Feynman, Richard Books

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

Richard P. Feynman, Ralph Leighton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 235 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial 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

What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character

Richard Phillips Feynman, Richard P. Feynman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 62 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Feynman...The Scientific Entertainer 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

In this sequel to "surely you must be joking Mr. Feynman," Richard Feynman once again uses his cunningness and his scientific genius to entertain. This book starts off with a brief history of him and his scientific career. Then it goes on to his wife's death. This is a very sad excerpt of the story and in this part, he communicates with you the sorrow he goes through, showing he does truly love his wife. During this portion you realize that although he is a brilliant man and is nearly untouchable in the scientific realm, he is still down to earth and goes through every thing that we do. Also in this book is the main feature, the Challenger investigation. The Challenger exploded shortly after leaving the ground and NASA wanted to know why. They pull in a group of the top scientists, mathematicians and some other random people that don't have names. Their job is to see what went wrong with the Challenger in an effort to stop this mistake from being repeated. Feynman and the others work in Washington D.C. over six months. He finally figured out and proved, with simply a glass of ice water and a part off of the Challenger, what the problem was. He used his ingenious brain and his sense of humor to establish his point and to show NASA their miniscule piece that was causing such a major problem. This book is incredibly funny and is not such a book that has large vocabulary and crazy concepts never heard by normal human ears. It is an easy read and a fun read.

Editorial Review:

A thoughtful companion volume to the earlier Surely You Are Joking Mr. Feynman!. Perhaps the most intriguing parts of the book are the behind-the-scenes descriptions of science and policy colliding in the presidential commission to determine the cause of the Challenger space shuttle explosion; and the scientific sleuthing behind his famously elegant O-ring-in-ice-water demonstration. Not as rollicking as his other memoirs, but in some ways more profound.

Classic Feynman: All the Adventures of a Curious Character

Richard P. Feynman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

An omnibus edition celebrating a great scientific mind and a legendary American original—including a live recording.

Richard Feynman (1918-1988) thrived on outrageous adventures. In the phenomenal national bestsellers "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" and "What Do You Care What Other People Think?" the Nobel Prize-winning physicist recounted in an inimitable voice his adventures trading ideas on atomic physics with Einstein and Bohr and ideas on gambling with Nick the Greek, painting a naked female toreador, accompanying a ballet on his bongo drums, solving the mystery of the Challenger disaster, and much else of an eyebrow-raising, hugely entertaining, and astounding nature. One of the most influential and creative minds of recent history, Feynman also possessed an unparalleled ability as a storyteller, a delightful coincidence celebrated in this special omnibus edition of his classic stories. Now packaged with an hour-long audio CD of the 1978 "Los Alamos from Below" lecture, Classic Feynman offers readers a chance to finally hear a great tale in the orator's own voice.

Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman

James Gleick

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 53 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The mystery of intelligence 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Richard Feynman was one of those individuals that appear on the scene and like the stars, burn bright for a short time before flickering out. In Feynman's case it is the story of a one-of-a-kind, an iconoclast who broke all the rules and relished in his bad boy reputation. He was a rampant womanizer, someone who liked to have fun but mroe than anything he was a man possessed by a brain and work ethic that causes one to gasp.

Reading the book, one discovers that it was not just his thought experiments or math skills or polymath catholicism of knowledge that impressed. All of these (or even one of these) would have have been exceptional but it was the ferocious speed of thought and the range of ideas that spewed forth. Indeed, even he admits he was not always right but like a bubbling cauldron, the conjectures and propositions kept rising to the top.

The writing hit just the right balance between necessary detail and a layman's attempt to grasp his latest scheme. This is not an easy read for someone not aware of scientific advances or cognizant of recent theories in quantum mechanics. Yet - and this is what I find so distinctive - he managed to break down the most frightenting complexity to smaller problems that could be solved. Despite his abhorance of philosophy, art, music - the liberal arts that have dominated over hard science - his finding had deep philosophical conotations - cause and effect, time, predictability, chaos and order. He hated pretense (the "new" math), rote memorization, a single methodology and any kind of fuzzy thinking. His brilliant mind raced ahead of his speech as he thought of newer and better ways to arrive at solutions.

