http://ijustfinishedreading.tribe.net/thread/0d8df168-0c16-4832-acd6-3af679a96ec7?format=rss Tribe.net. Local Connections http://ijustfinishedreading.tribe.net/thread/0d8df168-0c16-4832-acd6-3af679a96ec7#a16d1dd0-b77a-4fe1-8239-928a37a9b8d4 Years ago NPR had a program titled "The Radio Reader" where a variety of books were read by a delightful narrator. "Surely Your Joking Mr. Feynman!" was one of the books incuded on the series. I intended to read the book but time got away from me. Thanks for the reminder. I will add this to my list! Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:03:20 GMT http://ijustfinishedreading.tribe.net/thread/0d8df168-0c16-4832-acd6-3af679a96ec7#a16d1dd0-b77a-4fe1-8239-928a37a9b8d4 Helen 2009-06-16T14:03:20Z http://ijustfinishedreading.tribe.net/thread/0d8df168-0c16-4832-acd6-3af679a96ec7#f81c8d95-c683-432b-8597-efd789b2ecc6 By Richard P. Feynman. Rocket science made fun. The amusing, spirited, free life of a scientist in the form of an autobiography written in anecdotes. Truly anarchic and irreverent as only the mind of the highly intelligent can be, Richard Feynman is telling stories from his days in Cambridge, at his lab, in his class room, his travels,about interesting people he met etc. The title comes from the famous anecdote about the day he had to attend one of the innumerable tea and cucumber sandwich parties at the house of a research colleague in the small, quiet town of Cambridge, UK. When the very distinguished and extremely well mannered lady of the house, the professor's wife, was serving the Darjeeling, he answered her question:"Would you prefer lemon or cream, Mr. Feynman?" with "Both, please." and she politely inquired:"Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman?" one review that sums it up better than I ever could: 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, on amazon.com Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:54:43 GMT http://ijustfinishedreading.tribe.net/thread/0d8df168-0c16-4832-acd6-3af679a96ec7#f81c8d95-c683-432b-8597-efd789b2ecc6 Canela, too hot for you 2009-06-16T04:54:43Z