Week 50: Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!

Last week I read Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! a memoir by Richard Feynman. In case you don’t know who he is, Richard Feynman is one of the coolest people to live during the 20th century. Not only was he a Nobel-prize winning quantum physicist who helped invent the atomic bomb, he dabbled in biology, he was a professional musician (he played in an all-percussion ballet that competed in international choreography competitions, a safecracker, a professional artist (mostly sketches), and an all-around smart ass.

Dick Feynman had a great way of looking at the world: he was curious. He was always trying to figure out how things worked, and when he did, he would exploit that knowledge to mess with people just for fun. I really admire his ability to find literally any topic interesting – it’s really refreshing in a world where you see healthcare experts focusing only on healthcare because “everything else is boring,” and technology folks focusing only on technology because “that’s where the innovation is.” There are amazing things all around us and Feynman understood that it’s patently ridiculous to blind ourselves to that.

I wish I could relate to you some of the funny stories in Surely You’re Joking, but what makes this book so engaging and fun is its conversational tone. You feel like you’re just hanging out with your Physics professor, listening to his crazy stories about the atomic bomb tests or playing in carnival, or all the different ways he tried hitting on girls. It would be a disservice to the book if I summarized one of those chapters for you.

 

Richard Feynman’s hilarious. He’s way more multi-talented than any of us will ever be, but that shouldn’t stop us from trying. Definitely read this book.

 

 

 

 

See the full list of books that I’ve read for this project here.