pages until you've reached the end. I would highly recommend this to anyone, assigned or not!

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

i deffinatly recomend this book to anyone with a good sense of humor.

this book is not just another book only about science. it has a lot of backround in it. i read this for a science class project and it was very entertaining. it was a book that i just kept reading and reading and i couldnt put it down! Dr. Feynman retells his life which is just so entertaining to read because he lead a full life. As i read i just gouldnt help but laugh out loud. i deffinatly recomend this book for anyone who likes science but loves a good laugh as well.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Joking? Thats madness!

I have always thought about becoming a physicist and after reading this book, I am safely say that I would like to become a physicist and follow in the footsteps of Feynman. His witty charm and his down to earth tone shows how a mere man and can do soo much.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Brings science into a new light

This book is by far the most entertaining that I have ever read. He takes us through his daily adventures which seem completely unscience-like and shows that physics is not just guys in lab coats.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Great book

Great book. Feynman is a genius not only in physics but in storytelling as well.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

“Surely You’re Joking, Mr.Feynman!” by Richar

“Surely You’re Joking, Mr.Feynman!” by Richard P. Feynman was a collection of stories giving a narrative of Richard Feynman’s life as one of the most interesting men in physics in the twentieth century. I highly recommend reading, “Surely You’re Joking, Mr.Feynman!”. It was a great read; I never wanted to put it down once I would start reading. This book kept you entertained the whole way through. Feynman was quite the fascinating character, always bouncing from one adventure to the next. You see him go through life and progress as a person and a scientist. He inspires you to want to take on new challenges and learn about the different wonders our world holds. While being enthralled in the read, you also learn a lot about physics, biology, different cultures, history, arts and more!
Feynman is quite the out of the ordinary character. You see into his scientific way of thinking mind but also the goofy side to him that loved playing pranks on everyone around him. Feynman tells about his childhood, the start of his interest in science. You also learn about his time in college, learning and fooling around with his fraternity brothers, to working on the top-secret atomic bomb for World War II in Los Alamos. You hear many stories from his different professions, working in the military, traveling the world, learning the arts, to winning the Noble Prize for physics. As you watch Feynman learn throughout his life in this book, so will you. This is a great book that you must read!

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great Book!

Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman is a great novel for any type of person. You do not have to be an award winning scientist to understand or enjoy it. The novel has something in it for every type of person. It is a very well written and highly entertaining collection of stories from the life of Richard Feynman. I laughed out loud as I was reading the adventures that this man went through throughout his life and the crazy way that his discoveries came about. It is truly an inside look at the real life of Mr. Feynman. You get to see what the man was really like not only in his science and discoveries but also in his personal life. I was never bored when reading and I found myself having trouble putting the book down! The novel is definitely worth reading more than once as well. The stories never get old and you will continue to be amazed every time. As I read this book it changed by opinion of scientist and made me realize that they were just regular people that were able to come up with amazing breakthroughs. I would definitely recommend reading this book. You will not regret it!

LOVED IT!

For my science class I had to read this book and I was not very excited about it at all because I am not a big book reader. I thought it was going to be one of those books just talking about straight science. But I was wrong. Once I started the book I could not put it down! Mr. Feynman is highly intelligent and a very curious guy. All of his experiences and adventures were very funny and entertaining! Although there were some dull parts in the book because I had no idea what he was talking about. But this made me go look up the things I didn't know about and i got to learn a lot! Throughout the whole book I learned so many things without having to make myself read it. It was not just science too. There were some things in the book that I had no idea what was out there. Mr. Feynman can also relate to almost everyone in his book. Reading about his college life about girls and jokes on his fraternity was very funny. He also talked about the war and how he helped out in it. I thought that was very interesting. Overall this book was highly entertaining and I recommend it to anyone! It is an easy read and you will not be able to put the book down. I hope you will enjoy it!

amazing!

Although I'm only 13, I love this book. My dad gave this to me and it has easily become my favorite book. I think anyone that loves science should read this book.

From a Teenage Perspective

¿Surely You¿re Joking Mr. Feynman?¿ is a great book, if you¿re a physicist, and are really into science books and stuff like that. The book is made of great and funny little short stories about Richard Phillips Feynman¿s past life. If you are a fifteen year old young adult and you pick up this book, the first thing one would probably want to do is put it right back down. I recommend you do not do that this book is worth the price, and the 346 pages of reading. If it makes you happy the book also comes on disc. At the beginning of the book yes, I enjoyed it a lot. It was nothing like I thought it was going to be. It was just Feynman as a child talking about how he had a lab, and fixed radios as a kid. From reading Mr. Feynman¿s book, I can tell that his life is not as boring as most people would assume it to be. Once you get past his childhood, the book goes into when he was in a fraternity, that¿s when everything to me got interesting. People not believing what he was capable of just because of how nerdy he might have been. I thought that was quite interesting, because I have never heard of the Phi Beta Delta. Going past the Princeton years, the book got a little sciency (I know that is not a word), for me, It went way, way over my head after this point. With the equations, and all the science talk. But, once you thought the book was getting kind of weird, Feynman, had another crazy story to tell. Whether it was him getting into fights at a bar, or meeting a guy that tells him red and white makes yellow! Feynman never stopped surprising me with the way the book was going. So, I would recommend this book its fun to read, and it keeps you laughing.

Recommended indeed!!!

Richard Philip Feynman was definitely a curious character! I enjoyed reading this book very much. He led an absolutely complete life with many hilarious, and exciting adventures. All these wonderful Feynman stories are inspirational, and in some ways educational. Feynman is original and honest, and admits to what he doesn¡¯t know, and thoroughly explains his thoughts and innovations. Anyone who is curious in learning such things that he does, such as safecracking or surviving fraternities should read this book. However, his stories are randomly placed and sometimes the ending to his story is sudden and almost seems as if it was just brought up because it worth mentioning. This book is an easy read, and doesn¡¯t have many specifics on the science and the concrete history of Feynman. Nevertheless, the way it¡¯s written makes it seem as if Feynman was speaking out to the reader, making the reading experience a bit more personal. The book does not go in chronological order, and may sometimes confuse the reader but it does cover all the major parts of his life. His encounters with many famous people such as Einstein, Bohr, Nick the Greek, as well as many other famous scientists gives enough reason for one to recount their story, but the way and when he does encounter them, it makes his stories truly unique and original. One can thoroughly enjoy this well-written book containing the many accounts in his life for its picture of Feynman¡¯s curious mind. Scientists, physicists, students, safecrackers, absolutely anyone, ought to read this book!

Funny, yes, literature, no

Surely You're Joking is not my type of book. It has no sense of time, no fluidity; all of Feynman's experiences were random, when in reality they weren't. I expect memoirs to be written chronologically. This is not so because he isn't writing the book, Leighton is, so he feels free to tell his life experiences in no particular order. The experiments that Feynman tries to explain end up sounding vague, making them hard to visualize. This book could have a better editing job as well. Two good things: the subject's humor carries through, and the stellar last chapter.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Anybody will like it

I was required to read this for a class, but ended up really enjoying it. It's light-hearted, easy to understand, funny, and interesting. Who knew a Nobel Prize winner could be this funny?

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