Customer Reviews
Mr Feynman, you are awful...but I like you! - By: Jack Victor, 22 Jan 2008 
What an interesting book! Richard Feynman was an acknowledged genius & this is not an autobiography in the normal sense. Compiled from a series of interviews set up for the purpose, Feynman's sense of fun & sheer joy of physics, maths & life in general shines through.
He is not shy in taking credit where it is due - he certainly "gets" things reallly quickly where others struggle - but is also surprisingly honest when describing his relationships for example & is quite happy to acknowledge the efforts made by others. This is an easy book to "dip" into & one can also sit down & devote significant time to it. Not only is this one of the best science books I have read it is one of the best biographies I have read full stop.
I can't help feeling that if you were to happen acros RF in a bar (and that would not be an unusual occurrence) you would find him a pleasant & interesting companion.
Clarity and Class - By: M. Nair, 07 Dec 2007 Reading this book is like suddenly being best friends with one of the most talented & inspiring personalities of the last century. The preface points out a very relevant fact--Feynman's remarkable observations & adventures enough to add colour to a hundred lives, & we are only given occasional glimpses of his day job. The depth of his personality & the fluidity of his mind shine through in this book, hopefully to help clear some cobwebs from within our own heads.
Get curious about this - By: D. Nelson, 01 Nov 2007 This book is a collection of anecdotes by Richard P. Feynman who was a Theoretical Physicist famous for winning the Nobel prize & his earlier work on the Manhattan project responsible for creating the first Atomic Bomb, the two being unrelated. In spite of the stereotypical image of theoretical physicists, or even leading scientists in general, "Dick" was renowned for his character which endeared him to many who knew him & as well as having a keen intellect this book also shows his fun-loving creative side & the fact he was also a great story teller.
The stories in this book begin early on in his childhood when he was tampering with & repairing valve-based radio's through to his time studying at MIT & Princeton then through his years at Los Alamos working on the Bomb going onto his later years teaching at Caltech & in Brazil where he learned to speak Portuguese & play Samba music. Each story is well described & as long as necessary, it's been well edited so you're rarely reminded that these were story's that were not delivered for a book but were told in a far more personal setting. The layout & organisation build an image of how his character was developed throughout the years & his curiosity & love of science as well as his ignorance to social etiquette shine through the words on the pages. The later chapters deliver his passion for genuine scientific method & thorough hard work & attention to detail which would be a good moral for anyone to take from reading this book.
Very enjoyable throughout, a must for anyone with or without an interest in science & the key figures who influenced alll of our lives.
This was the book that made me really understand what the word 'genius' actually means - By: Steve Mitchener, 30 Sep 2007 I read about Richard Feynman in an obituary in a newspaper back in 1988. Fascinated I bought this book, which turned out to be one of the best (if not the best) autobiographies that I have ever read. A safe-cracking, bongo playing, nobel prize winning genius. He was the the scientist on the panel of the space shuttle challlenger disaster that identified the main cause of the explosion & traced the design flaw back to complacency within NASA; this story is told in his second autobiographical story: 'What Do You Care What Other People Think?' Scientific books written by him that I also enjoyed (not sure how much I actuallly understood) are: 'Six Easy Pieces' & 'QED - The Strange Theory of Light & Matter'. Finallly, if you are reallly hooked I can recommend James Gleick's biography of Feynman, simply but aptly named: Genius. It says it alll!
Brilliant, inspirational and very funny! - By: Lance Mitchell, 06 Sep 2007 There can be no argument that Richard P Feynman was a genius. He has been a hero of mine since I was very young, probably because my father also greatly admires him & spoke to me about Feynman & his unique personality from time to time.
There are some great stories in this book & they will make you laugh out loud. Feynman was always so full of life & he was curious about absolutely everything from a very early age. He would always want to know, "How does that work?" or "Why is that the way it is?" or "Is there another way to do that?" He would also latch onto something & decide that he wanted to do it, & to do it reallly well. For example, witnessing the bongo-playing in Brazil inspired him to learn to play like that & not like some studio-taught purist. He achieved it through dedication to his objective & sheer passion.
What made Feynman a genius? Well, there were lots of factors that contributed to his status, many of them discussed in other reviews of this book, but, my reason for putting him into that classification was that he was capable of explaining the most complex of matters to a five-year-old. That is TRUE genius.
I have read this book many times. It is a short book & will remain amongst my collection until the day that I die. If you haven't read it already, you should. You reallly need to read this book. I can guarantee that it will change at least one aspect of your life!