Like Einstien, he engaged in thought experiments. Einstein rode a beam of light; Feynman inhabited an electron or haydron or photon or meson or any of the innumercable sub-level particles. Like Einstein his work ethic was legendary and he was held in awe by those who knew him best. Unlike Einstein, his formulas were too esoteric for appreciation by the general public, no easy e=mc2. But thankfully he differed from Eingstein in another respect - Feynman remained scientifically creative until the end. He reveled in his allure - to women and men - yet he found peace in domesticity at last. In some ways it is almost impossible to approach such genius - all we can do is follow the path of all probabilities (lol).

Editorial Review:

If you've read any of Richard Feynman's wonderful autobiographies you may think that a biography of Feynman would be a waste of your time. Wrong! Gleick's Genius is a masterpiece of scientific biography--and an inspiration to anyone in pursuit of their own fulfillment as a person of genius. Deservedly nominated for a National Book Award, underservedly passed over by the committee in the face of tough competition, and very deservedly a book that you must read.

No Ordinary Genius: The Illustrated Richard Feynman

Richard Phillips Feynman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

From Physics to Touva! 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

My reading of "Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman" was surely "forced" me to read the life of Richard Feynman furthermore: NO ORDINARY GENIUS is a GREAT BOOK. Family, friends and colleagues of Feynman share their views regarding the genius (with bump's-language-style) Feynman. The photos are great and can make a good spot on his life. Truly inspiring especially when he stated that he's an irresponsible man! And also, he couldnt stop to do physics until several days before his death: he's still doing the physics in 70. Feynman also brought the tiny-state named TOUVA to the world: even a geographic teacher wouldn't know bout this region! Buy this book, okay?

The Illustrated Richard Feynman 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Excellent book for anyone looking for a pictorial representation of Feynman.

fun character fun book! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book made me laughed and it made me cry but most importantly it taught me a lot, not just about feynman but a lot more other stuff like science, life, having fun and reminded me why I got into science in the first place. It was very inpirational as well as fun.

If you want to know a little about what feynman was like, then you must read this book. I said
"little" because there is no way you will ever get to know this man just by reading a book. This book was really good at taking out the really good stuff from other books and integrating it.

I like what his friends and family had to say about him and adventures they had, as much as when Feynman was quoted. It is
really interesting and gives you a really deep insight on stuff he may not had put into his other books.

Even if you don't like to read biographies, or care about feynman, you could read this book like a novel. Its little
stories are so interesting funny (sometimes sad) that you forget that you are reading a biography. I say this because
reading biogrphies usually gets me bored. Not this one however, its and adventure!

After I read this book I felt like I lost a friend and mentor--it was that good or perhaps feyman's life was that interesting--I actually missed a guy I never met before! It sounds flaky, but I guessed Feynman would had liked it that way!

Alex Lee
...

Editorial Review:

A life of the late Nobel Prize-winning physicist features more than a hundred photographs and interviews with family, friends, and Feynman himself, offering insight into the mind of a great creative scientist at work and play. Reprint.

Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track

Richard P. Feynman

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"Few books really are 'a joy to read.' This one, full of charm and wisdom, truly is." (New Scientist) A Nobel Prize-winning physicist, a loving husband and father, an enthusiastic teacher, a surprisingly accomplished bongo player, and a genius of the highest caliber---Richard P. Feynman was all these and more. Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track--collecting over forty years' worth of Feynman's letters--offers an unprecedented look at the writer and thinker whose scientific mind and lust for life made him a legend in his own time. Containing missives to and from such scientific luminaries as Victor Weisskopf, Stephen Wolfram, James Watson, and Edward Teller, as well as a remarkable selection of letters to and from fans, students, family, and people from around the world eager for Feynman's advice and counsel, Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track not only illuminates the personal relationships that underwrote the key developments in modern science, but also forms the most intimate look at Feynman yet available. Feynman was a man many felt close to but few really knew, and this collection reveals the full wisdom and private passion of a personality that captivated everyone it touched. Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track is an eloquent testimony to the virtue of approaching the world with an inquiring eye; it demonstrates the full extent of the Feynman legacy like never before. Edited and with additional commentary by his daughter Michelle, it's a must-read for Feynman fans everywhere, and for anyone seeking to better understand one of the towering figures--and defining personalities--of the twentieth century.

