“Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman”
Autobiographical account by Richard P. Feynman
Before I start my essay on the autobiography of Dr. Feynman, an introduction of the life
and times of the man is essential. Since the sneak peak I provide on Dr. Feynman is
loosely based on the autobiography itself, and the picture of the author I paint mirrors the
events from the autobiography, describing the author here is describing his book and
describing the book is presenting the author himself. In other words my essay on the
autobiography begins with the introduction of the author.
Richard P. Feynman was easily the most curious of characters one could ever wish to
meet. A physicist by profession, he could have earned his living being a safecracker, a
conman, a musician, an artist, a mind reader or even as a story teller, but then he was all
of them. A man who because of his high intelligence, unquenchable curiosity and an
unwavering sense of adventure accomplished the most extraordinary of feats in ways one
can only describe as magical.
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965, Richard Feynman was one of the world’s
greatest theoretical physicists. Yet he also did things highly contrary to what one might
imagine a physicist being capable of. After all, how many physics professor, does one
think, can fancy being an expert in lock-picking and safe cracking, had Playboy
Playmates pose nude for their paintings, and played in the Carnival in Rio. The exploits
of this famous physicist seem much more plausible in an adventure movie than in the real
world. But then this man lived in a world of his own. A world which had no preconceived
rules or arbitrary assumptions and nothing taken for granted. His was purely a scientific
world in which everything was open to question and nothing was impossible until and
unless rigorously proven otherwise.
The autobiography of Richard P. Feynman “Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman!” is
appropriately no ordinary book either. Unlike other autobiographies, this book was not
written by the good professor; rather, the stories in the book were transcribed from
recordings made by his friend Ralph Leighton. It’s a collection of anecdotes and stories
from Feynman's colorful life, written in first person account, giving us an insight into the
mind and means of a genius of the highest caliber. Apart from the genius, it is Feynman’s
sense of humor that stands out in this book. The humor is honestly amusing and nicely
complemented by the simple language used in describing the events in Feynman’s life.
The simple and uncomplicated approach of writing makes the book very easy to enjoy
and appreciate. I had a nice laugh when Feynman, describing his brush with Swedish
Royalty and winning the Nobel Prize, almost makes one believe he would rather have not
accepted the Nobel Prize only because of the time differences between Europe and the
US.
The other thing which catches your eye is Feynman’s boldness and cleverness as a
prankster. Reading the book, one can’t help feeling a slight pity for all who had been at
the receiving end of the intelligent practical jokes he played. While his numerous
humorous pranks simply stand out for their mischief and innovation, his adventurous and
bold antics; whether successfully flirting with the bar girls or playing the bongo drums
for a ballet, are a complete show stopper. One just can not stop smiling while flipping
through the life of this highly humorous, sometimes bawdy yet brilliant professor.
His use of simple language in the book can be compared with what Gandhi employed in
his ‘Story of my Experiments with Truth’. In fact the similarity between the two books
and the authors goes further than that. Like Gandhi, the first person account by Feynman
is very humble. He never assumes himself to be extraordinary or divinely gifted, though
the events he describes may prove otherwise, but gives his precise and pragmatic
scientific approach as the reason behind his accomplishments. Thus one might feel as if
his feats may have been something of a child’s play. An extremely curious child who
driven by his sense of fun and adventure and using his commonsense tinkered around
with people and objects alike and ended up doing something magical. But then these
‘magical’ results of his endeavors holds one spellbound, knock one back into reality and
the truth of one’s total inability in front of this great genius dawns.
Another interesting but peculiar similarity with Gandhi is Feynman’s experimentation on
himself. Though not in the name of moral righteousness or discovering the ‘truth’ as
Gandhi did, but for scientific discovery. He wanted to know more about the states of
human consciousness and unconsciousness. He tried to explore and verify facts about
human dreams, hallucinations and their relation with the conscious world, with the main
subject of his experiments being himself. Feynman was very curious about the intricacies
of the working of the human mind. Throughout his life he tried different experiments to
learn more and more about the mechanism for thinking, consciousness and dreams in
humans.
It is interesting to note the above similarities as evident from the autobiographies of two
great men. Of course Feynman and Gandhi would have been totally opposite on several
other counts but the similarities certainly make very interesting reading.
To mention some of the not so good points of the book; the memoir lacks a sense of time.
There is very little fluidity in the events described. The experiences mentioned are in
somewhat random order and there isn’t very tight chronological ordering of the events.
Also some of the experiments that Feynman tries to explain end up sounding vague,
making them hard to visualize. But then the good points about the book far outnumber
and outweigh the bad ones, and once started the book feels ‘unputdownable’.
The final verdict on the book will have to be of a sure shot winner. It is refreshingly
honest, iconoclastic, thought-provoking, one-of-a-kind classic and a must read for
everyone. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book for my assignment and hope that the
essay I have just completed does some justice to it.
Rishi Bhardwaj
01010118
8th Semester Student
Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Autobiography