a few years ago, i was at a party at my old roommate's apartment, and i overheard a conversation where my friend johnny was stating that an iq test really didn't have anything to do with intelligence. he went on to comment that he had read this book ('surely youre joking') and recommended it to all three of us standing there.
"what's it about?" i asked.
"richard feynman," answered johnny, "he was a physicist. he discovered what caused the challenger shuttle explosion."
thinking this must obviously be the most boring book in the universe, i decided to ignore johnny and his weird tastes for the rest of the night.
fast forward two weeks. setting: barnes & noble booksellers.
walking around, i somehow found myself in the "biography" section, and for one reason or another, feynman popped into my head. after searching for ten minutes on "feinman" and "ryman", i finally spot it. "surely youre joking, mr feynman". i pick it up, carry it to a large overstuffed chair, sit down, and begin reading.
needless to say, i bought the book. i read half of it there in the store, took it home, read the rest of it the same day, and then re-read the whole thing a week later. this book is great! it is chock-full of amusing feynman anecdotes, as opposed to the history of physics. feyman has a way of explaining things that nobody else can, and his life was a very interesting (and worth reading about) one. he worked on the a-bomb, learned how to break into just about any safe, played the bongos, and indeed did figure out why the challenger exploded. all this, and he maintained a sense of humor and being throughout it.
you don't need to know anything about physics to read about the life of feymna. its really more of a book about life than anything, and id highly suggest anyone interested in a good, quick read check out this book.
(i know people look at me the same way i looked at johnny when he recommended this. but, seriously! check it out, youll be glad you did.)
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