Surely Youre Joking, Mr. Feynman!..., Richard P. Feynman
Surely Youre Joking, Mr. Feynman!..., Richard P. Feynman
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“Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!”
Adventures of a Curious Character

Author: Richard P. Feynman, Edward Hutchings

Narrator: Raymond Todd

Unabridged: 10 hr 40 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download (DRM Protected)

Published: 01/01/1997

Synopsis

One of the most famous science books of our time, the phenomenal national bestseller that “buzzes with energy, anecdote and life. It almost makes you want to become a physicist” (Science Digest).Richard Feynman, one of the world’s greatest theoretical physicists, thrived on adventure. His outrageous exploits once shocked a Princeton dean’s wife to exclaim: “Surely you’re joking, Mr. Feynman!”In this phenomenal national bestseller, the Nobel Prize–winning physicist recounts in his inimitable voice his experiences 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, and much else of an eyebrow-raising and hilarious nature. Woven together with his views on science, Feynman’s life story is a combustible mixture of high intelligence, unlimited curiosity, eternal skepticism, and raging chutzpah.

About Richard P. Feynman

Richard P. Feynman (1918–1988) earned a BS from MIT and a PhD from Princeton. From 1942 to 1945, he assisted with the development of the atomic bomb. He then taught at Cornell and Caltech, where he contributed to the theories of superfluidity and quarks. He shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics for work on the theory of quantum electrodynamics.

About Ralph Leighton

Ralph Leighton is a biographer, film producer, and friend of the late physicist Richard Feynman. Leighton’s recordings of Feynman became the basis for the books Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! and What Do You Care What Other People Think?, which were later combined into the hardcover anniversary edition Classic Feynman: All the Adventures of a Curious Character. 

About Raymond Todd

Raymond Todd is an actor and director in the theater as well as a poet and documentary filmmaker. He plays jazz trombone for the Leatherstocking quartet, an ensemble that gets its name from one of his favorite Blackstone narrations, The Deerslayer. Todd lives in New York.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Emily on March 02, 2009

This book of anecdotes is written in a very casual, fun way that makes it easy to read. The problem is that the author, Nobel-Prize-winning physicist Dick Feynman, is annoying. All the anecdotes involve him discovering a hidden talent, using it, delighting others (or himself if that's his real goal)......more

Goodreads review by Otis on March 22, 2017

This book was a pure delight. The subtitle "Adventures of a Curious Character" is spot-on. Feynman gave an amazingly human and honest view into his philosophy and take on life, thought a series of stories. One thing that struck me most deeply was his passion for learning new things. You would think a......more

Goodreads review by Dr. Appu on April 14, 2023

Richard P. Feynman was a winner of the Nobel prize in physics. This book tells us about various escapades he had in his life. I have read a few books written by Nobel Prize winners in Physics. Most of them were written formally about the academy stuff related to Physics. I knew what I had to ex......more

Goodreads review by Rosh ~catching up slowly~ on October 22, 2024

Want to read a book that is full of bragging and humblebragging? Here’s a great option that fits the bill! Reading this was like sitting across a table with an interesting person, only to realise that he finds just one topic interesting: himself. Pompous prig alert! 😬 What Richard Feynman wanted me t......more

Goodreads review by Manny on December 05, 2024

Everyone has a collection of favorite stories that they enjoy telling; but it's unusual for the stories to be so good that a friend insists on writing them down, so that other people can appreciate them too. When I read this book, I almost feel that Feynman's telling the stories himself. Well, when......more

Quotes

“A storyteller in the tradition of Mark Twain. He proves once again that it is possible to laugh out loud and scratch your head at the same time.” New York Times Book Review

“Quintessential Feynman—funny, brilliant, bawdy…enormously entertaining.” New Yorker

“A chain reaction is not a bad analogy for Feynman’s life. From a critical mass of gray matter it goes off in all directions, producing both heat and light.” Time

“Books like this are temptations—to give up reading and devote life to rereading…The book is as litmus paper: anyone who can read it without laughing out loud is bad crazy.” Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Buzzes with energy, anecdote, and life. It almost makes you want to become a physicist.” Science Digest

“Mr. Feynman’s escapades are worthy of being read aloud…Raymond Todd seems to get as much pleasure out of the diversities of Feynman’s career as the scientist did through living them.” AudioFile

“Raymond Todd gives an extraordinary performance bringing to evanescent life the amusing adventures of this Nobel prize-winning physicist…Refreshingly honest, iconoclastic, thought-provoking, this one-of-a-kind classic is a must for every collection.” Library Journal

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