"This collection of letters shows us for the first time the son caring for his father and mother, the father caring for his wife and children, the teacher caring for his students, the writer replying to people throughout the world who wrote to him about their problems and received his full and undivided attention." (Freeman Dyson, New York Review of Books)

"With the publication of Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track, we get Feynman direct-from his mind to the stationery and into the envelope. Compiled by his daughter, Michelle Feynman, the result is a labor of love and, at times, too much of a good thing.... Feynman often insisted that he couldn't write. Now we know better. It was another of his jokes." (Los Angeles Times Book Review)

"Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track: The Letters of Richard P. Feynman makes palpable the legend that surrounds this Nobel laureate and Caltech physics professor nonpareil. His correspondence affords the intimate yet respectful conversation with a genius usually reserved for a close friend or member of the family." (Christian Science Monitor)

Tuva or Bust! Richard Feynman's Last Journey

Ralph Leighton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Richard Feynman, brilliant physicist and inspirational teacher, wasn't much for coats and ties. He lived a life that the adjective "bohemian" doesn't begin to cover, scripting percussion scores for avant-garde ballet troupes, musing over life's imponderables, and delighting and annoying his many friends with odd-duck questions--all the while teaching generations of students at CalTech.

Always adventurous, Feynman was also a careful planner, recounts his friend and fellow drummer Ralph Leighton in this affectionate memoir. When a chance remark happened to dislodge a long-dormant memory of a faraway Siberian land called Tannu-Tuva, Feynman and Leighton set about scheming to get there--a program that included learning the little-described Tuvan language, picking up the rudiments of throat singing, and reading the scattered, hard-to-find literature concerning a place that, in Feynman's fond view, was as close to paradise as the earth contained. It also involved corresponding with scholars in what was still the Soviet Union and wrangling with bureaucrats to secure the necessary papers--all for the sake of seeing a country that had to be interesting, Feynman insisted, just because its capital, Kyzyl, had such an odd spelling.

These picaresque armchair adventures make up the bulk of Tuva or Bust, an unconventional mix of travelogue and scientific biography that's a pleasure to read at every turn. The book yields a memorable picture of Richard Feynman--who did not live to see Tuva, but whose memory is honored there today, thanks to Leighton's refusal to abandon their shared dream. --Gregory McNamee

Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track: The Letters of Richard P. Feynman

Richard P. Feynman

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Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Finding out about someone by reading their correspondence is a fundamentally different thing than reading their biography. Letters offer both more intimacy with the subject and at the same time a crucial distance--the exact distance the letter-writer intended from the people to whom he was writing. In Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track, Michelle Feynman collects her famous father's letters to reveal a warm, honest man with high expectations for himself, his loved ones, and the human race. Long before Richard Feynman won the Nobel Prize, he was a smart, skinny graduate student at Princeton, writing letters to his mother and relating the mundane details of college life. "Dear Mom.... The raincoat came O.K. It is very nice," he writes. By the time he finished his Ph.D., Feynman had fallen for Arline Greenbaum, who had already been diagnosed with tuberculosis. Their tragically short marriage is set in letters against Feynman's first job--working on the atomic bomb project at Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Even while working on top secret physics, Feynman was an enthusiastic correspondent, jumping eagerly at the chance to encourage a young scientist, correct a public misperception, or tell a goofy joke to his family. Self-effacing, charmingly down to earth, and occasionally cranky, these letters cover Feynman's entire career, although in the fits and starts one would expect from a collection such as this. His own words to students, spouses, daughters, and fellow scientists reveal Feynman's brilliance far more effectively than any biographical lens ever could. --Therese Littleton

Feynman's Rainbow: A Search for Beauty in Physics and in Life

Leonard Mlodinow

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 50 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Physics from Below 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

The book jacket made me worry that the book was going to be a namby pamby "Tuesdays With Morrie" affair :-) because the jacket said something about "a young physicist [author Mlodinow] trying to find his place in the world, and .. the famous, old, and dying colleague whose wisdom helped him". Luckily, "Feynman's Rainbow" turns out to be more fun and light and memorable and show-don't-tell than the Morrie book, although there is a slight resemblance.

The best feature of the book is that it lets the reader feel what it's like for an "ordinary" person to be around greatness and around history. There are plenty of serious books about the giants, and they might even include a few quotes from neighbors or secretaries about the giants, but this book actually lets the reader *feel* what it's like to live with the great, day after day, in an interesting Rosencrantz-and-Guildenstern way as described below in (1). In that sense, the fact that the book is actually about the author and only peripherally about Feynman is part of it's charm. So, the main character's (author's) "I'm finding myself" phase of life is slightly tedious in the book, true, but the tedium actually works to give a being-there/slice-of-life appeal, and I wouldn't complain about it. For example, the slumping main character's (author's) slight confusedness and whininess makes a context that allows Feynman to be impatient with him in (a more gentle version of) Don-Corleone's ", what's the matter with you?" way.

