Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
	First edition
Author	Ralph Leighton and Richard Feynman
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Physics
Genre	Autobiography, Biography, Non-fiction
Publisher	W.W. Norton (US)
Publication date	1985 (US)
Media type	Print (Hardcover & Paperback) also Audio book
Pages	350 p. (US hardcover edition) & 322 p. (US paperback edition)
ISBN	0-393-01921-7 (US hardcover edition)
OCLC	10925248
Dewey Decimal	530/.092/4 B 19
LC Class	QC16.F49 A37 1985
Followed by	What Do You Care What Other People Think?

"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character is an edited collection of reminiscences by the Nobel Prize–winning physicist Richard Feynman. The book, released in 1985, covers a variety of instances in Feynman's life. The anecdotes in the book are based on recorded audio conversations that Feynman had with his close friend and drumming partner Ralph Leighton.

Summary[]

The book has many stories which are lighthearted in tone, such as his fascination with safe-cracking, studying various languages, participating with groups of people who share different interests (such as biology or philosophy), and ventures into art and samba music.

Other stories cover more serious material, including his work on the Manhattan Project (during which his first wife Arline Greenbaum died of tuberculosis) and his critique of the science education system in Brazil. The section "Monster Minds" describes his slightly nervous presentation of his graduate work on the Wheeler–Feynman absorber theory in front of Albert Einstein, Wolfgang Pauli, Henry Norris Russell, John von Neumann, and other major scientists of the time.

The anecdotes were edited from taped conversations that Feynman had with his close friend and drumming partner Ralph Leighton. Its surprise success led to a sequel, What Do You Care What Other People Think?, also taken from Leighton's taped conversations. Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! became a national bestseller.^[1]

The closing chapter, "Cargo Cult Science," is adapted from the address that Feynman gave during the 1974 commencement exercises at the California Institute of Technology.^[2]

The book's title derives from a woman's response at Princeton University when, after she asked the newly arrived Feynman if he wanted cream or lemon in his tea, he absentmindedly requested both.^[3]

Criticism[]

Murray Gell-Mann was upset by Feynman's account in the book of the weak interaction work, and threatened to sue, resulting in a correction being inserted in later editions.^[4]

Feynman was criticized for a chapter titled "You Just Ask Them?" where he recounts picking up a woman by deliberately insulting her with a misogynistic term after the woman seemingly plays him for free food.^[5]^[6]^[7] Feynman states at the end of the chapter that this behavior wasn't typical.

Publication data[]

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character, Richard Feynman, Ralph Leighton (contributor), Edward Hutchings (editor), 1985, W. W. Norton, ISBN 0-393-01921-7, 1997 paperback: ISBN 0-393-31604-1, 2002 Blackstone Audiobooks unabridged audio cassette: ISBN 0-7861-2218-8

References[]

^ "Overview of Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!". wwnorton.com. W. W. Norton & Company.
^ Feynman, Richard (1974). "Cargo Cult Science" (PDF). Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!. Retrieved 2021-02-19 – via calteches.library.caltech.edu.
^ Feynman, Richard (1997). Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-393-31604-9 – via Google Books.
^ Johnson, George (July 2001). "The Jaguar and the Fox". The Atlantic. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
^ Gleick 1992, pp. 287–91 and 341–45.
^ Urry, Meg (August 9, 2014). "Male scientists, don't harass young female colleagues". CNN.com. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
^ Koren, Marina (October 24, 2018). "Lawrence Krauss and the Legacy of Harassment in Science". The Atlantic. Retrieved May 14, 2021.

External links[]

Quotations related to Richard Feynman at Wikiquote

[1] "Overview of Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!". wwnorton.com. W. W. Norton & Company.

[2] Feynman, Richard (1974). "Cargo Cult Science" (PDF). Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!. Retrieved 2021-02-19 – via calteches.library.caltech.edu.

[3] Feynman, Richard (1997). Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-393-31604-9 – via Google Books.

[4] Johnson, George (July 2001). "The Jaguar and the Fox". The Atlantic. Retrieved July 16, 2016.

[FOOTNOTEGleick1992287–91_and_341–45-5] Gleick 1992, pp. 287–91 and 341–45.

[6] Urry, Meg (August 9, 2014). "Male scientists, don't harass young female colleagues". CNN.com. Retrieved May 14, 2021.

[7] Koren, Marina (October 24, 2018). "Lawrence Krauss and the Legacy of Harassment in Science". The Atlantic. Retrieved May 14, 2021.

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hide v t Richard Feynman
Career	Feynman diagram Feynman–Kac formula Wheeler–Feynman absorber theory Bethe–Feynman formula Hellmann–Feynman theorem Feynman slash notation Feynman parametrization Path integral formulation Parton model Sticky bead argument One-electron universe Quantum cellular automaton Rogers Commission Report Feynman checkerboard Feynman sprinkler
Works	"There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom" (1959) The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1964) The Character of Physical Law (1965) QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter (1985) Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (1985) What Do You Care What Other People Think? (1988) Feynman's Lost Lecture: The Motion of Planets Around the Sun (1997) The Meaning of It All (1999) The Pleasure of Finding Things Out (1999) Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track (2005)
Family	Joan Feynman (sister) Charles Hirshberg (nephew)
Related	Namesakes Cargo cult science Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science Tuva or Bust! Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology Infinity (1996 film) QED (2001 play) The Challenger Disaster (2013 film)