Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character)
A series of anecdotes shouldn't by rights add up to an  autobiography, but that's just one of the many pieces of received  wisdom that Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman (1918-88)  cheerfully ignores in his engagingly eccentric book, a bestseller  ever since its initial publication in 1985. Fiercely independent (read  the chapter entitled "Judging Books by Their Covers"), intolerant of  stupidity even when it comes packaged as high intellectualism (check  out "Is Electricity Fire?"), unafraid to offend (see "You JustAskThem?"), Feynman informs by entertaining. It's possible to  enjoySurely You're Joking, Mr. Feynmansimply as a bunch of  hilarious yarns with the smart-alecky author as know-it-all hero. At  some point, however, attentive readers realize that underneath all the  merriment simmers a running commentary on what constitutes authentic  knowledge: learning by understanding, not by rote; refusal to give up  on seemingly insoluble problems; and total disrespect for fancy ideas  that have no grounding in the real world. Feynman himself had all  these qualities in spades, and they come through with vigor and verve  in his no-bull prose. No wonder his students--and readers around the  world--adored him.--Wendy Smith