Book SummarySurely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, by Richard Feynman

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!

Unlike most award-winning scientists, Richard Feynman is more commonly remembered for his quirky wit, his adventurous spirit, and his colorful personality than for his achievements in the world of physics. Feynman began his career as a young theoretician working on the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb during World War II. He went on to do research at Cornell and Caltech, and he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1965 for his work on quantum mechanics.

However, that’s not the story Feynman wants to tell. After all, his discoveries in the realm of science were merely one result of his lifelong love of learning and adventure—of seeking out new experiences, exploring new skills, widening his horizons, and living life to its fullest. Throughout his tales runs a thread of inquisitive delight that shows how intellectual rigor and persistence can go hand-in-hand with excitement and fun.

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Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Summary The Life of Richard Feynman

Rather than focusing on the major events in Richard Feynman’s biography, the stories in Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! take place around them. Feynman shares the details of his life through the incidents and adventures he most liked to talk about, rather than what others might consider more significant, such as his research in quantum mechanics or his work on the atomic bomb. In this section, we’ll explore the shape of Feynman’s life, from his years in school at Princeton and MIT, his participation in the Manhattan Project, and his return to the academic world, during which (and much to his annoyance) he earned a Nobel Prize.

Richard Feynman was born in New York on May 11, 1918. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1935-1939 and was reluctant to leave after finishing his undergraduate work. However, MIT’s rules required its undergraduates to complete their advanced degrees elsewhere, so Feynman did his graduate studies at Princeton University until earning his doctorate in 1942. Although he found Princeton to have a stuffier, more formal culture than MIT, Feynman describes its physics...

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Summary Richard Feynman’s Values

Though Feynman’s recollections in his memoir may seem to bounce from topic to topic at random, they all exemplify certain key values that underlie Feynman’s idiosyncratic personality. At Feynman’s core is a deep love of learning, which expresses itself in a variety of ways. In the remainder of this guide, we’ll explore how Feynman’s values shaped his approach to problem-solving, teaching, intellectual honesty, and living life to its fullest.

Curiosity and Persistence

When Feynman talks about his life, one trait that stands out is his determination to understand how and why things work. He applied his curiosity to everything in life, not merely his scientific endeavors, and coupled it with a dogged persistence that made him stand out from his peers, often in unusual ways. Feynman’s childhood curiosity led him to pursue an education in math and science, but as an adult his curious nature expanded his horizons into fields such as safecracking and artistic expression.

Feynman recalls that as far back as his early teens, he was already tinkering with electronics. For him, it was more like play than formalized science or engineering. He didn’t follow any standard...

Shortform Exercise: Look Back on the Joy of Learning

Through his lifelong love of solving puzzles and figuring things out, Richard Feynman exemplified the notion that curiosity, persistence, and fun go hand-in-hand. Think about the times in your life when you’ve felt driven to solve some puzzle or learn something new, and how the process of discovery made you feel.

Describe a skill or an area of knowledge (such as painting, trading stocks, or driving a car) that you felt an urge to master at some point in your life. What process did you use to go about learning?