Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman – by Richard Feynman

Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman is an incredible book. It is one of those books that you’re sad to finish. It is a series of short stories told by Mr. Feynman himself that cover the span of his life. He was a talented storyteller among many other things. I imagine that he is most known for winning a Nobel Prize in Physics and working on the Manhattan Project. After reading the book, I started to research more about him and found lots of great interviews on youtube.

The book begins with his childhood and continues all the way to the end of his life. Starting at the age of 6 or 7 Mr. Feynman began experimenting and learning science. He took apart and fixed little devices like radios. Later he worked in hotels and tried to improve methods in hotel rooms He went to college for Physics where he was in a fraternity at MIT. Professionally, he worked as a Physicists and college professor. He worked on the Manhattan project, learned to play in a Brazilian Samba band, learned to draw, learned how to speak Portuguese, and many other things. He had a truly fascinating life.

One thing that I loved about him was how he, and I assume many physicists, look at the world so differently than everyone else. I guess if I had to try to sum up the difference, I would say they don’t fool themselves, whereas the rest of us fool ourselves constantly. They don’t change the variables to fit their theory, they examine the variables to deduce a theory. They ask hard questions and don’t pretend they know something they don’t. The answer ‘I don’t know’ is acceptable and satisfactory.

Mr. Feynman’s last request in the book was to have scientific integrity. He requests, “Don’t fool yourself, which is the hardest thing to do…”. He said that the world is moving toward pseudoscience. People hold experiments to get results that point in the direction that the experimenters wish instead of trying to uncover Truth. Always state very clearly any and all problems with the study and ways it can be improved. State things that you don’t know and are not sure of. Also, when using someone else’s research, reproduce the study first. Don’t assume that the study which you are referencing was correct. Make sure it is reproducible before changing variables. Mr. Feynman was very disappointed with the direction that science was going at the end of his life.

Mr. Feynman lived from 1918-1988. I really admire him and would recommend this book to anyone who has a passion for learning, science, or adventure. It is full of wonderful and funny stories. Sometimes it gets deep into science, but it is easy to push through a half-page of something you might not understand in order to get to more funny and adventurous parts. Not understanding his scientific explanations does not impede your ability to understand and appreciate his narrative.