Surely you’re joking, Mr. Feynman - Book Review

 Book Review #10

“Would you like cream or lemon in your tea, Mr. Feynman?”

“I’ll have both, thank you,” I say

“Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh. Surely, you’re joking, Mr. Feynman.”


Yesterday, I finished the book "Surely you’re joking, Mr. Feynman", a book full of funny anecdotes. Till I read this book I didn’t know so much about this Nobel Prize winner's contributions much less his verve for life. Like always, here is an attempt to summarize key takeaways from the book

1. Don't take yourself too seriously: Lemon and milk in tea is a classic example but there are many more. In Brazil, Feynman goes to Samba school and learns to play an instrument called frigidaria and goes on to represent the school in the Rio carnival performing on the road. All this after serious scientific accomplishments including the atomic bomb project but carries himself so lightly.

2. Be curious: Feynman talks about looking at ant-trails and why they are damn straight. He deliberately keeps sugar in the room and patiently traces how the path straightens with increasing number of ants. How many of us genuinely show interest in the simple phenomena happening around us?

3. Go beyond and Have fun: When working at Los Alamos on the atomic bomb project, Feynman demonstrates his skill of breaking locks and safe combinations of military guys. He showed that secret documents there were not so safe and helped them upgrade. While he could have rested on his physics contributions, he decided to have some fun breaking locks and contributing to making the project more secure.

4. Don't assume there is learning: Feynman shows several instances where the so-called high intelligence groups are where intellect is rather shallow. The example from Brazil's higher education system with rote learning and lack of application was very striking. Meanwhile he rates the average job done by California's teachers after reviewing their math syllabus as universally lousy.

5. Experts are biased: Feynman says, "Science is the Belief in the Ignorance of the Experts". This is a very deep statement and helps us understand that expertise itself at one point blinds the expert and prevents him/her to become more curious and new discovery and progress happens when we go beyond and challenge the notion of the experts.

6. Cargo cult science: This refers to a pseudo-scientific type of research that only favors evidence that confirms an assumed hypothesis without rigor to disprove or limit the hypothesis. This is even more relevant today with social media influencers who peddle anything and try to sell concepts without rigorous scientific evidence.

Honestly, my review doesn't do justice to the reams of wit and fun in the book; you have to read them yourself to enjoy. While this is not a eulogy to a perfect life (the book delves into his imperfections, especially his sexuality and relationships), it was certainly a very enjoyable read.



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