(1) My favorite parts of the book are actually the stuff in the background of the book's story--e.g., backdrop stuff like the sad-sack string-theory nutjob (!) Schwarz who was pitied and ridiculed by everyone (even grad students) at Caltech and who was allowed to remain on the faculty (but with no tenure) only due to the support of his single high-profile supporter in the Physics faculty. Such backdrop parts of the book have a lovely Rosencrantz & Guildenstern feel to them because they invert the usual ordering of the big picture (e.g., string theory) and the little picture (Mlodinow's mundane concerns). Stephen Wolfram also makes a cameo. Such backdrop parts may be especially enjoyable to readers who have some existing knowledge of physics. (Physics = Hamlet, in the analogy.)

(2) Other great not-quite-foreground parts of the book involve Feynman, of course, and/or Murray Gell-Mann. Feynman is familiar to most readers. But what an interesting guy is Gell-Mann! The book made me want to read his books and biography next. His relationship with Feynman is so awesome and is discussed at various points in the book. The single-sentence (or so) description of how Gell-Mann and Feynman spent their time together in Feynman's last months is very touching, like something out of a movie. A great, great movie or book can be made on the yin and yang and the relationship between these two guys. [Maybe one has already been made; I don't know.] The relationship in the hypothetical movie would resemble that portrayed between Salieri and Mozart in the movie "Amadeus", but with Salieri's being just as much of a genius (but of an opposite type) as Mozart, and with Salieri's being mostly not evil. Pitch to the studios: "'Grumpy Old Men', starring Amadeus and a genius version of Salieri". :-)

(3) And what makes the book work, that can keep things light, are the goofy little anecdotes. Not knee-slappingly funny or anything, but nice. Here's an example. Feynman and the author, both hungry and casually-dressed, see a wedding reception at Caltech's Athenaeum and crash in to get fed. When asked whether they are from the bride's side or the groom's side, Feynman replies, "We represent the Physics Department". Ha ha. By the way, the quote evinces a great, jaunty attitude and therefore is a good slogan for life (that anyone can adopt, with appropriate substitution for "Physics Department").

Finally, let's note that the book is breezily good but should not be read with high expectations because it is not and does not try to be the "great" type of book.

Editorial Review:

Einstein's Dreams meets Tuesdays with Morrie in Leonard Mlodinow's touching memoir about the guidance granted him by his mentor, the brilliant physicist Richard Feynman. For some, it was that special connection with a grandparent or a football coach, a boss, or a cleric. For Leonard Mlodinow, as a young physicist struggling to find his place in the world, the relationship that would most profoundly influence his life was with his mentor, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman. Drawing on transcripts from his many meetings with Feynman during their time together at Cal Tech, Mlodinow shares Feynman's provocative answers to such questions as "What is the nature of creativity?" and "How does a scientist think?" At once a moving portrait of a friendship and an affecting account of Feynman's final, creative years, FEYNMAN'S RAINBOW celebrates the inspiring legacy of one of the greatest thinkers of our time.

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

Richard P. Feynman, Edward Hutchings

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Read this book: it's entertaining 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 13 people found this review helpful.

If you have ever wondered how a dishonest, drunken, whoremongering, bar-room-brawling junkie can also be a Nobel-prize-winning physicist then this book will provide the answer.

At least Feynman was not boring. Considering how many physicists nowadays are, this is no small thing.

coolio book 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

this is one of the best books ever. being in Geometry and using the pythagorean theorem, deals A LOT with numbers being squared. with the neat little trick i learned in this book, i hardly ever use my calculator if the number is around 50 or any multiple of 50. it has saved a lot of my time and i am not kidding, Mr. Feynman is a genius. WOW!!! =)

Feynman on Audio CDs 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I read Surely Your Joking for the 1st time in late 1987. My daughter got if for me at my request for my birthday. Actually I asked her for something by Phillip Morrison but while she was shopping in the San Jose State bookstore she forgot what physicist I was interested and got Feynman's book instead.

I'm glad she made that innocent mistake. Feynman knocked me out. Raymond Todd's reading on the 10 CD audio set is outstanding. I'm buying my daughter a set for herself.

Editorial Review:

This winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in physics tells his astonishing life story, a combustible mixture of high intelligence, unlimited curiosity, eternal skepticism, and raging chutzpah.