Several people suggested that I read “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!“. That is why, when I got my new Kindle, “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!” was the first book I bought.
Richard Feynman was a trained theoretical physics who co-won the Nobel Prize. From reading the book, I discovered that Feynman was also a drummer, a painter, an expert on Native American mathematics, safecracker, a samba player, and an educator. The more I read this book, the more astonished I was about Feynman’s personality and his story.
When I was half the way through the book, I decided to read the Amazone reviews. When reading reviews, I tend to look for the one- and two- stars, to seed my critical thinking. I wish I haven’t done that. The reviewers were talking about how arrogant and self-bragging man Feynman was, and how it must have been terrible to work with him. I almost stopped reading the book after being exposed to those reviews.
Admittedly, Richard Feynman never missed an opportunity to brag about himself and to emphasize how many achievements he made without meaning to do so, almost by accident. Every once in a while, he mentioned many people who were much better than him in that particular field that managed to conquer. I call this pattern a self-bragging modesty, and it is a pattern typical of many successful people. Nevertheless, given all his achievements, I think that Feynman deserves the right to be self-bragging. Being proud of your accomplishments isn’t arrogance, and is a natural thing to do. “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!” is fun to read, is very informative and inspirational. I think that everyone who calls themselves a scientist or considers being a scientist should read this book.
P.S. After completing the book, I took some time to watch several Feynman’s lectures on YouTube. It turned out that besides being a good physicist, Feynman was also a great teacher.
Boris Gorelik 